The Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies (GLST) prepares students to take on global challenges in a workforce that needs people who can speak with nuance, clarity, and confidence about social and cultural issues at home and abroad.
Global Studies is a humanities-oriented major that emphasizes cultural literacy, integrative thinking, and the development of solutions-oriented understandings and approaches to complex global issues. A major in Global Studies prepares students for careers in education, international development, non-profit agencies and NGOs, translating and interpreting, public relations and marketing, government service, international law, international business, engineering, global health, and research.
The study of languages and culture are the foundations of the GLST curriculum. Courses focus on making connections across human and natural systems, and how people experience the cultures they live in. Course topics emphasize how literature, films, new media, arts, and built environments convey values; how ideas shape the world; and how people, communities, languages, and cultures circulate around the globe. A study abroad experience, language fluency, and a required minor are all parts of the GLST curriculum.
Plan of Study Grid | First Year |
|---|
| Fall |
|---|
| ENGL 104 | Composition and Rhetoric | 3 |
| GLST 201 | Introduction to Global Studies 1 | 3 |
| 2 | 4 |
| 3 |
| | Semester Credit Hours | 13 |
| Spring |
|---|
| GLST 205 | Research in Global Studies 1,3 | 3 |
| 2 | 4 |
| 3 |
| 1,4 | 3 |
| 5 | 3 |
| | Semester Credit Hours | 16 |
| Second Year |
|---|
| Fall |
|---|
| 2 | 3 |
| 3 |
| 6 | 3 |
| 3 |
| 5 | 3 |
| | Semester Credit Hours | 15 |
| Spring |
|---|
| 3 |
| 3 |
| 2 | 3 |
| 3 |
| 3 |
| | Semester Credit Hours | 15 |
| Third Year |
|---|
| Fall |
|---|
| GLST 300 | International Experience 7 | 0 |
| 2 | 3 |
| 1,4 | 3 |
| 1,4 | 3 |
| 5 | 3 |
| 5 | 3 |
| | Semester Credit Hours | 15 |
| Spring |
|---|
| 1 | 3 |
| |
| Directed Studies | |
| Special Topics in... | |
| 3 |
| 2 | 3 |
| 3 |
| 5 | 3 |
| | Semester Credit Hours | 15 |
| Fourth Year |
|---|
| Fall |
|---|
| 1 | 3 |
| |
| Directed Studies | |
| Special Topics in... | |
| 3 |
| 1,4 | 3 |
| 5 | 3 |
| 5 | 3 |
| | Semester Credit Hours | 15 |
| Spring |
|---|
| GLST 481 | Seminar 1,3 | 3 |
| 3 |
| 5 | 3 |
| 5 | 3 |
| 5 | 3 |
| 5 | 1 |
| | Semester Credit Hours | 16 |
| | Total Semester Credit Hours | 120 |
Graduation requirements include 3 hours of International and Cultural Diversity courses and 3 hours of Cultural Discourse courses. A course satisfying a core category, a college/department requirement, or a free elective can be used to satisfy this requirement. The required 6 hours may be met by courses satisfying other areas of a degree program. See your academic advisor for further information.
Up to 6 hours of major degree hours may count toward a minor.
Minor Field of Study
All Global Studies majors are required to select a minor field of study from a department or program within or outside of the College of Arts and Sciences. The minor will consist of a minimum of 15 hours of coursework, as defined by the minor department. Minors may have specific requirements; students should consult undergraduate advisors in these areas of study. A second major may substitute for the minor. A maximum of 6 hours of courses used to meet the minor requirements may be used in the major.
Foreign Language
Students entering Global Studies take a placement exam to determine the level of and number of required foreign language courses. Exam results may fulfill a maximum of 14 semester credit hours.
- Students placed in 101 will take 101, 102, 201 and 202 and 6 semester credit hours at the 300- or 400-level in the same language.
- Students placed in 102 will take 102, 201 and 202 and 6 semester credit hours at the 300- or 400-level in the same language.
- Students placed in 201 will take 201 and 202 and 6 semester credit hours at the 300- or 400-level in the same language.
- Students placed in 202 will take 202 and 6 semester credit hours at the 300- or 400-level in the same language.
- Students placing out of 101, 102, 201 and 202 will take 6 semester credit hours at the 300- or 400-level in the same language.
International Experience Requirement
The International Experience must generate at least 3 hours of Texas A&M University credit. Departmental approval is required before travel. Any international experience that does not meet these criteria will not count toward the degree.
- Must be at least one long semester or one 10-week summer approved experience.
- Must be taken after completion of 100-level language requirement.
- Must be completed before student is eligible to enroll in GLST 481 .
- Must be an immersion experience in the foreign culture and language, which can be satisfied by:
- An internship at a company, government agency or non-profit operation involving significant use of the foreign language. Three hours of GLST 484 elective credit can be given.
- Courses taken at a foreign university. Courses may count for Texas A&M University credit with approval of the advisor of the relevant department.
- Selected Texas A&M University Study Abroad programs which involve intensive cultural and language immersion.
- A combination of the above to equal the requirement of a long semester or a 10-week summer-approved experience.
- Must be taken outside of the student’s country of origin.
