INTERNATIONAL STUDIES (Minor)

The International Studies Minor is the first minor at Curry College that students can complete entirely with General Education courses. That means with proper planning, students can get the minor without taking any additional coursework and as such, can pursue the minor no matter their major and the number of credits it requires. The minor encourages students to think of the world through multiple (as opposed to just national) lenses of identity and to understand the complexities of global economic, political, historical, geographical, and cultural systems, institutions, and motivations. As such, the minor coursework prepares students to participate in an increasingly interconnected world.

Program Learning Outcomes

• Develop a toolkit for approaching, analyzing, and understanding international issues, events, and realities that includes knowledge of geography, history, and political economy

• Identify motivations and patterns in action undertaken by individuals, groups, nation states, and non-state actors utilizing knowledge of contemporary and historical political realities, structures, theories, and ideologies

• Understand the impact of institutions on the contemporary world order

• Recognize oneself as a global citizen and one’s own community and the communities of others as cultural and historical spaces in which globalization occurs and is contested

• Become internationally culturally competent through exposure to and study of cultural artifacts

*For the purposes of the minor, Foreign Language courses are not included among the Global courses, but can be included as Humanities courses.

**An integrating experience is essentially a capstone experience for the minor. The following are options for satisfying this requirement:

• Semester-long study abroad/study away – the experience of immersion in a different culture satisfies this requirement regardless of any coursework associated with the experience. The students do not receive credit for this experience, but they can apply any appropriate coursework to other minor requirements with approval (also satisfied Active Learning)

• A qualifying 3 credit internship (also satisfies Active Learning) (approval of GECC required)

• A qualifying 3 credit independent research project (also satisfies Active Learning;  approval of GECC required)

• A qualifying project in Gen Ed Capstone (approval of GECC and Capstone instructor required)

• Proficiency in a foreign language (proficiency as determined by a CLEP test or other external standard and foreign meaning not one’s first language)

General Education Courses Approved for Inclusion in International Studies Minor