Students looking to broaden their horizons will soon be able to minor in a new area: international studies. </p>
<p>The University’s Curriculum Committee approved the creation of the minor last week. The minor will be available to students beginning this fall. </p>
<p>The University is the last school in the Big Ten to implement such a minor. </p>
<p>“In the globalizing world like the one we live in, it’s crucial that U-M students have the opportunity to explore international studies,” said Andrew Yahkind, president of LSA Student Government.</p>
<p>LSA-SG has worked for two and half years to create the minor. </p>
<p>“For many years, students have come to Michigan to study international studies or international relations and are shocked to find that we don’t have anything,” Yahkind said.</p>
<p>In order to complete the minor, students will need to obtain 18 to 21 credits. Students will be required to pick both a geographic emphasis and a thematic emphasis. There will be several options for students looking to select a thematic emphasis. They include human rights; gender and sexuality; global health; race and ethnicity; and international conflict and security. </p>
<p>“The thematic emphasis will be the lens through which students will focus their studies,” LSA-SG Vice President Paige Butler said. </p>
<p>The minor will operate out of the Center for International and Comparative Studies, which opened its doors last year and is part of the University’s International Institute. The International Institute is responsible for research and training in comparative and international studies within LSA. </p>
<p>The CICS has already developed a list of possible suggestions for students to design their own curriculum. </p>
<p>Students attempting the minor will also need to complete an expanded language requirement, as well as take a seminar mandatory for all students. The subject matter of the seminar is still under discussion. </p>
<p>The minor will not necessitate an application, but prospective students will need to have their plan approved by the director of the International Institute.</p>
<p>“The minor will be more for people doing comparative work for different countries or regions,” said Susanne Kocsis, academic program officer for the International Institute. “A lot of the work that students will be doing will fall under the categories of human rights, international development, and international security and development.” </p>
<p>Because classes will come from different departments across campus, Kocsis hopes CICS’s design will get students to study their regions from different perspectives. </p>
<p>“It’s deliberately designed to be very flexible so we can get students from different disciplines,” Kocsis said. “Other than the language requirement and the seminar, there aren’t any other specific courses that will be required.”</p>
<p>Kocsis also noted that new professors will be hired, but probably not right away, because CICS is waiting to hear whether it will receive a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. </p>
<p>The grant, which could be awarded next spring, would provide CICS with several million dollars to help fund the minor, including the hiring of new professors.</p>
<p>For now, CICS will not limit the number of students that can declare the minor, unless there is more interest than the program can handle because of its small administrative staff. </p>
<p>“Right now we’re not limiting it, but we’re expecting a very big response. There might be (imposed limits) if we get an overwhelming response,” Kocsis said. </p>
<p>Because the University is the last Big Ten school to offer a program in international studies, Butler said she hopes the minor will help the University remain competitive.</p>
<p>“It’s a perfect complement to any education,” Yahkind said. “If you’re political science, English literature, cultural anthropology - there’s no discipline that I can think of that wouldn’t be complemented well by the minor,” Yahkind said.