Current Students | Faculty and Staff | Alumni | Parents

2004-2005 Course Catalog

Global Studies


253.535.7132
www.plu.edu/~glst

Course Offerings

The Global Studies Program is a response to global trends that increasingly affect our lives. The program focuses on the formation and emergence of the modern world and its growing economic, cultural, political, and ecological interdependence. By combining academic learning with language skills and practical experience, the Global Studies Program provides students with the knowledge, perspectives, and skills they need to understand and to function effectively in today's world.

Faculty: The Global Studies Committee administers this program: St. Clair, Chair; Crawford, Hames, Klein, McKenney,  Manfredi, Martinez-Carbajo.

Global Studies Complementary Major: The Global Studies major is termed a complementary major because it is a second major in addition to a regular disciplinary major. Students electing the Global Studies major are required to declare a traditional disciplinary major before they declare a Global Studies major.

The Global Studies major is multidisciplinary, drawing both its courses and faculty from departments of the Divisions of Humanities, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences and from the Schools of the Arts and Business.

Because the program is designed to draw on a variety of disci-plinary perspectives to explain and understand global trends, no more than two courses (8 semester hours) can be taken in any one discipline to fulfill the requirements for the issue concentration for the Global Studies major. In addition, students may not apply more than two courses (8 semester hours) from their primary major or from courses taken to fulfill general university core requirements to the complementary major.

Major Requirements:
  1. Global Studies Core (16 semester hours)
    1. Anthropology/History/Political Science 210 Global Perspectives (4)
    2. Select two courses from the following three:
      1. Anthropology 102 Exploring Anthropology: Culture and Society (4)
      2. Economics 130 Global and Environmental Economic Principles (4)
      3. History 215 Modern World History (4)
    3. Global Studies 499 Research Seminar (4)
  2. Issue Area Concentrations (16 semester hours)
    Four courses must be taken from one of the five concentrations outlined below. Upon approval of the program chair, students may choose to take three courses from one concentration and one from another.
  3. Language
    Students must demonstrate proficiency in a language relevant to their coursework and at a level consistent with Option 1 of the College of Arts and Sciences foreign language requirement. This may be accomplished through a proficiency examination or through the equivalent of 16 semester hours of coursework.
  4. Experiential Component
    Majors are strongly encouraged to participate in a study abroad program overseas, although local internships related to an area concentration may also be approved. Pre-approved credit equivalent to 4–8 semester hours may be obtained if students participate in a PLU approved study abroad semester-long program.
  5. Senior Research Project
    The senior project is a general university requirement in all programs and majors. Students will normally satisfy this requirement by completing a research project or paper in Global Studies 499.
Issue Concentrations:
  1. Comparative Ethnicities
    1. Required:
      Anthropology 360 Ethnic Groups
    2. Electives:
      At least two electives must be upper-division courses.
      Anthropology 336 People of Latin America
      Anthropology 343 East Asian Cultures
      Anthropology 350 Women and Men in World Cultures
      Anthropology 375 Law, Politics and Revolution
      Anthropology 380 Sickness, Madness, and Health
      Anthropology 385 Marriage, Family and Kinship
      Anthropology 392 Gods, Magic, and Morals (also Religion 392 )
      English 216 Fiction: Cross-Cultural Perspectives
      English 233 Post-Colonial Literature
      French 221 French Literature and Film of the Americas
      French 432 Francophone Literature
      Global Studies 495 Global Studies Internship
      History 109 East Asian Societies
      History 335 Latin American History
      Languages 272 Literature and Social Change in Latin America
      Music 120 Music and Culture
      Political Science 381 Comparative Legal Systems
      Religion 131 Religions of South Asia
      Religion 132 Religions of East Asia
      Religion 247 Christian Theology
      Religion 344 Theological Studies
      Religion 390 Studies in the History of Religions
      Religion 392 Gods, Magic, and Morals (also Anthropology 392)
      Spanish 322 Latin American Culture and Civilization
  2. Development Issues
    1. Required:
      Economics 341 Economic Development: Comparative Third World Strategies
      International Core 245 History and Perspectives on Development
    2. Electives:
      Anthropology 351 Women, Colonization, and Development
      English 233 Post-Colonial Literature
      International Core 242 Population, Hunger, and Poverty
      International Core 246 Cases in Development
      History 496 Seminar: The Third World
      Global Studies 495 Global Studies Internship
      One area-studies course which focuses on a developing region or country of particular student interest (for example, French 341, History 335, History 338, History 339, Languages 272, Spanish 322).
  3. Global Business
    1. Required:
      Business 352 Global Management
      Economics 331 International Economics
    2. Electives:
      Business 355 Global Operations
      Business 408 International Business Law
      Business 460 International Marketing
      Economics 371 Industrial Organization and Public Policy
      Global Studies 495 Global Studies Internship
      Political Science 331 International Relations
      Political Science 347 Political Economy
  4. Global Environment
    1. Required:
      Biology 116 Introductory Ecology or
      Biology 424 Ecology or
      Chemistry 104 Environmental Chemistry
      and
      Geosciences 104 Conservation of Natural Resources or
      International Core 241 Energy, Resources, and Pollution
    2. Electives:
      Anthropology 354 Geography of World Cultures
      Biology 424 Ecology (if not taken as a required course)
      Economics 330 Environmental and Natural Resource Economics
      Geosciences 341 Energy and Mineral Resources for the Future
      Global Studies 495 Global Studies Internship
      International Core 241 Energy, Resources, and Pollution (if not taken as a required course)
      International Core 242 Population, Hunger, and Poverty
  5. International Relations
    1. Required:
      Political Science 331 International Relations
    2. Electives:
      Anthropology 375 Law, Politics, and Revolution
      Economics 331 International Economics
      Economics 381 Comparative Economic Systems
      Global Studies 495 Global Studies Internship
      History 215 Modern World History
      History 356 American Diplomatic History
      Political Science 338 American Foreign Policy
      Political Science 431 Advanced International Relations

      Note: Students planning to pursue graduate study in International Relations are strongly advised to take Statistics 231/Mathematics 341 (a course which also satisfies a general university requirement in Mathematical Reasoning.)


Minor Requirements: 20 semester hours, including two core courses (Anthropology/History/Political Science 210 and Global Studies 499); and three courses from the approved list of courses for an issue concentration that appears in the “Major Requirements” section above. Those seeking a concentration in Global Business must take Economics 331 as one of the three remaining electives. Concentrators in International Relations must take Political Science 331 as one of the three remaining electives.

Course Offerings – GLST

495 Internship
A project, usually undertaken during a study-abroad experience and supervised by a PLU faculty member, that combines field experience, research, and writing on issues related to the student's issue concentration in Global Studies. Local internships that involve transnational issues and constituencies will also be considered. Prerequisite: prior consent of the chair of the Global Studies Committee and of the supervising PLU faculty member. (4)

499 Capstone: Research Seminar – SR
Required of all students majoring and minoring in Global Studies, this is a capstone seminar that culminates in the writing of an extensive research paper. Prerequisite: ANTH/HIST/POLS 210. (4)