All Government Concentrators From: The Undergraduate Program ...

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT
CGIS KNAFEL BUILDING
UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM CAMBRIDGE, MA 02138
(617) 495-3249 FAX: (617) 495-0438
To: All Government Concentrators
From: The Undergraduate Program Office
Date: September 2012
Welcome back! We hope you had an enjoyable summer. If you have any questions after reading this
packet, please don't hesitate to call, email, or come by the Undergraduate Program Office. All of this
information (and more!) is also available on the Government Department Webpage at
http://www.gov.harvard.edu/undergraduate-program.
Your official Concentration Adviser will be the resident tutor from the Government Department in your
House (or, in a few cases, a non-resident tutor assigned to the House). Please see below for the current list
of CAs by House. Each CA will hold weekly office hours in the House, posted on the website at the start
of the semester.
Adams
Cabot
Currier
Dunster
Eliot
Kirkland
Leverett
Lowell
Mather
Pforzheimer
Quincy
Winthrop
Emily Clough (non-res)
clough@fas
Brandon Van Dyck bpvan@fas
Tae-Yeoun Keum (non-res)
tkeum@fas
Molly Roberts roberts8@fas
Michael Hankinson
mhankins@fas
Brett Carter (non-res)
blcarter@fas
Oliver Bevan bevan@fas
Jonathan Bruno jbruno@fas
Graham Clure gclure@fas
Gabriel Katsh katsh@fas
Brad Hinshelwood bhinshel@fas
Raul Campillo
rcampillo@jd14.law.harvard.edu
Note: we expect you to meet with
your adviser at least once a semester
(and we hope more often).
Study Cards should be signed by your official Concentration Adviser. Please see below for your
CA’s office hours and watch for any emails from your CA listing extra office hours before study card
day. Make every effort to meet one-on-one with your CA to discuss course selection and your path
through the Government concentration. Study Card signing meetings will also take place in your House
on Monday, September 10. Your CA will let you know when and where he/she will be available. If you
are unable to make the hours in your house when your CA is available, you can come to the
Undergraduate Program Office to get your Study Card signed, but this should be the exception, not the
rule. Our goal with this advising system is for each Gov concentrator to have a relationship with an
adviser who knows him or her personally and who can advise based on that knowledge. This cannot be
accomplished if you don’t also make the effort to meet your adviser.

CONCENTRATION ADVISER OFFICE HOURS: The permanent schedule of Concentration Advisers’
fall term office hours will be posted on the department webpage at
http://www.gov.harvard.edu/undergraduate-program/people/undergraduate-concentration-advisors-houses
For those of you who are new to the department, our Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) is
Professor Cheryl Welch. She will have frequent office hours in CGIS and can be consulted on general
advising issues or specific matters relating to transfer students, petitions for Government credit from other
FAS departments or through cross-registration at other Harvard schools, independent study, joint
concentrations, and study abroad.
OFFICE HOURS FOR THE DIRECTOR OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES (DUS)
Professor Welch’s office hours in the fall term are: Tues. 1-5; Wed. 9-12; Thurs. 2-4. Please call the
Undergraduate Program Office (5-3249) or email tvio@gov.harvard.edu to schedule an appointment
during these hours.
Seniors: You will receive an individualized electronic “Requirements Remaining” form via e-mail
outlining which courses have fulfilled specific requirements and which requirements remain unfulfilled.
If you have not received this form via e-mail by Registration or notice any inaccuracies, please contact the
Undergraduate Program Office. It is your responsibility to make sure that the information on your form is
correct, so it is imperative that you let us know immediately if you think there might be an error. You
must sign this form and submit it to your CA or to the Undergraduate Program Office to signal your
agreement that the information is correct.
Juniors: Government 94 (Undergraduate Seminars) have replaced both Government 98 (Junior
Research Seminars) and Government 90 (Undergraduate Departmental Seminars). Going forward, Gov
94 and Gov 98 will be equivalent. If you have not yet taken a seminar and wish to write a thesis, you must
take a Gov 94. If you have already taken a Gov 98, you have fulfilled the existing seminar requirement
for thesis writers, but are welcome and encouraged to take a Gov 94.
In addition, new Research Practice Courses (Gov 61, 62, and 63) will be offered this year and are
strongly recommended for prospective thesis writers who wish to learn more advanced research methods
beyond Gov 50. Research Practice Courses do not count as seminars, but they do count as Government
electives. In the fall, Gov 63 (Recent Political Theory: Topics and Resources) will be offered for students
writing theses in contemporary political theory. Formerly taught as Gov 98vg, its aim is to help students
make the transition from being critical readers of political thought to being independent contributors to
debates. Gov 61 (Research Practice in Quantitative Methods) and Gov 62 (Research Practice in
Qualitative Methods) will be offered in the spring semester.
All Concentrators. Beginning this year, instead of a petition process to count Harvard Kennedy School
(HKS) courses for concentration credit, there will be a list of HKS courses pre-approved for Gov elective
credit. Although you do not have to petition courses on the list for Gov credit, you still must have the
cross-registration form signed by the Government Undergraduate Office before registration in order to
count the course for concentration credit and thus in your GPA. You are allowed to take up to two HKS
courses for Gov elective credit towards your concentration requirements. If you would like Gov credit for
a non-HKS course (e.g. a Graduate School of Education course), you still must petition the DUS.
Good luck to all in the fall term!