Global Studies Major, European Studies Concentration
Program Requirements
- Total units required: 36
This concentration focuses on the new Europe and its historical and cultural contexts, attempting to understand the European contribution to world politics and cultural exchange. It involves the study of both traditional and new European cultural products (e.g., literature, film, visual art, electronic media) as well as of European institutions and contexts. This concentration will educate students interested in understanding Europe for its own sake but also help them to discover the ways in which the continent connects with other parts of the world. The concentration is committed to interdisciplinary approaches, and students may take courses in the traditional language-and-literature disciplines as well as in anthropology, art history, economics, film, history, music, philosophy, and political science.
Concentration Objectives
The European Studies concentration defines the geography of modern Europe to include the Atlantic world as well as its Eurasian and Mediterranean neighbors.
General Requirements
One semester of language must be completed before declaring the major.
- Students must complete a minimum of 36 units in Global Studies, including at least three courses focused on a world area.
- Students must complete at least 24 units at the 300 level or above, including courses across a minimum of three academic disciplines.
- Students must complete at least 6 units at the 400 level, no more than 3 of which may be directed research or independent study.
- In addition to the 36 units, students must complete a four-semester sequence of courses in one modern language appropriate to their concentration.
These requirements may be fulfilled only with college-level course work undertaken during a student's undergraduate enrollment. Courses must be taken for a grade, and a student must receive a grade of C+ or higher in all courses.
This concentration requires 36 units of course work:
- 3 units of core course work: GS 3020 Global Futures
- 3 units of introductory course work (100 or 200 level)
- 3 units of European history course work (300 level or above from history department offerings on Europe [from 1750 forward])
- 3 units of non-European world area course work (any level)
- 24 units of advanced European studies course work (300-400 level; at least one course must focus on gender, race, or class)
- Students must fulfill the standard Global Studies language requirement with a European language consistent with their study abroad location (e.g., French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish).
Note: A single course may satisfy more than one of the distribution requirements (i.e., disciplinary; race, gender, class; or world area). Some of these requirements may be completed while abroad.
Introductory Courses
Students choose one course from this list, for a total of 3 units:
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| GS 207 | Crossing Borders: An Introduction to Institutions and Concepts in Global Studies | 3 |
| GS 244 | Introduction to European Studies (preferred) | 3 |
| History 102D | Introduction to Modern European History | 3 |
Non-European Area Courses
Students choose one course, for a total of 3 units. We consider world areas to be Africa, East Asia, Eurasia, Latin America, the Middle East, and South Asia. Courses that may be used to satisfy this requirement may include advanced area-specific courses or the following lower-level courses:
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| AFAS 209B | African Studies: An Introduction | 3 |
| Art-Arch 111 | Introduction to Asian Art | 3 |
| Chinese 227C | Chinese Civilization | 3 |
| GS 135 | First-Year Seminar: Chinatown: Migration, Identity, and Space | 3 |
| GS 140 | East Asia in the World | 3 |
| GS 280 | Sophomore Seminar: The Public Servant and Other Heroes: A History of Japan through Film | 3 |
| History 2157 | First-Year Seminar: The Meaning of Pakistan: History, Culture, Art | 3 |
| Japan 226C | Japanese Civilization | 3 |
| JIMES 208F | Introduction to Jewish Civilization: History and Identity | 3 |
| JIMES 210C | Introduction to Islamic Civilization | 3 |
| Korean 223C | Korean Civilization | 3 |
| LatAm 165D | Latin America: Nation, Ethnicity and Social Conflict | 3 |
Advanced Courses
Students choose nine courses from current European-focused course offerings in the following departments.* All courses must be approved by the student's Global Studies advisor in order to count for the major. Visit the concentration webpage and concentration course list for the full list of options.
- African and African-American Studies
- Anthropology
- Applied Linguistics
- Art History
- Classics
- Drama
- Economics
- Education
- Film and Media Studies
- Global Studies
- History
- Interdisciplinary Project in the Humanities
- Jewish, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies
- Languages and Literatures
- Music
- Philosophy
- Political Science
- Sociology
- Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
- *
Students may submit a request to add a course by following the instructions for the Petition Process.
Additional Requirements and Information
Study Abroad
- We strongly encourage students to study abroad. For those who do not study abroad and receive credit toward the Global Studies General Requirements, an additional 3-unit course at the 300 or 400 level is required.
- We strongly prefer students to select a study abroad location and regional specialization consistent with their chosen language of study (e.g., if a student wishes to study in Latin America, they must satisfy their language requirement with either Portuguese or Spanish).
- Students may receive a maximum of 6 credits from a single semester, 12 credits from a year, or 3 credits from a summer term of study abroad.
- Study abroad credit only counts at the 300 level.
- Students may apply no more than 12 total credits to the Global Studies major from study abroad, the School of Continuing & Professional Studies, summer school at other U.S. universities, or any combination thereof.
- To receive credit for a summer course completed at another institution, a student should fill out the Approval for Non-WashU Course Credit form with Arts & Sciences to take the course for "general credit" and then petition to have the course count as an elective toward their Global Studies major.
- Students may not receive credit for January Intensive Term (J-Term) study abroad programs; these programs are too short in duration.
Latin Honors
- Students must confidently expect to graduate with an overall grade point average of 3.65 or higher to qualify for Latin Honors.
- Students should enroll in GS 485 Preparation for Global Studies Honors Thesis during the fall of senior year and in GS 486 Global Studies Senior Honors Thesis during the spring of senior year (under the corresponding section number of the faculty member overseeing the student's thesis).
Language Requirement
All Global Studies majors must satisfy a language requirement that entails both the successful completion of four semesters of a modern language for a letter grade and placement into the third year of that language.
Available modern languages include Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swahili.
Students should consult the course listings for details about the language sequences. (On the "A&S IQ" tab, click on "Courses," and then toggle "Area Requirement" to "LS Language & Cultural Diversity-Language." Click "Search" to see a list of available language courses.)
Please see the FAQs on the Global Studies website for more information.
Contact Info
| Contact: | Toni Loomis |
| Phone: | 314-935-5073 |
| Email: | aloomis@wustl.edu |
| Website: | https://globalstudies.wustl.edu |