SUNY New Paltz Political Science & International Relations Department

05/01/2026

Click the link below for our April 2026 newsletter! You will find profiles of an award-winning graduating senior as well as a 2023 alum of the Global Engagement Program. In addition, the newsletter includes internship and job opportunities and information on a new course offering and much more.

https://www.newpaltz.edu/media/political-science-and-international-relations/2026-04-PSIR-newsletter.pdf

You can also find this newsletter as well as previous newsletters archived here: https://www.newpaltz.edu/polisci/news

05/01/2026

Congratulations to two of our own for winning the prestigious SUNY-wide Chancellor awards fpr student excellence! Morgan Atwater is a graduating political science major who has left her mark with the Benjamin Center, the political science department, and the women's lacrosse team and Sanjay Basnet is a history major who has taken numerous political science courses and has served in leadership positions in student government (both judicial and senate) and plans to pursue a career in human rights law. Take the time to read the profiles of both -- they are truly tremendous young leaders and humans!

CONGRATULATIONS! - Four exceptional SUNY New Paltz students, who were named this year's SUNY Chancellor awardees for their achievements in academics, athletics, leadership, service, campus involvement and the arts.

Get to know Morgan Atwater ’26, Sanjay Basnet ’26, Alexander Loveday ’26 and Madeline Meyer '26.

READ FULL STORY HERE: https://sites.newpaltz.edu/news/2026/04/2026-chancellors-awards-student-excellence/

02/10/2026

Click the link below for our February 2026 newsletter!

https://www.newpaltz.edu/media/political-science-and-international-relations/2026-02-PSIR-newsletter.pdf

You can also find this newsletter as well as previous newsletters archived here: https://www.newpaltz.edu/polisci_intlrela/news

02/02/2026

In two days -- Wed Feb 4 -- at 5pm in the Honors Center (in College Hall)! Come hear former CIA national security expert Steven Cash -- who is part of an organization named The Steady State with hundreds of national security experts -- share his experience playing a central role designing the Department of Homeland Security a generation ago and share his reactions to the massive threats facing US democracy in 2026. Don't miss it!

12/01/2025

Click the link below for our November 2025 newsletter!
https://www.newpaltz.edu/media/political-science-and-international-relations/November%202025%20PSIR%20Newsletter.pdf

You can also find this newsletter as well as previous newsletters archived here: https://www.newpaltz.edu/polisci_intlrela/news

10/01/2024

New York State Assembly Internship Session

Wednesday, October 2
2:30pm - 3:30pm
JFT 1010

Are you interested in having a front row seat for New York State politics? Then we encourage you to find out more about the NYS Assembly Spring 2025 Internship Program. It is a full semester internship in Albany, NY offering an $8,800 stipend. Interested students are encouraged to attend and meet the program director.

Event Sponsors
Department of Political Science & International Relations
Career Resource Center

09/20/2024

New Paltz area locals: come to this talk! Ari Berman will deliver a talk titled "Minority Rule and the Fight for Voting Rights and Democracy" (followed by discussion) this coming Wed Sep 25 at 5pm in Lecture Center 102.
This year to commemorate Constitution Day (which was two days ago), the Department of Political Science & International Relations will bring to campus a local New-Paltz-based author/journalist with national prominence as an expert on voter suppression and related attacks on voting rights and democracy.
Here is his bio: "Ari Berman is the national voting rights correspondent for Mother Jones and a reporting fellow at Type Media Center. He’s the author of Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America (finalist, National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction) and Herding Donkeys: The Fight to Rebuild the Democratic Party and Reshape American Politics. His writing has also appeared in The New York Times, the Washington Post and Rolling Stone, and he is a frequent commentator on MSNBC and NPR. He's won the Sidney Hillman Foundation Prize for Magazine Journalism and an Izzy Award for outstanding achievement in independent media. He lives in New Paltz, New York."
Ari will be sharing insights from his latest book: Minority Rule: The Right-Wing Attack on the Will of the People — and the Fight to Resist It, which has received glowing reviews from major figures and respected publications.
This event is being co-sponsored by the Department of Digital Media & Journalism and the James H. Ottaway Sr. Visiting Professorship in Journalism.
We hope you will join, and please encourage others to come to this event, which will shed light on some of the most important dynamics shaping U.S. politics and democracy thus far this in this unprecedented start to our 21st century.

03/20/2024

Tomorrow!

STILL TRUMP'S PARTY: HOW LOCAL REPUBLICAN LEADERS MADE UP THEIR MINDS IN THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION

THU MAR 21, 2024

5 - 6:30pm | SCIENCE HALL 181

03/20/2024

Click the link below for our March newsletter!
https://www.newpaltz.edu/media/political-science-and-international-relations/2024-03-PSIR-newsletter.pdf

09/23/2023

Click the link below for our September newsletter!
https://www.newpaltz.edu/media/political-science-and-international-relations/September%20PSIR%202023%20Newsletter-1.pdf

09/23/2023

Jenna O'Hare (Psychology), Isabella Iacona (Political Science & International Relations), President Wheeler, Jonathan Pickarski (Political Science & International Relations), and Jennifer Knox (Political Science & International Relations) in D.C. for SUNY Day!