Skip to main content

2019-2020 Undergraduate & Graduate Catalog

Search Help

Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science in Global Studies and Social Impact

Global studies and social impact is an interdisciplinary major with a focus on understanding, through multiple perspectives, global issues and how they affect people in all areas of the world.

Requirements for a Major in Global Studies

Credits required for the major: 39 (+12 for B.A. or +9 for B.S.)

Core Courses (Credits: 9)

Area Studies Courses (Credits: 12)

Choose two areas (AAA, EAS, LAS, MES) and take two courses from the list of courses available from each area. In the case of Meijer Honors College sequences, students need to take the entire four-course sequence to earn credit for that area.

An asterisk (*) designates experiential learning.

African & African American Studies (AAA) Electives

East Asian Studies (EAS) Electives

Latin American Studies (LAS) Electives

Middle East Studies (MES) Electives

Clusters (Credits: 18)

Students choose two courses from each of the three clusters. No more than two courses from each discipline. GSI 490 may only be taken once for credit.

An asterisk (*) designates experiential learning.

Cluster One: Places, Movements, Encounters

Courses in this cluster help students to think about how place and culture connect, and about how people and ideas move and shift in a global world. Students will learn how the fast changing, globalized world is constantly presenting new challenges and new kinds of encounters and opportunities.

GSI 490 - Internship*

Cluster Two: Expressions and Identities

Courses in this cluster address issues of individual and social identity in a global context. Students will learn to think theoretically and apply this knowledge to understandings of gender, race, ethnicity, class, spirituality and sexuality, and the construction of hybrid identities.

Cluster Three: Systems and Actions

Courses in this cluster focus on large-scale and global policies and structures within which people and ideas circulate. Students will learn to think about human agency within such structures, as well as how to critically evaluate how these structures enable and challenge social justice locally and globally.

B.A./B.S. Options

This major offers both a B.A. and a B.S. option. Students who opt for the B.A. must gain fourth semester proficiency in a world language. To complete the B.S. requirements, students must take:

One of the following research methods courses:

One of the following additional courses in methodology or statistics (cannot be the same methods course selected previously):

Experiential Learning or Study Abroad

Students are required to complete either an experiential learning course or study abroad. An experiential learning course takes the place of one cluster course. Study abroad course takes the place of one area studies course.

Suggested Order of Coursework for a Major in Global Studies

First Year

  • Language 101
  • Language 102

Second Year

  • Language 201
  • Language 202

Third Year

Fourth Year

Global Studies Program Description

Click here for the program description.


If you are in need of assistance please submit any questions or comments.