International Studies, leading to a B.A. degree

Program Director: Dr. Janine Chi, Professor of Sociology
IST Core Faculty
    Professors: Coutinho, Hashim, Ouellette
    Associate Professors: Ray-Chaudhuri
    Assistant Professor: Runcie
IST Affiliate Faculty: campus wide with specific curricular contributions

International Studies is an inter-and-multidisciplinary major that integrates the perspectives of the social sciences, the arts and humanities, and, to some extent, the natural sciences. This approach provides our majors with an ethical and critically engaged understanding of the complex and interdependent character of our globalized world. 

Our graduates are global citizens who demonstrate broad cultural and intercultural competence, including proficiency in a second language and familiarity with a specific geographic, cultural, and linguistic region of the world. Through their multi-disciplinary training, they gain the knowledge and ability to conduct research that addresses global challenges.

Our curriculum prepares students for a wide range of professional paths, which include: law and policy, advocacy, diplomacy, and international business. Recent graduates have successfully pursued careers in foreign service, the intelligence community, non-profit organizations, the international policy-making community, and international NGOs [non governmental organizations] concentrating on development and public health. Graduates have also been admitted to competitive graduate programs domestically and internationally, such as international studies, law, global public health, environmental policy, and international business.

Program Goals and Outcomes  

1. Students will develop sophisticated knowledge of historical and current international issues, policies, events, and trends.
2. Students will learn and apply various theoretical and methodological frameworks to analyze issues critical to this multidisciplinary field and our increasingly global world.
3. Students will develop research competence, thereby enabling them to think, write and speak critically about complex global, regional, and national problems.
4. Students will demonstrate proficiency in a second language at the intermediate level.
5. Students will demonstrate an understanding of other countries’ or regions’ cultural expressions in the context of globalization.
6. Students will gain a more nuanced understanding of their own culture from an international and global perspective.

 

Recommendations for Study Abroad

In support of the program’s goals, students are strongly encouraged to study abroad for a semester or more, develop a facility in a second language beyond the intermediate level, and immerse themselves in the languages and cultures of non-English speaking countries. 

Majors interested in postgraduate studies and programs, such as Fulbright and Peace Corps, the following programs should be of particular interest:

1. SIT (Argentina; Bolivia; Cameroon; Chile; China; Ecuador; Ghana; India; Indonesia; Jordan; Kenya; Madagascar; Morocco; Nepal; Peru; Rwanda; Samoa; Senegal; Serbia; South Africa; Tanzania; Uganda; Vietnam)
2. CIEE (Botswana; Chile; China; Ghana; Japan; Russia; South Korea) 
3. IFSA (Argentina; India)
4. IES (Ecuador; Morocco; South Africa)
5. ISA (Fiji)
6. SSA (Argentina; Cuba)
7. SFS (Bhutan; Cambodia; Chile; Kenya; Tanzania)
8. MILA (Bangladesh; Costa Rica; Cuba; Japan; Panama, South Africa)

 

Honors in International Studies

A student interested in conducting advanced original independent research through a close working relationship with a faculty member can apply for Honors beginning spring semester of their junior year. Requirements for admission to the honors program include: 1) 3.70 GPA in International Studies and an overall 3.33 GPA at the time of application; 2) a letter of support from a faculty advisor directing the student’s honors project, and 3) an application that includes a statement of purpose and proposal for the research project. Materials are due to the program director by the end of the junior year. For more information, please see program website.