Organisation: Political Science Department, The University of Melbourne (1949 - 2006)
- From
- 1949
- To
- 31 December 2006
Summary
A Political Science program was first set up at the University of Melbourne in 1939. Initially administered within the History School, the department was established in its own right in 1949, with the appointment of Macmahon (Mac) Ball as the foundation professor. It was the first Political Science department in an Australian University.
In the early 1970s, the University of Melbourne's Political Science Department played a key role in the genesis and establishment of the Saulwick Age Poll, through the involvement of Alan ('Foo') Davies. The Political Science Department contributed survey questions and, in the Age Poll's early years, students of the department conducted face to face interviews for the surveys.
As a result of restructuring of the Faculty of Arts in 2006, the Department of Political Science was disbanded. It was replaced by the School of Political Science, Criminology and Sociology (later the School of Social and Political Sciences).