Course Offerings
I teach classes on comparative politics, social policies, gender, qualitative methods, and African politics. My current course offerings can be found via the NIU Department of Political Science website. In Fall 2025 I will be offering two courses: POLS373: Women and Politics and POLS368: Politics of Africa.
At NIU, I teach the following courses on a rotating basis. If you would like more information about a course or if you would like a copy of the syllabus, please reach out to me via email:
- POLS260: Introduction to Comparative Politics
- POLS362: Politics of Developing Areas
- POLS363: Dictatorships & Democracies
- POLS368: Politics of Africa
- POLS373: Women and Politics
- POLS602: Scope and History of Political Science (Graduate Course)
- POLS672: Poverty, Inequality and Social Policy from a Global Perspective (Graduate Course)
- POLS673: African Politics (Graduate Course)
Graduate Supervision
I have supervised or served on over 12 MA and PhD committees since joining the faculty at NIU. I open to supervising students whose research touches on issues of social policy, social service provision, state-society relations, gender, African politics and qualitative methods.
Every semester, I also run independent studies with graduate and undergraduate students to help move forward research projects and/or help students prepare for qualifying exams.
Letters of Reference
If you are a current or former graduate student who is looking for a letter of reference, please email me at least three weeks in advance of the deadline. In order to write a strong letter, please provide me with details about the opportunity, a copy of your transcript (unofficial is fine), and any other supporting materials (CV, cover letter, etc.)
Alesha Porisky, PhD 