INTL - International Studies Course Descriptions

INTL 20100 International Studies: A Global Perspective

This class introduces students to a wide range of issues within International Studies. Students will become familiar with interdisciplinary approaches to the interrogation of the global, transnational, and international issues that shape the contemporary world. Key concepts include colonialism and imperialism; cultural diversity and hegemony; economic development and inequality; migration and diaspora; globalization; and revolution and social change. 

Credits

3

Contact Hours

3 hrs./wk.

INTL 25100-25200 Internship in International Studies

Service as an intern engaged in research and other independent work in governmental or non-governmental organizations concerned with international affairs. Students will write an analytical term paper on a topic related to their internship. A second semester internship may be taken as an elective. Students may also work as interns during the summer for 3 or 6 credits with faculty supervision.

Credits

3

Prerequisites

Approval of the instructor. HTBA

INTL 30100 Honors Senior Seminar

This seminar is honors version of the capstone of the International Studies major. It brings to bear on one or more major international or global problems the approaches and insights of the several disciplines that comprise the major. The course consists of a community-based research project, which emphasizes the five primary learning competencies required of all INTL students (but in an applied, small group context). This seminar requires students to develop a professional portfolio of their knowledge and skills, which is to be presented as the final graduation requirement.

Credits

3

Prerequisites

GPA of 3.5 and approval of instructor.

Contact Hours

3 hr./wk.

INTL 30200 Honors Senior Thesis

Preparation and writing of Honors Senior Thesis.

Credits

3

Contact Hours

3 hr./wk.

INTL 30500 Global Social Theory

This course is designed to introduce International Studies majors to key questions and concepts in the social sciences. Over the semester, students engage with the wide variety of texts—by authors from around the world—that together comprise global social theory. The focus is on learning how to read these texts carefully with an eye toward using them to analyze the contemporary world. In particular, the class asks students to explore the following questions: What does it mean to understand humans as thoroughly social, cultural, and historical creatures? How do humans create, maintain, and transform their social worlds? How are forms of social difference (e.g. race, class, ethnicity, language, citizenship, gender, sexuality, etc.) produced and how do they shape our experiences? In what sense is the contemporary world shaped by particular pasts? What historical transformations lie on the horizon?

Credits

3

Prerequisites

INTL 20100.

Contact Hours

3 hrs./wk.

INTL 31107 Research Methods in International Studies

Credits

3

Contact Hours

3 hours

INTL 31111 Social Change in the Middle East

This class is a multi-disciplinary overview of the political and social change that has occurred in the Arab Middle East since the early 2000s but more specifically focusing on the years following 2010. The class will give an overview of what has been deemed the "Arab Spring," specifics "areas" in which we can judge change, such as gender, and the legacy colonialism and imperialism has had in the region.

Credits

3

Contact Hours

3

INTL 32100 Senior Seminar in International Studies

This seminar is the capstone of the International Studies major. It brings to bear on one or more major international or global problems the approaches and insights of the several disciplines that comprise the major. The course consists of a community-based research project, which emphasizes the five primary learning competencies required of all INTL students (but in an applied, small group context). This seminar requires students to develop a professional portfolio of their knowledge and skills, which is to be presented as the final graduation requirement.

Credits

3

Contact Hours

3 hr./wk.

INTL 32200 Senior Essay in International Studies

An essay dealing with an international or global problem or issue that demonstrates breadth of background, skill in research, and critical evaluation of relevant literature. Students work closely with a faculty advisor with relevant expertise who agrees to supervise the research and writing process.

Credits

3

Prerequisites

Senior standing, completion of writing course and English proficiency requirements, and approval of the program director

Contact Hours

Variable

INTL 32400 Public Policy Portfolio

Credits

3

Prerequisites

Senior Seminar in International Studies.

Contact Hours

3 hr./wk

INTL 32500 Professionalization in International Studies

This class offers a practical hands-on approach for addressing the main challenges faced by people who study International Studies when they try to enter the job market of international relations. It will provide an introduction to the main management practices, tools, and routines adopted by the institutions that populate the world of international relations, the skills that they seek in their analysts and specialists, and their recruitment processes. It will also focus on the conditions for successful job searches in the environment of international relations. The seminar will also include some meetings with professionals who work in the world of international relations. It will build the capacities of participants in relation to such tasks as analyzing a vacancy notice, writing motivation letters, writing resumes, completing written tests and preparing job interviews.

Credits

3

Contact Hours

3 hr./wk

INTL 33200 Transnational Feminisms

This course introduces students to the interdisciplinary fields of gender, feminist, and women’s studies and, more specifically, to transnational feminisms. The course will engage with an array of feminist themes and issues such as: the body, reproductive justice, and the role of race and gender in capitalist societies. We will also study the ways that feminisms have been created and sustained in spite of constructed borders of nation, sexuality, and citizenship.

Credits

3

Contact Hours

3 hr./wk.