Undergraduate Programs

The Stanford Global Studies division's undergraduate majors, minors, honors, and certificate programs explore global, regional, and domestic factors involved in contemporary politics, culture and history. Most students study overseas and acquire fluency in a second language as a part of their degree program.

Undergraduate research is supported through a number of fellowship opportunities as well as the International Relations Summer Research College, where students work closely with faculty on current research projects.

Many students pursue careers in a wide range of fields, including government, nonprofit, business, technology, and consulting or go on to graduate school in law, business or academic Ph.D. programs.

 

Majors

International Relations

IR is an interdisciplinary undergraduate major that combines fields to give students the knowledge & skills to understand relations between nations as well as the internal workings of other countries & the role of nongovernmental actors in world affairs.

Jewish Studies

The Jewish Studies major provides students with an understanding of Jewish history, language, literature, religion, thought and politics.

Minor Programs

Global Studies

Open to undergraduates from any major, the Global Studies Minor allows students to pursue interdisciplinary study in one of six specializations, including language study, while integrating this knowledge into a larger vision of global affairs.

Human Rights

This minor provides structure to diverse academic offerings on human rights-related topics, encouraging students from across the university to understand how human rights are interconnected across seemingly disparate disciplines.

International Relations

An interdisciplinary minor about the changing political, economic & cultural relations within the international system of the modern era. Students explore how global, regional & domestic factors influence relations between actors on the world stage.

Jewish Studies

A Jewish Studies minor can help introduce students to Jewish Studies beyond a superficial level and deepen their understanding of Jewish languages like Hebrew and Yiddish.

Honors Tracks

International Relations

Qualified IR students can conduct a major independent research project under faculty guidance. The program is interdisciplinary and enables you to undertake a wide variety of research topics.

Jewish Studies

This minor can help introduce students to Jewish Studies beyond a superficial level and deepen their understanding of Jewish languages like Hebrew and Yiddish.

Certificates

CAS graduation, row of students sitting

African Studies

The certificate in African Studies is an interdisciplinary program that allows the participating student the opportunity to select courses with a focus on Africa in various departments according to his or her interests.

Photo of structure in Iran

Iranian Studies

This interdisciplinary certificate in Iranian Studies is available to undergraduates from any major and consists of courses related to Iran, exposure to Persian language, as well as a research paper.

Coterminal M.A. Degrees

East Asian Studies

The purpose of this M.A. program is to further develop knowledge and skills in East Asian Studies and to prepare students for a professional career or doctoral studies.

Latin American Studies

The interdisciplinary M.A. in Latin American Studies curriculum consists of a core set of courses surveying the history, politics, culture and society, environment and ecology of the region, along with advanced language training.

Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies

The M.A. degree in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies (REEES) provides students with a strong grounding in historical & contemporary processes of change in the Russian Federation, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia.

Jian Yang Lum

Jian Yang Lum ('17) chose to study international relations with a focus on international security, the Middle East, and Central Asia, because he cares strongly about terrorism and war in today’s world. His favorite course at Stanford was Hacking For Diplomacy, where he was able to work as part of a team of students tackling foreign policy challenges. “It's been a blast thinking of a problem such as online radicalism from a different perspective,” he said. “Seeing how to integrate skills from all across the startup spectrum (design, interviewing, pivoting etc.) to something I care deeply about. It really changed how I view online radical ideology.”

Lum studied abroad in Istanbul and Oxford, and also spent a summer working in Beijing through the Global Studies Internship program. During his time at Stanford, he conducted research on insurgency in the Philippines, which turned into an honors thesis under Colonel Joseph Felter. Outside of class, Lum participated in the American Middle-Eastern Network for Dialogue at Stanford, which brings young change makers from the U.S. and the Middle East together. He also performed in musicals and Baroque concerts as a violinist and violist.

“I'm most proud of pushing myself to see the world as much as possible; learning to put myself in a foreign place, often alone and without much idea as to what to expect,” Lum said. After graduation, Lum will be working in data science in San Francisco, and in the longer term he hopes to move into the intersection of data science and international security.

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