Global and International Studies

The Global and International Studies (GLIS) Program is devoted to understanding human cultures and societies as bounded by "One World". The GLIS program emphasizes developing a global perspective through scholarly study, research, international communication and experience abroad. The GLIS Program brings together expertise from the Humanities and Social Sciences for an interdisciplinary approach to the global problems facing us.

You Might Like This Program If...

You are concerned about global problems that face everyone and cannot be explained by a single discipline or approach. Our majors and minors are engaged in thinking about the issues of planetary concern from Humanities and Social Science perspectives. If you think laws, economics, social statistics, history, and culture of importance in solving problems like war, starvation, mass migration, and climate change, think about GLIS.

The interdisciplinary B.A. degree in Global and International Studies is intended to prepare students for lives and careers in a world that is increasingly interdependent. It reflects a "One World" concept that emphasizes the importance of global perspectives, international communication, and study or working experience abroad. The major combines the expertise of multiple disciplines, including the Social Sciences and the Humanities, to suggest a variety of methods for understanding the dynamic issues facing human beings across the globe. The structure of the major also recognizes the fact that the vast majority of the world's people live in regions other than the European and North American spheres, and that a knowledge of non-Anglophone cultures is an important form of preparation for global citizenship.

The major develops transnational and trans-regional literacy, drawing on coursework both in the Humanities and the Social Sciences to focus on questions of globalization, ethical imagination, and ways to engage peoples and cultures in local terms. Students learn to situate global trends, both macro and micro in nature, in relation to other historical processes. Most courses for the GLIS major will demonstrate a global or regional (rather than national) perspective and address a central topic in one of five designated Pathways.

Human Rights

This Pathway examines the history, development, enforcement, and violations of concepts of the basic rights of mankind. Whether through questions of torture, freedom of conscience, trafficking of women and children, agreements about prisoners of war, human rights constantly need redefining and rethinking if they are to be broad enough to cover everyone on our planet and specific enough to have a real effect on human behavior.

Culture and Identity

Global economic, political, and cultural processes are bound up with complex questions of culture and identity at the individual, familial, and community levels. Examining how differences in language, ideology, religion, race, gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation among others impact our sense of self and other, this Pathway considers:

• foundational expressions of social and cultural values;
• the formation and contestation of identity over time;
• the impacts of modernization on individual, family, and community identity;
• genetic manipulation and modification; and
• questions of colonization and colonialism on political and cultural structures.

Global Conflict

This Pathway examines war, peace, and security on a global and historical scale to reveal the contingent decisions, random accidents, and devious schemes which continue to be at the root of violence around the world. This Pathway studies conflicts great and small, from tribal warfare to national and international wars, revolutions, acts of terrorism, and so on. It also considers successful and unsuccessful efforts to halt conflict, and how and why approaches to and experiences with peace can affect conflict situations.

Wealth and Inequality

This Pathway considers global distribution of people, goods, and money, both in the contemporary world and in deep historical time, examining feudalism, trade, imperialism, nationalism, and the socioeconomic impacts of globalization. Some of the themes on which it focuses include:

• motivations for and experiences of such human movement as migration, exploration, travel, slavery, diaspora, asylum, and exile;
• demographic change;
• poverty, wealth, and economic inequality; and
• political, social, and cultural incentives for and restrictions on circulation (censorship, translation, free trade, prize culture, protectionism, access, privilege, bias).

Health and Environment

This Pathway considers the direct impact of global issues on the life on our planet. As intercontinental travel makes nearly every epidemic already global today, the more and more the health of individuals is directly connected to the health of the globe. Growing populations, aging demographics, increasing pollution, and decreasing food resources present new challenges for global human health. Similarly the global cycles of climate change and crisis force us to reconsider both natural processes and anthropogenic influences, examining the philosophy and history of human's place in nature. Some of the themes on which this Pathway focuses include:

• the relationship between local resources and global geopolitics;
• cultural, economic, and social effects of global climate change;
• pollution and conservation;
• environmental movements; and
• evolution and extinction.

Alternatively, students with a GPA above 3.5 may work with advisers and faculty to create a personalized Pathway that reflects their interests.

The B.A. degree requires six credits of foreign-language study beyond the 12-credit proficiency level, or in a second foreign language.The B.A. degree may include a significant engaged scholarship experience (such as undertaking an internship, job, volunteer position, or period of study) located either abroad or in a majority non-English-speaking part of the United States.

• Content Knowledge: Students will be able to identify and define two or more global issues; and then explain how they influence each other.
• Comparative Analysis: Students will be able to compare global and international phenomena using a real-world example.
• Application: Students will be able to interpret and critically analyze how a global issue shapes an individual, local, national, or international outcome from social scientific and humanistic perspectives using social data and visual, oral, or written materials.
• Synthesis: Students will demonstrate their mastery of synthesizing the knowledge gained from their global studies.

If you are a first year student applying to Penn State:

Click Apply to start your Penn State application. Before starting, you can also review the Applying Online Worksheet for more details and helpful hints about the application.

Your application work can be saved at each step of the process by clicking the Save and Continue button at the bottom of the page. This feature will allow you to move back and forth within the application or log off and return to complete your application at a later time.

After completing your Academic History, you will need to provide your Self-Reported Academic Record (SRAR). As you begin the SRAR process, a new window will open allowing you to complete your SRAR. SRAR will focus on your high school coursework. It is important that this step is a complete and accurate representation of your school record. Therefore, have a copy of your secondary school records available as you complete your SRAR. You will need to enter every class and every grade earned for the last three years, as well as those classes in progress.

After completing your SRAR, you will be directed back to the Penn State application in order to complete the Program of Study portion of the application. Here, you will indicate your desired starting semester, your intended program of study, and your starting and ending campus. For further details on how to complete this portion based on your applicant type, please see the steps to apply for first-year students.

After completing this section of the application, you will provide some additional information, an activities resume, and a personal statement. You will be able to paste in this information from other sources, but note that the formatting may not always paste in as intended.

If you are a transfer student applying to Penn State:

All international transfer students will be required to submit official high school transcripts in order to complete the application. International transfer students will not complete the Self-Reported Academic Record (SRAR) for either their high school or college coursework.

If you have accepted your offer of admission to Penn State:

If you completed SRAR and are accepted to Penn State, please provide the following for grade verification:

• Official transcript from years 9, 10, 11, and 12. If the transcript is issued in a language other than English, it must be accompanied by a separate line-by-line English translation.
• Official copy of the Tawjihi, accompanied by a separate line-by-line English translation.

For undergraduates, a Global Studies major offers excellent preparation for careers in government, education, diplomatic service, intelligence analysis, international business and finance, NGOs, and non-profit organizations. Graduates are also prepared for competitive graduate programs in fields as diverse as international law, international development, global education, administration, public policy, and the humanities and social sciences.

Bios of our recent alumni explaining how GLIS fit into their career paths are available on the GLIS website. Their careers include, Account Management in Advertising Technology, International Relocation Services, Social Media Advertising, Regional Policy Officer, State Department, Financial Analyst, Seimens Healthcare, Strategy and Business Development, Senior Director, Strategic Accounts, Teacher, Sales, Gilead Sciences, Office Operations and Facilities, Commissioner's Office Major League Baseball, Management Consultant in Talent and Organization Strategy at Accenture Federal Services (AFS), Study abroad programs, including IES, and Independent Creative Writer.

Opportunities for Graduate Studies

• Masters in Global Studies
• Law School
• Graduate Work in Economics
• Political Science
• Comparative Literature
• Area Studies