印第安納大學與普渡大學印第安納波里斯聯(lián)合分校

The world is becoming an ever smaller place in which to live, and the interdependence of our political, cultural and economic systems is growing by the day. Locally, the state of Indiana participates actively in the global economy. In 2008, Indiana was the 15th largest exporting state with exports that year of $26.5 billion dollars. To help students understand the international system, and to prepare them for a career in an increasingly globalized world, the School of Liberal Arts offers an interdisciplinary major and minor in International Studies. Students will learn another language, specialize in a given region of the world, study abroad for the major, focus on cultural, historical, political, and economic aspects of the international system, and develop a broad awareness of the major global forces at work in the 21st century world. They will be better equipped to understand and pursue a career or graduate study in an interdependent world.

Perhaps the most innovative feature of the major is the way that students can tailor their combination of area and thematic concentrations to meet their individual academic interests and career goals. A student interested in pursuing a career in development as part of the burgeoning nongovernmental sector could combine a thematic concentration on development or global civil society with an area concentration on Africa or Latin America and the Caribbean and study French or Spanish as their foreign language. Another student interested in working for a transnational corporation could combine a thematic concentration on international business and economics with an area concentration on Europe and study German as their foreign language. A student interested in a career in the Foreign Service could combine a thematic concentration on international relations with an area concentration on the Middle East and study Arabic as their foreign language. In short, students can tailor their area and thematic course work in a variety of ways to meet their individual interests and goals.

Students completing the Global and International Studies B.A. program will achieve the following:

Communicate

• at an intermediate-advanced level competency in a modern foreign language at a level that goes beyond that required for general graduation from the School of Liberal Arts.

Fulfill

• the International component of the RISE initiative by studying abroad.

Demonstrate

• detailed familiarity with a specific geographical region of the world
• detailed familiarity with a specific thematic focus within the field of Global and International Studies
• effective speaking and presentation skills.

Recognize

• and distinguish among various disciplinary approaches (Anthropology, Economics, Geography, History, Political Science, etc.) within the interdisciplinary field of Global and International Studies
• understand and respect the complexity of socio-cultural diversity around the world.

Appreciate

• and value the benefits of a multi- or inter-disciplinary approach to the acquisition of knowledge.

Identify

• the diversity of actors prevalent in the contemporary international community and understand how they relate to one another.

Locate

• use and cite appropriate academic sources in their written coursework.