This program is designed for students who have strong international and regional (area studies) interests and wish to pursue these interests systemically in their academic studies. The program reflects the belief that several kinds if skills and knowledge are essential for understanding the contemporary global system. The first of these is the ability to analyze issues that are global – issues the pertain to the interrelationships among the people and state of the world. The second is skill in making explicit, systematic comparisons between dimensions of political, socioeconomic, or cultural life in two or more societies, as well as acquiring the special kinds of insights resulting from comparative analysis. The third is in-depth knowledge of a particular area of the world – its geography, history, culture, and institutions. These area may be a state, a subcontinent, or a continent.

With a mix of courses providing global/comparative and area-specific knowledge, mastery of a second language, study abroad, the IAS sophomore and senior seminars, a discipline-specific major or minor, and internationally-oriented Senior Individualized Project (SIP), students majoring in International and Area Studies should be well prepared to live in and to make sense of the interdependent system of nations and regions that make up the modern world. They will also have a solid foundation for graduate study and /or further training for careers in the international realm.

The IAS Program is open to all students.