Majors
Minors
Past Thesis Projects
In the spring semester, juniors who have achieved a GPA of 3.0 or higher in the major and overall are invited to apply to the department for placement in Political Science 400, Senior Thesis. Students who fall below a 3.0 GPA may be granted an exception to apply on a case-by-case basis. Majors who have achieved a GPA of 3.500 or higher in the major and overall may be considered for honors. After the student completes and formally presents the thesis, the political science faculty determine whether to grant honors on graduation.
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2012
Randi Phillips, “Tocqueville on the Condition of American Labor and Industry and its Contribution Toward Democratic Despotism.” (Honors)
2013
Kristofer S. Lyon, “Red Batons: Explaining Variation in Police Use of Force at Public Protests in the United States.” (Honors)
2014
Maya Gold, “Sheep and Scandal.” Maya conducted a survey experiment to test alternative theories of how political partisans respond to scandals within their own party. (Honors)
2017
Katie Kowal, “Can Information Lead to Voice? A Study of Broken Schools and Public Response.” (Honors)
Nick LeSage, “WordPress and Chill: Defamation Law’s Chilling Effect in the Digital Age.” (Honors)
2018
Zane Dundon, “Litigating Sovereignty: Evaluating Determinants of Investor-State Dispute Settlement Outcomes.” (Honors)
Rafael Swit, “Representing the Public Will in the Age of Misinformation.” (Honors)
2019
Benjamin Bardman, “Power and Theory in 1984: The Political Theory of George Orwell.” (Honors)
Jacob Bell, “Skinning the Cat: Understanding Voter Preferences on Corporate Tax Policy.”
Alaina Haig, “The Relationship Between Christian Religiosity and Public Opinion on Education Spending.” (Honors)
2020
Celia McDonald, “Is This Seat Taken? The Effect of Gender Quotas on Symbolic Representation.” (Honors)
2021
Jacob Muscarella, “Partisan Motivated Reasoning, Information Framing, and Attitudes toward Congress.” (Honors)
2022
Paige Underwood, “Movement or Myth? An Empirical Study of Progressive Prosecution In the United States.” (Honors)
Alex Webb, “A Concervative Legal Bastion? Federalist Society Judges and the Fourth Amendment.” (Honors)
2023
Erika Anderson, “Indoctrination or Education? How Religion, Politics, and Identity Shape Book Banning in the U.S. Public Schools.” (Honors)
Nick Biesterfeld, “Politics and Hustlers University: The Effect of Andrew Tate on Gendered Nationalism.”
Frankie Spurbeck, “Riding to the End of the Line: The Effect of High School Transportation Policy on Adult Transit Ridership.” (Honors)
2024
Lizzie Lohrer, “Defining the Terms of the Debate: Quantifying and Tracking Elites’ Use of Anti-Transgender Rhetoric.” (Honors)
Madeleine MacWilliamson, “Computers to Capitol Hill: A Deterrence Analysis of J6 Online Extremism.” (Honors)
2025
Sarah Espinosa, “Every Move You Make: Evaluating the Constitutionality of Government Purchases of Private Location Data.” (Honors)
Emma Ford, “Power to the People” or “Only in America” - Examining Celebrities in Presidential Politics.” (Honors)
Will Trunzo, “Pope, Parish, or Personal Preference — Explaining Political Homogeneity in Religious Congregations.” (Honors)
Political Science is located in John R. Howard Hall on the Undergraduate Campus.
MSC: 12
email polisci@lclark.edu
voice 503-768-7450
Chair Ben Gaskins
Political Science
Lewis & Clark
615 S. Palatine Hill Road
Portland OR 97219