International Affairs Major

Note: This page contains information that is only for students who have already declared an IA major prior to the 2020–21 academic year.

In addition to completing the requirements for their other major, International Affairs majors must complete the requirements outlined below. All students must take some Select Electives. Students with a dual major in Economics, History, or Political Science must also take additional Select Electives outside of those major fields. These requirements are explained in more detail below. Students must maintain at least a 3.00 G.P.A. in the major.

International Affairs advising

IA advising is very important for students in the IA major. All students who are accepted into the IA program will be assigned an advisor.

Course requirements

Economics courses

Economics 103 - Principles of Microeconomics
Economics 104 - Principles of Macroeconomics
Economics 251 - International Economics

History courses

History 103: Europe, Asia, and Africa, 1750 to 1920 OR History 110 - Twentieth Century World
History Elective: Choose one Select Elective in History at the 200 or 300 Level

Political Science courses

Political Science 103 - Introduction to International Relations
Political Science 242 - U.S. Foreign Policy
Political Science Elective: One Select Elective in Political Science

Methods courses

All IA majors must successfully complete a methods course. The courses applicable to this requirement are:

ANTH-323 Field Methods in Cultural Anthropology
CS-201 The Mathematics of Computation
HS-232 Statistics for the Health Sciences
HIST-300 Historical Method
ENG-299 Critical Methods
ECON-241 Introductory Economics and Business Statistics
ES-230 Introduction to Geographical Information Systems
MATH-107 Applied Statistics
OMS-235 Statistical Methods
POL-215 Methods of Political Science
PSYCH-205 Introduction to Statistics
SOC-302 Research Methods
SOC-303 Data Analysis and Statistics

Capstone Senior Seminar

Students must complete a senior capstone seminar that draws on the program’s multi- and interdisciplinary features to examine an issue of international significance.

Select electives for dual majors

All IA majors with a dual major in Economics, History, or Political Science must take three additional Select Electives, outside of their primary major. This is required because of the overlap between the IA major requirements and the major requirements in those disciplines

Encouraged (but not required)

Language courses and off-campus programs

All students in the IA program are strongly encouraged to participate in a one-semester overseas program; information is available from the Center for Global Education. Students who are not language majors are strongly encouraged to continue with foreign language study beyond the intermediate level.

Internships

IA students are encouraged to participate in internship programs through their primary major, especially those pertaining to international relations.

Interdisciplinary, cross-disciplinary, and individual majors

Students pursuing interdisciplinary, cross-disciplinary, and individual majors please note: IA cannot be paired with Globalization Studies, Individualized Major (Self Designed), or Public Policy.

Courses for already-declared IA Majors

Because IA majors also have majors in other disciplines, the IA capstone brings the seniors together and draws upon their multidisciplinary educational experience in the study of an important contemporary international issue. This year’s seminar, Health and Development, explores health conditions, particularly in poor populations in Africa, Asia, and South America, through the perspectives of multiple disciplines. Using tools of interdisciplinary investigation, the students will engage in a review of the biology of human disease and immune response; a survey of the geographical and climate conditions that affect human and animal health; an examination of the characteristics of the built environment, such as food security, economy, and state institutions that contribute to good health or disease and disability; and will consider the development of the HIV/AIDS crisis in the context of poverty and underdevelopment.