International Studies Program

Rationale and Course Content

The International Studies program focuses on international issues, areas of investigation, and concerns that lie outside the parameters of traditional academic disciplines. The goals of the program are to enrich, complement, and coordinate departmental offerings and to provide a range of skills for students preparing careers in which knowledge of foreign cultures and understanding of global processes are important. All students must take two core seminars: INS 233 and INS 400. INS 400 may be taken twice—once in the junior year (as INS 400A) and once in the senior year (as INS 400B). Students participating in International Studies Program are strongly encouraged to study abroad as an integral part of their undergraduate education.

Students participating in International Studies with a major, second major, or minor choose one of three areas of concentration:

1. Global Affairs and International Development (major or minor): A study of interdependence among peoples, governments, and nations of the world as problems of progress or survival bear on the future of the entire planet. May focus on socioeconomics and political change as they affect relationships between nations.
2. Inter-Cultural Studies (major or minor): A study of the common, yet varied human experience through the arts, literature, and the social sciences, focusing on problems of understanding.
3. Regional Studies: Study of the languages, peoples and nations of four specific regions.
   1. Russian Studies (major or minor)
   2. European Studies (second major or minor)
   3. African Studies (minor)
   4. Asian Studies (minor)

In all areas of concentration, the course of study includes completion of a modern foreign language (which must be Russian in the case of Russian Studies) through one year above the intermediate level, the two core seminars (INS 233 and INS 400), and additional courses selected according to the student’s special interests in consultation with the Director of the Program. In declaring a major, second major, or minor, the student will file a Plan of Study, signed by the Director, with the Office of Student Academic Services. This Plan will be used to determine whether the requirements of the program have been satisfied. Students whose particular interests are not satisfactorily addressed by the areas of concentration listed above may design a coherent plan in a different area, in consultation with the Director of International Studies Program.