DRAFT: 2-15-17

Global Studies Minor Proposal

“ . . . serving God’s kingdom by cultivating thoughtful scholars,

grateful servants and faithful leaders for global engagement

with the academy, church and world.”

~ Westmont College Mission Statement

Purpose: The Global Studies minor blendsoff-campus study, interdisciplinary analysis, language learning, and advanced research into a program designed to help graduates study and work in an interconnected world. For several decades, Westmont has offered multiple opportunities for students to spend a semester off-campus, often overseas; the minor is designed largely for students returning from off-campus study who are eagerto expand their exploration of global issues, transnational processes, and interactions once they return. By supplementing an off-campus semester with further readings, discussions, and research, the minor will strive to strengthen connections between global learning and the liberal arts, and will also help equip students for careers, study, and service in international arenas. It will also seek to prepare students for graduate work in international affairs, international business, peace studies, area studies, and the emergent global civil society.

Interest in the Minor: Interest in creating a Global Studies minor was sparked in part by the development of a Global Studies Fellows Program. This program was launched this fall, and has also been designed to engage students returning from off-campus programs in more extended study and research. The heart of the Global Studies Fellows Program is a Global Studies Seminar, as well as several co-curricular opportunities. We intend to continue the Global Studies Fellows Program. Not all members of the Global Studies Fellows Program would necessarily wish to do the additional curricular work to achieve the minor, but for those students interested in doing the additional work to earn a minor this proposal outlines the path to achieve that goal.

The proposed Global Studies minor also responds to increased interest around the nation in Global Studies as an academic field. While interdisciplinary in nature, Global Studies is indeed establishing itself as an academic field of study in its own right, with institutes, associations, academic conferences, and degree-granting programs. For instance, UCSB holds one of the oldest and largest departments of Global Studies. Begun in 1999, it has grown to more than 900 undergraduate majors and a Ph.D.

Distinctives: As an emerging field, Global Studies analyzes social, political, and economic processes and changes that affect the world as a whole and an individual locality. Such processes and changes occur in complex and often contradictory ways. As an interdisciplinary field, Global Studies stresses ethical reflection and civic engagement more prominently than most academic disciplines. In our unique mission as a Christian institution, the minor will provide further opportunities for students to consider questions of Christian responsibility and compassionate action in the world.

At Westmont, the Global Studies minor will also emphasize the connections between the “global and the local,” with readings and projects that encourage comparative perspective across cultures and experiential learning and research in distinct contexts. Students will be able to identify a track of study in the minor that is related to a specific region of the world and connected to their off-campus study experience.

Recently, we have seen some healthy collaboration between the Emmaus Road program and the Global Studies Fellows Program, as Emmaus Road team members and Global Studies Fellows will be working together this summer in Peru. We anticipate that some of the research projects in the Global Studies minor can be related to the service learning initiatives in the co-curriculum.

Components: The Global Studies minor requires a minimum of 22 credits, and has several basic components:

1. Global Study: Semester-long Study (minimum 12 units)

The first component is an off-campus study experience of at least 12 credits. Westmont offers several semester-long options, and students would also be able to complete a semester of study offered by the third-party provider with the approval of the Global Studies minor advisor and the Off-Campus Programs Committee. For the initial years of the program, the Off-Campus Programs Committee would serve as the advisory group for the minor (and if the program grows, then a new advisory group would be established). In most instances, the off-campus study semester strives to build on students’ global experiences through a re-entry semester in the term following the completion of the semester away from campus.

2. Further Language Study (4 units)

The Global Studies minor will require students to move beyond their general education requirements for language acquisition by completing an additional course in language study. Students could pursue a second semester of a language or an initial course in a separate language. Language acquisition is increasingly considered an important component to global citizenship. This language study can lead to greater facility in a single language or broadened familiarity with the way two different languages can open windows on the world.

3. Interdisciplinary Seminar (4 units)

Global Studies Minors will complete the Global Studies Fellows Seminar, a semester-long examination of multiple themes in international and cross-cultural study. Readings and discussions would cover a range of political, social, cultural and religious issues. Taught by a single professor, the seminar would include guest visits from a number of Westmont faculty who bring some global experience and experience to the discussions.

4. Global Studies Research Capstone (2-4 units)

Upon completing the interdisciplinary Global Studies Fellow Seminar, students would be able to pursue a substantial research project in the subsequent semester and/or summer. Projects would be developed in consultation with the director of the Global Studies program, and research venues could be local and/or international.

5. Focus

As much as possible, students in the Global Studies minor will be encouraged to develop a regional or thematic focus in their course of study. For instance, students who complete the Westmont in Istanbul program or Westmont in Jerusalem program could declare a Middle Eastern focus, with either Turkish or Arabic as their language and a research project related to regional issues. Similarly, students who completed the Uganda semester would continue with a global health focus and project. A student’s specific focus would need to be approved by the director of the Global Studies Fellows program.

