The B.A. in Global Studies is an interdisciplinary major housed in the College of Social & Behavioral Sciences. The major helps students think critically about global issues from a variety of perspectives and prepares them for a career focused on international service.
Need for Global Education
Virtually every professional educational forum (e.g., American Council on Education, Association of American Colleges and Universities, etc.) strongly endorses the idea of globalizing the educational experience of our students. Indeed, like many institutions across the country, the University of Arizona has aggressively pursued internationalization/globalization agendas over the past two decades. This institutional innovation has been in direct response to a variety of metrics showing that corporate, government and non-governmental institutions have urged that the U.S. workforce be better able to manage the realities of a globalized world.
Global Framework
The major is structured around intellectual and experiential frameworks that empower students to analyze, adapt, communicate, problem-solve, and empathize in a variety of professional and personal networks. The unique structure of the major, one that emphasizes interdisciplinary study also promotes self-reliance, leadership and team skills. It is precisely these skills and attitudes that will allow our graduates to lead in their respective workplaces and communities – settings increasingly infused with global forces.
Students in our program are equipped to explore:
- Intercultural understanding and communication: acquiring the skills and knowledge to engage in cross-cultural collaboration (whether at the personal, community, or state level)
- Global contextualization of the professions: the global/international settings in the exercise of the professions citizenship and leadership in the global context (ethics and values involved in global challenges such as sustainability, race, gender, etc.)
Engagement
A major assumption of our program is that many of the most effective and lasting educational, research, and outreach opportunities take place outside the classroom. Therefore our major is constructed to reward and encourage a variety of co-curricular and alternative educational activities to extend and complement the traditional classroom.
Our Graduates
Our goals are to have graduates that can:
- Collaborate. Graduates will be empowered with skills, knowledge, and experience to collaborate with individuals and organizations across cultural backgrounds.
- Lead. Graduates will be empowered with confidence and capacity to collaborate and lead across cultural boundaries.
- Adapt. Graduates will be empowered with the capacity to transcend constraints of time and place, and to feel comfortable in diverse teams and work settings.