Global Studies Minor

The Global Studies Minor is available to Stanford undergraduates from any major, and is designed to provide students with the opportunity to pursue interdisciplinary study in one of six specializations, including in-depth language study, while integrating this knowledge into a larger vision of global affairs:

Requirements

Students who have participated or plan to participate in the Bing Overseas Studies Program (BOSP) are especially encouraged to enroll as most units earned through the BOSP program satisfy the Global Studies minor.

All students are required to complete 28 units, including a 3 unit gateway course GLOBAL 101: Critical Issues in Global Affairs.The remaining 25 units are unique to each specialization. 

To declare the Global Studies minor, students must:

  1. Set up an appointment with the appropriate specialization adviser (see appropriate specialization page for contact information).  

  2. Declare the Global Studies minor and subplan in Axess.

Who to contact

Dr. Katherine Kuhns, Executive Director, Stanford Global Studies

kkuhns@stanford.edu

Encina Commons, Room 128C

Global 101

In this introductory course, students explore global themes that span international borders, such as health, development, migration, and security. This course encourages students to think comparatively across major world regions, and to work on issues that integrate specific regions within the larger international community.

What is Global Studies?

Global studies encompasses the insights and knowledge base of area studies: the interdisciplinary study of world regions and their intersecting cultures, languages, history, politics, and societies. By applying multi-disciplinary knowledge, from human biology and earth sciences to music and engineering, students can better understand the character of world regions, their respective developmental trajectories, and the way those trajectories fit within the larger context of globalization.

How does the Global Studies Minor differ from other international-related programs at Stanford?

International Relations (IR) offers an interdisciplinary undergraduate minor focusing on the changing political, economic, and cultural relations within the international system of the modern era. The program explores how global, regional, and domestic factors influence relations between actors on the world stage. Students are equipped with both the foundational skills and specific knowledge necessary to analyze the choices and challenges that arise in this arena.
 
 
  • Africa
  • Comparative International Governance
  • East and South Asia
  • Economic Development and World Economy
  • Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources
  • Europe (East and West) and Russia
  • International History and Culture
  • International Security
  • Latin American and Iberian Studies
  • Middle East and Central Asia
  • Social Development and Human Well-Being

The Departments of Comparative Literature, French and Italian, German Studies, Iberian and Latin American Cultures, Slavic Languages and Literatures, and the Language Center, are housed in the Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages (DLCL). DLCL students master modern languages and use them to do research in culture, literature, history, politics, and philosophy. Through courses in poetry, prose, drama, and film at Stanford and at the Bing Overseas Studies Program, DLCL undergraduates learn to think both critically and globally about how people use language to make sense of the world, to claim an identity and a place in history, to entertain, and to persuade.

The Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Stanford is dedicated to the study of the languages, literatures, linguistics and cultures of East Asia. The department prepares students for B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Chinese and Japanese, and has a thriving program in Korean language. The undergraduate minors in East Asian Languages and Cultures has been designed to give students majoring in other departments an opportunity to gain a substantial introduction to Chinese (Mandarin) or Japanese language, as well as an introduction to the culture and civilization of East Asia.

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