6. Advisory Committee

The Global Studies minor would be overseen by an advisory committee, which would consist of 3-4 faculty members, the Director of Global Education, the director of the Global Studies seminar and program, and a representative from Student Life.

Required Courses (22-24 Units):

Global Semester (minimum of 12 units)

Westmont’s current programs include:

Westmont in Jerusalem

Westmont in Istanbul

Westmont in Northern Europe

Europe Semester

England Semester

Westmont in Asia

Westmont in Mexico

Global Health in Uganda

Students participating in the Westmont in San Francisco and Westmont Downtown programs can apply to have their courses of study count for credit for the Global Studies minor. They will need to demonstrate how their courses of study and research explore global themes, especially the connections between “global” and “local” communities and ideas. Applications must be reviewed and approved by the Academic Senate Review Committee.

Similarly, students can apply to have Third-Party Programs (global programs offered by other colleges or organizations) approved for the minor. The Academic Senate will review these applications as well.

Global Exposure (6-8units):

(4) Global Studies Fellows Seminar

(2-4) Global Studies Capstonein Research

Foreign Language Acquisition (4 units):

(4) Foreign Language: One Additional Semester of College-level study in a language. Students can complete a second course in a language or a first-course in another language.

Westmont Program Curricula for 12 Units of Global Study

Westmont in East Asia (16 units)

• History of World Christianity (4 units)
• Theology and Economics of Wealth and Poverty (4 units)
• Chinese (Mandarin) Language (4 units)
• Issues in Contemporary Chinese Society (4 units)

England Semester (16 units)

•British and Irish Theatre (4 units)

• Shakespeare in Performance (4 units)

• Crossing Borders: The Poetry /Drama of Ireland, North and South (4 units)

• Mysteries and Martyrs, Saints and Sites (4 units)

Europe Semester (16 units)

  • IS 121 The British (4 units)
  • IS 124 Whither Humanity? Hitler’s War and the Holocaust (4 units)
  • IS 125 Contemporary Challenges in Europe (4 units)
  • HIS 195 The City in Europe (4 units)

Westmont in Istanbul(16 units)

  • Cross and Crescent in the Middle East(4 units)
  • Modern Turkey(4 units)
  • Change and Conflict in the Modern Middle East(4 units)
  • Turkish language (4 units)

Westmont in Jerusalem(16 units)

  • RS104: Jesus in the Gospels and the Land (4 units)
  • IS129: Culture and Society: Israel and Palestine (4 units)
  • RS 165: Religions in Context: Judaism & Islam (4 units)
  • IS003: Introductory Arabic (3 units)
  • PEA034: Outdoor Education (1 unit)
  • AP191: Service Learning (0 units)

Westmont in Mexico (16 units)

  • Art 121: Mexican Art (3 units)
  • ED-108: Mexican Schools Field Experience (2 units)
  • HIS 160: Mexican History and Civilization (3 units)
  • IS 193: Integrative Seminar: Engaging Culture (3 units)
  • PEA 25: Latin Dance (1 unit)
  • POL 116: Mexico: Relationship with the U.S. (3 units)
  • SP 002: Elementary Spanish II (3 units)
  • SP 005: Intermediate Spanish Grammar (4 units)
  • SP 006: Intermediate Spanish Conversation (2 units)
  • SP 100: Advanced Spanish (3 units)
  • SP 104: Latin American Literature: 1885-Present (4 Unites)
  • SP 105: Language in Context (3 units)
  • SP 120: Advanced Composition (3 units)
  • SP 121: Advanced Oral Skills (3 units)
  • SP 123: Advanced Spanish Grammar (3 units)
  • SP 160: Survey of Mexican Literature (3 units)

Westmont in Northern Europe (15 units)

  • Constructing War and Peace (4 units)
  • Philosophical Reflections on Conflict and Peacemaking in Modern Europe (4 units)
  • Encountering the Cultures of England, Ireland and Germany (3 units)
  • German Language (4 units)

Global Health in Uganda Semester (16 units)

  • Faith and Action in Ugandan Context (4 units)
  • Cross Cultural /Global Health Practicum: 80-120 internship hours (4 units)
  • Infectious Disease and Global Health (3 units)
  • African Literature (3 units)
  • East African History from 1800 to Independence (3 units
  • East African Politics since Independence (3 units
  • Religions in Contemporary Uganda (3 units)
  • Luganda 1 (3 units)
  • Luganda I & II (6 units)
  • Kiswahili 1 (3 units)
  • Kiswahili I & II (6 units)