International Studies
Engage the great global challenges of our time: security and human rights, poverty and economic inequality, climate change and environmental sustainability, gender equality and the state of democracy. Courses in politics and economics, language and culture, and environment and public health make for a truly interdisciplinary international studies program that can turn your aspirations into action.
We prepare you for careers in the international arena not only by developing your practical tech and communications skills, offering a rich array of study abroad options, and providing real-world learning experiences. Our alumni are business C-level executives, international diplomats, NGO leaders, politicians, lawyers and other public service professionals. Notable alumni of the Korbel school include Condoleeza Rice, Massouma Al-Mubarak, Heraldo Muñoz and General George W. Casey.
We are working to address the great global challenges of our time: security and human rights, economic inequality, climate change and environmental sustainability, gender equality and the state of democracy. Courses in politics and economics, language and culture, and environment and public health make for a truly interdisciplinary international studies program that can transform your aspirations into action.
We prepare students for careers in the international arena not only by helping to develop your practical, analytical, and communications skills, but also through offering a rich array of study abroad options and providing real-world learning experiences. You'll find our alumni amongst business C-suite executives, international diplomats, non-profit leaders, politicians, lawyers and other public service professionals. Notable alumni of the Korbel school include Condoleezza Rice, Massouma Al-Mubarak, Heraldo Muñoz and General George W. Casey.
See our undergraduate brochure and program insert for even more information.
Specializations
All international studies undergraduates choose at least one area of specialization and must successfully complete at least three upper-division INTS courses within that area. This allows you to add depth to your studies and develop an area of focus within the field of international studies.
Specialization Areas
- Global Economic Affairs
- Global Health and Development
- Global Governance and Human Rights
- International Peace and Security
- Global Environmental Sustainability
Critical Experiences
Foreign Language Requirement
Learning a foreign language is an important part of the International Studies major. The foreign language proficiency requirement may be satisfied (a) if you successfully complete the intermediate sequence of courses in one foreign language at the University of Denver with a C- or better, or (b) if you pass an intermediate-level test administered by the Center for World Languages and Cultures.
Study Abroad Requirement
All International Studies students study abroad and are limited to applying a maximum of 13.5 quarter credit hours toward the INTS major. Courses must be pre-approved by the BA program office prior to the start of the study abroad program.
Featured Courses
INTS 2470
Crime and International Politics
About this Course
What constitutes a crime in one location may constitute a personal right, a survival strategy or legitimate business opportunity in another. So how then does one address criminality in a global society? This course explores the roots of transnational crime and both domestic and international response to criminal networks. Topics include corruption, the drug trade, and human trafficking.
INTS 3415
State Department Tradecraft
About this Course
This is a foreign policy skills-based course designed to foster an ability to more effectively engage internal leadership, the press, and foreign audiences while working in a government context. Students will draft a range of communication products including policy memos, diplomatic cables, and talking points and practice essential oral communications skills ranging from negotiation, speaking to the media, and delivering briefings to officials. The State Department’s communications model will be used as a template for engagement, but the skills will be broadly useful to any individual planning to formulate, implement, and educate on policy in executive and legislative settings.
INTS 3420
Climate Security
About this Course
Since the dawn of agriculture (~7000 BCE), but rapidly accelerating in the industrial age (1750 CE to the present), humanity has conducted an uncontrolled experiment in bending the natural environment to fit human needs and desires. Despite the perceived distance that technology has placed between our physical environments and our daily lives, human interactions with our natural environment are still fundamental – and set to be disrupted by climate change, one of the most vexing issues of our time. It poses a wicked problem: a socio/cultural problem that is seemingly impossible to solve due to incomplete knowledge, the number of people and opinions involved, the large changes required, and the linked nature of the problem with other major social issues and problems. Since the end of the Cold War, much attention has been paid to the role of natural resources and environmental scarcity as a source of conflict, ranging from “water wars” between states sharing a common river basin to communal conflict between pastoralists and farmers in the Sahel and even the Syrian Civil War. This course will survey the impacts of climate change on livelihoods and human security, evaluate the expanding literature on environmental impacts on conflict, and address the emerging role of environmental stressors and climate change as US national security issues.
INTS 3431
International Futures
About this Course
Countries vary in relative levels of income, wellbeing, and stability for a variety of reasons, often involving complex interactions that limit our ability to divine a single, general explanation. That said, social science theory, data collection, and quantitative methods have improved significantly over the past several decades providing novel insights into complex, systemic, interactions. These relationships not only help to understand past outcomes but also indicate potential future trajectories under variable scenarios. Using the International Futures (IFs) system, we can begin to understand “where we’ve been”, “where we’re headed”, and “where might we want to be”.
INTS 3505
International Health and Development
About this Course
Investment in health and investment in development work symbiotically in the production of economic and human well-being. However, what constitutes health and development varies across context, institutions, and geographies. This course will focus on the meaning, measurement, financing and delivery of inputs to human well-being and other aspects of development. This course will explore dominant models of health and development, what assumptions inform these models, and who is left unaccounted for within each. We will examine how macro-level decisions, decisions made by global or national institutions, impact both options and outcomes at the community and individual level. The exchange between development policies and health interventions will be explored. We will examine and critique the instruments and methods that are used to measure health and development and the assumptions that inform mainstream development and health paradigms.
INTS 3630
Global Environment
About this Course
The linkages between social change, economic change and alterations to ecosystems have been apparent, if not overtly acknowledged, throughout history. It was not until 1987, however, with the publication of Our Common Future, that such linkages were couched in terms of development and explicitly placed on the international development agenda. The idea appears simple – environmental change, patterns of social change and economic development, social and political factors operate together and impact local, national, regional and global ecosystems. But impacts of the change in any one sector are seldom confined within national boundaries. How then does one address environmental issues across different regulatory, political, institutional and geographic scales? This course examines the connectivity between diverse elements of our planet’s ecosystem, explores how a change in one element can have immediate and long-term impacts across local and global territory, and looks at strategies to create greater harmony across environmental, social, political and economic interests.
Application Information
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