One Ball State Day 2026

The Department of Political Science is dedicated to advancing the understanding of the political frontier through teaching and research. Our students strive to make better sense of the world and to make a difference in the community by working side-by-side with faculty on important events that are shaping today’s ever-changing political landscape.

Our Legal Studies students receive an education that strengthens respect for the rule of law in our society and encourages students to recognize the long term educational and career commitment necessary for success as a member of the legal profession.

Your gift helps fund programs and scholarships that help ease the financial burden for deserving students. Your donation directly impacts our undergraduate Political Science and Legal Studies majors, as well as our Master of Public Administration students.

• We celebrated our graduating political science and legal studies seniors with our annual Senior Celebration.
• Our POLS 370 course, Public Opinion, led by Dr. Misa Nishikawa, assisted the Bowen Center in the administration of the Hoosier Survey, giving our students the opportunity to experience first hand how major surveys are created, administered, and analyzed.  At the conclusion of the survey, three of our political science majors, Hunter Case, Casen Lake, and Bryson Mills, along with Dr. Nishikawa, traveled to the Indiana Capitol to present the results.
• We launched our partnership with the National Federation of Paralegal Associations which allows our legal studies students to take a nationally recognized certification exam at a reduced cost prior to graduation.
• We cheered and supported our Mock Trial team, as they traveled to a variety of competitions, bringing home two awards for best attorney and one for best witness.
• We sponsored a workshop focusing on work in non-profits, featuring community members who work in that industry.
• We awarded multiple scholarships to students to help defray the costs of their tuition and expenses.  A sixth scholarship, the Frankland Scholarship, is still in the fundraising stage, and can be found in the   dropdown menu of individual funds eligible for contributions.
• We supported our Legal Studies Student Association as they welcomed guest speakers to campus.
• We held our annual Welcome Fair in September to both welcome our new Cardinals and to welcome back to campus our returning students.
• We hosted our incoming majors at the university's Admitted Student Day and brought in our current undergraduates to welcome them to our department.
• We resumed the popular Trivia Night, where, under the direction of trivia master Dr. Sean Hildebrand, student teams competed against the faculty team in a battle of knowledge.

Thank you for visiting our One Ball State Day page, proud home to majors in Political Science and Legal Studies. We are grateful for your support and for your generosity, which helps us to help the students of today become the professionals of tomorrow.

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Your gift can be directed to our political science general fund, our legal studies general fund, or to the specific fund or scholarship of your choice by clicking the dropdown menu and selecting one of the available funds. 

Thank you from the Department of Political Science