Join Our Program!

We offer an MA in applied Political Science through the Political Science Department at the University of Colorado Denver. Our program specializes in developing informed leaders to serve within the community. Our students come from a variety of backgrounds, careers, and experiences. We value the varied experiences of our diverse student population. 

Our instructors are practitioners in their respective fields.Therefore they are skilled in providing our students with opportunities to learn practical content, develop relevent tools, and apply effective strategies within their professional environment. 

We deliver our courses through a weekend program format. This provides flexibility for working professionals and other non-traditional students.

Choose an Area of Specialty

Local Government: This Area of Specialty prepares students to work for local, county, and state government. Students will gain skills in government administration, politics of finance, state politics and public policy. 


Labor and Community Organizing: This Area of Specialty prepares students to lead and manage within labor and community organizing politics. Students will examine different social movement theories, labor union politics, community organizing and social movements to develop practical strategies for building broad social movements. 


Social Economy: This Area of Specialty prepares students to build alternative and diverse economic strategies that work for less privileged communities. Students will examine different practices and theories on diverse economies such as democratic financial systems, land trusts, and worker cooperatives at the local, national, and global level. 

Apply Now!

Degree Requirements

Students must complete a total of 33 graduate credit hours to complete the MA degree, including 6 credit hours of required courses, a 3 credit hour mater's project, and an additional 24 credit hours of elective, graduate level PSCI courses.

  Required Courses

PSCI 5468

Research Methods in Political Science                                                               

PSCI 5914

Community Organizing and Community Development

Complete a three credit hour master’s project under the direction of a faculty advisor.
Registration is done using the Special Processing form, rather than online.

PSCI 5960

Master's Project

Elective courses in the New Directions program are offered in three different "pathways" of study, allowing students to choose their particular interest and focus their studies on that subject. The three pathways are: 

  1. Local Governance
  2. Community and Labor Organizing
  3. The Social Economy and Sustainable Development

While students are encouraged to focus their studies by taking courses within a chosen pathway, but it is not required that students only take courses within a single pathway (and some courses fit in more than one area). Students should work with the program director to learn more about which courses to complete for each focused pathway.