Resources

Libraries

Northwestern University maintains an extensive library system to support its programs of study and research. This system includes the University Library and a number of special libraries on the Evanston and Chicago campuses. The holdings of the libraries constitute a collection of more than 3,400,000 volumes, 1,753,000 microforms, and 32,000 currently received journals and other serial publications. Because of the quality and extent of its holdings, the Northwestern University library system ranks among the most prestigious university library collections in the nation.

Computing Facilities

The Information Technology Department offers a broad spectrum of computer resources and services to support research and instruction at Northwestern. A campus-wide fiber optic network ties central file and computer servers to local area networks and stand-alone computers. Microcomputer clusters of Macintosh and IBM-compatible systems are available to students. The Political Science Department also maintains a computer lab of networked microcomputers and printers connected to central computers and e-mail servers.

Institute For Policy Research

The Institute For Policy Research was established in 1968 to promote interdisciplinary urban policy research and training. The center attempts to coordinate scholarly activities in all schools and departments concerned with urban and public policy issues. Its aim is to help bridge the gap between social science and social policy. More than seventy Northwestern University faculty members from over eighteen disciplines are affiliated with the center. They participate in colloquia, seminars, and interdisciplinary research projects. A major thrust of current center research is social welfare policy, which encompasses mental health, crime, housing, education, unemployment, and the family. Other research areas include information policy and governance; legal and political processes and social change; race, ethnicity, and the new immigrants; urban economic development; and family policy and social change.

Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences (MMSS)

The MMSS Program is designed to help students develop advanced skills in developing and testing mathematical models in the social sciences. The program is staffed by faculty from a variety of schools and departments, including political science, sociology, mathematics, psychology, anthropology, economics, and the school of management. The MMSS graduate program is open only to students who are pursuing a Ph.D. and provides the possibility of an M.S. as well as the Ph.D. Students admitted to the MMSS program are also sometimes eligible for financial aid through teaching assistantships in MMSS. For students with modeling interests, MMSS provides an important complement to training offered in political science.

Program of African Studies

The Program of African Studies, the first such program in the United States, was founded in 1948. It coordinates the course offerings and research activities of a number of faculty members and graduate students. Primary areas of research include African Islamic studies, African urban studies, women in development, rural development, and management and technology. The program continues its function as a systematic guide to the study of African peoples, cultures, and development.

The Program in International Studies

The Program for International Studies, in operation since 1986, is an interdisciplinary body involving faculty from most schools in the University. The program interprets "international studies" broadly, including area and comparative studies as well as international relations. The program sponsors and supports research seminars for faculty and graduate students as well as visiting faculty and post-doctoral fellows. Research seminars and workshops include a continuing Seminar on Critical Methodologies and the Roundtable on Political Economy. They have dealt with topics as varied as the current trend toward liberalization and privatization in the Third World, reforms in post-communist societies, AIDS in Africa, models of industrial development in East Asia, the relationships between economic and social structures and political systems in Latin America, politics and the media, and the political economy of labor in Western Europe. The program also administers one of the largest undergraduate majors in university, with teaching faculty drawn from several departments.

Program on Communication, Media and Public Opinion

This IPR Program brings together numerous faculty members from several schools and departments, including the nationally renowned Medill School of Journalism and the School of Speech. The program has sponsored research on such topics as race and the media, and holds regular seminars and colloquia for students and faculty on communications and public opinion research.

The Law and Social Science Program

The Law and Social Science Program brings together an interdisciplinary group of faculty and students from social science departments, the law school, and research staff from the American Bar Foundation for seminars and colloquia on law-related subjects

 

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