Glossary
Political Science Professor Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential political science professor terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key political science professor vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in political science professor training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Adjunct
- Part-time instructor.
- Comparative politics
- Comparing countries.
- Federalism
- Power split between levels of government.
- International relations
- Relations among countries.
- Model UN
- Diplomacy simulation.
- Office hours
- Time set aside for students.
- Peer review
- Expert review of research.
- Policy analysis
- Evaluating policies.
- Political theory
- Ideas about government.
- Polling
- Surveying opinion.
- Public opinion
- What citizens think.
- Sabbatical
- Paid leave for research.
- Separation of powers
- Divided government branches.
- Syllabus
- Course plan.
- Tenure
- Permanent faculty status.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Political Science Professor practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Political Science Professor training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.