Online BA in International Studies Curriculum

This course is an introductory survey of the interdisciplinary character of International Studies through examining international politics, economics, society, history, and literature. It explores the origins and development of the field, major trends and themes in international and global affairs and key international topics that affect all of our lives.

This course is an advanced examination of contemporary events, trends, and problems facing humans and societies in an increasingly interdependent world. Global issues will be analyzed through an international studies approach to increase awareness and provide an analytical framework for understanding and addressing the challenges that extend beyond borders of individual states and affect political, social and economic well-being of populations around the globe. Prerequisite: INTL-101 or BUS 125 and Junior Status

This course consists of an independent research project, under the guidance and supervision of a faculty member. The student writes a substantial paper on a topic chosen by the student and approved by the instructor.

This course focuses on communication systems in world cultures with an emphasis on understanding the social, cultural, political, and economic effects on different systems.Students will also explore intercultural communication and the challenges of communicating in a global environment.

Students will gain experience working with organizations having an international focus. A minimum of 135 hours of work is necessary. Prerequisite: Junior or Senior Status

This course is a historical survey which presents a global view of art from prehistoric art in Europe through the 14th century. Content introduces beginning students to the works of all artists, including women and artists of color.

This course is a historical survey that presents a global view of art from the early Renaissance in Europe through contemporary art in the United States. Content introduces the works of all artists, including women and artists of color.

This course introduces the music of different cultures, excluding the Western Euro-American tradition. It explores art and ethnic music of India, Indonesia and the Far East as well as Africa, South America, and Australia.

This class begins four thousand years ago, with the Epic of Gilgamesh, the first great work of world literature, and then moves through the ancient and medieval world up to the 17th century. Readings may draw from classic works such as The Odyssey, Greek tragedies and comedies, The Aeneid, Beowulf, The Divine Comedy, The Journey to the West, Narrow Road to the Interior, The Canterbury Tales, and Don Quixote. The class may also include writers such as Plato, Aristotle, and Augustine, as well as selections from the Bible, the Koran, and the Bhagavad-Gita.

Individuality and personal freedom, or alienation and existential despair? This class explores the development of modernity as reflected and developed in the literatures of the world from the 18th century to the present. Readings will be drawn from various global traditions, and may include authors such as Goethe, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Baudelaire, Rilke, Lu Xun, Kafka, Akhmatova, Camus, Abe, and Allende

This course introduces the student to selected Asian, African, and Middle Eastern cultures in order to increase global awareness and understanding and to enhance cross-cultural tolerance and communication.

The course introduces the basic beliefs and practices of the major religious cultures of the world. By comparing these beliefs with their own, students better understand their own beliefs and practices and become aware of how people of other cultures think and act religiously. Students develop a tolerance and an appreciation for other cultures and a basis for fuller international awareness and understanding.

This course explores significant people, movements, events, and ideas in the major civilizations of the world to about 1500. Our class will permit students to compare civilizations, empires, religions, epistemologies, and cultures on a planetary scale. From the Epic of Gilgamesh to Machiavelli’s The Prince, students will analyze primary sources to better understand human societies in their own words and works. This class will also incorporate the use of games, the sampling of global cuisines, and the analysis of art and music to achieve an in-depth, yet broad survey of human history to the Early Modern period.

What does it means to live in a truly “globalized” world? How have human societies, and the identities of their members, changed in response to human migration on a planetary scale? This course investigates these and other questions about human cultural and civilizational encounters following the Colombian Exchange. Students will explore the most recent five hundred years of human history, interrogating the global impact of such phenomena as the Atlantic slave trade; the Reformation; the emergence of nation-states and European empires; the industrialization of nations and the embrace of capitalism; political revolutions and the unraveling of empires; the two world wars and the Cold War; climate change, and extremist terrorism.

This course introduces the economic perspective on decisions currently faced by individuals, businesses, and society. Basic economic principles and methods are used to address both microeconomic and macroeconomic topics, with a focus on the modern market economy. Essential content includes the laws of supply and demand; the behavior of consumers and firms; the function of resource markets; macroeconomic measures of economic growth, unemployment, and inflation; the use of fiscal and monetary policy to achieve macroeconomic goals; and an overview of international trade.

This is an introductory course which examines the interaction of military, political, economic, social and cultural forces in present-day world politics. Four sections make up this course: (1) history, concepts, and theories of world politics, (2) international security and globalization, (3) international political economy, and (4) contemporary issues in world politics. Among the topics covered are anarchy, terrorism, hegemonic stability and the rise and fall of the great powers, the changing role of state sovereignty, and the role of justice and international/transnational legal institutions in world politics.

This course studies several Western, Communist/former Communist, and Third World political systems using comparative analysis.

This course introduces the structures of Spanish with emphasis on speaking, listening, and writing skills.

This course further develops skills in speaking and writing Spanish. Students are introduced to Spanish fiction and non-fiction.

A continued development of all language skills, this course emphasizes reading and discussion of fiction and non- fiction. Conducted in Spanish.

A continued development of all language skills, this course includes reading and discussion of fiction and non-fiction. Conducted in Spanish.