Political Science
155→237
Majors over four years
+82 students · +52.9%
Laura D. Young / Institutional results
What I helped build.
A closer look at departmental creation, evidence-based program management, faculty support, and professional pathways for students.
Attribution matters
The work, the scale, the evidence.
I separate initiatives I led directly from changes that occurred during my tenure and from work accomplished by colleagues across the department. The following figures come from my October 2026 leadership CV unless an external source is linked. They are not represented as independently audited or as solely attributable to me.
Direct contribution: established practices, coordinated programs, led initiativesObserved outcomes: enrollment counts, student pathways, assessment summariesEvidence source: leadership CV + university coverage
01 / Founding leadership
From separate disciplines to a functioning department.
Appointed founding chair in 2022 as the college changed its academic administrative structure, I established shared processes for curriculum governance, evaluation, hiring and staffing, budget planning, assessment, and communication. Criminal Justice/Criminology joined the department in 2023, requiring common processes across more disciplines.
The role was operational and academic: building governance where it had not previously existed while maintaining course access and instructional continuity.
50+Faculty across appointment types200+Active sections per semester23Adjunct searches directed in one academic year
Evidence and boundaries
Staffing and operational scale are figures in the leadership CV. The department includes both full-time and adjunct faculty; the 50+ figure should not be presented as direct reports all on the same contract type.
02 / Enrollment and access
Growth in two majors during my chairship.
Criminal Justice / Criminology
460→505
Majors over three years
+45 students · +9.8%
The periods differ by program, reflecting the 2023 integration of Criminal Justice. These are observed enrollment changes during departmental leadership, not causal estimates of leadership impact.
Related practices
Used section capacity, fill rates, enrollment patterns, staffing needs, waitlists, and professional pathway development to inform program planning and institutional resource discussions. Supporting spreadsheets and longitudinal reports are not yet attached to the public portfolio.
03 / Faculty development and learning assessment
Clearer expectations, stronger support, better evidence.
Faculty development
Evaluation, mentoring, and promotion readiness
Replaced informal faculty evaluation practices with written standards and clearer expectations. Developed research and writing groups, publication mentoring, and promotion-preparation support. Seven faculty members were being prepared for promotion as of the October 2026 CV: four in the current cycle and three in the next.
“Prepared for promotion” does not mean that all seven were promoted. Individual faculty cases and confidential evaluations are not shared.
Student learning assessment
Using results to improve instruction
POLS 21012.21 → 2.69Average paper score, 2022–24
POLS 44902.44 → 2.69Average paper score, 2022–24
2024–2523.6%Reported posttest learning gain
Figures from the leadership CV. Instruments, cohort denominators, and scoring design should be included when the primary assessment report is available; no causal improvement claim is made.
04 / Student opportunity and career outcomes
Pathways from academic work to professional responsibility.
Legislative interns
Inaugural Flexible Legislative Internship Program, Georgia General Assembly offices.
Job offers
At least four students received full-time offers, per the leadership CV.
Invited to return
Twelve participants were asked to return, per the leadership CV.
Internship placements
Political Science program placements across academic years 2019–23.
From campus to the Capitol
A published student feature provides an external example of how students connected their studies to legislative work.
Read student internship feature ↗Paralegal preparation
Sixty-five Paralegal Certificate graduates since 2018 are documented in the CV. I helped design the program and served as director from 2018 to 2022. This cumulative total extends beyond my directorship.
Student job and invitation totals are not independently verified on this website beyond the CV; original program reports or recognition materials would strengthen the record.
What this record represents
Leadership with evidence—and context.
My institutional work has brought together academic operations, faculty development, program access, data-informed planning, and student opportunity. The outcomes reported here span a large team and multiple years. I am explicit about that because fair attribution is part of sound leadership.