Upon completing his master's degree, Andy Hogue began the process of applying to doctoral programs around the country but became certain that Baylor's Political Science Department, in conjunction with the resources available through the Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies, had the perfect PhD program to fit his interests.

"All of my exploration of schools and programs around the country left me utterly convinced that not only was Baylor a unique university, but so was its Department Political Science and doctoral program, which, still in its infancy then, was setting out with what I thought were some pretty lofty commitments for a graduate program," the third-year student says.

Andy's major field of study is American politics, and his other interests lie in political rhetoric, the presidency, and religion in politics. "Baylor is a truly unique place to study each of these, and my own research brings them all together in a single topic-a dissertation on the origins and development of religious rhetoric in modern presidential campaigns," the Columbia, S.C. native says.

Andy describes his graduate experience at Baylor as "nurturing", as resources, faculty and opportunities are all put at the disposal of students in order to help them succeed. For instance, earning a doctorate in political science at Baylor requires that students enroll in a course called "Teaching and Political Science" in which they attend the undergraduate course of their choice, lecture, meet one-on-one with a professor to discuss pedagogy, draft a syllabus or paper outlining how they would design and structure such a course, and complete several other similar tasks -- all with an eye toward training the graduate student to teach that course sometime in the future.

"On the heels of this, graduate students haven't just been prepared to teach, they then become instructors of record themselves, often for the very courses they've been trained in," he says.

The successful execution of this sort of curriculum would not be possible without a dedicated and accessible faculty. "The guidance of Baylor faculty on this subject is second to none, and simply mentioning the Baylor name or the names of my faculty advisors has gotten me in the door to do interviews with key figures in the religious and political circles that my research focuses on, providing me with the sorts of exclusive primary sources that make my work more likely to be published," Andy says.

Andy recently accepted a position as a tenure-track assistant professor in American Politics at Whitworth University. "Baylor is a unique place, and the political science PhD program is keeping with that," he says. "There is nowhere else that has accomplished researchers as committed as Baylor's to teaching graduate students not just how to publish, but how to pursue the scholarly vocation as both a scholar and teacher."