Global Studies Concentration

Through a combination of focused faculty-based advising, high-impact experiences, traditional coursework and rigorous assessment, a concentration in global studies will help you:

• Move beyond seeing "global" as exclusively "foreign" and to place yourself and your community in webs of natural, economic, cultural and social connections that defy geopolitical borders.
• Engage rigorously with difference and challenge your own assumptions about the world and your position in it.
• Make complex connections from multiple disciplinary perspectives on important global issues.

The concentration requires students to bring together courses from across the Whitman curriculum to align with their interests. Students can select from a broad list of courses currently offered on campus to fulfill the required coursework in the following three thematic areas.

• Global Systems and Histories: Whether through the lens of international trade and finance, histories of colonialism and empire, or climate thermodynamics, these courses help students learn to identify and analyze social, cultural, political and environmental systems that connect (and divide) our world.
• Global Circulations and Movements: In these courses, students learn to trace and analyze flows of commodities, ideas, money and people across geopolitical borders. They help prepare students to navigate a world increasingly defined by the inclusions and exclusions created by globe-spanning hyper-mobility.
• Global Places and Events: In these courses, students will identify and analyze the way the places, regions and other geographies are forged through their global connections. These courses help students understand and confront major challenges and opportunities faced by specific sites in a globalized world.

Concentration Requirements

Concentrators in Global Studies complete four main building blocks:

1. Global thematic areas: Complete one course from the list of approved options in each of the three thematic areas above. No more than one course from a single department may be used when meeting this requirement.
2. Global engagement:
   • Language Immersions: Complete six credits of language study, on or off campus.
   • Off-Campus Education: Complete one semester in a country other than the U.S., -or- an adviser-approved short-term study abroad program, -or- a globally focused internship.
3. Analysis and Reflection: Participate in a reflection and analysis seminar.
4. Learning Capstone: Complete a portfolio of best works, an integrative essay, and an outgoing interview with your advisor.

See the Catalog for full details and a list of approved courses. 

Want to know more? Fill out our Global Studies Interest Form to be paired with an advisor and to gain access to the Concentration Canvas site.

A link to the Faculty Advisor's Handbook to the Concentration for Global Studies is available to faculty on MyWhitman, under the Link Index.

Meet Our Advisors

Depending on availability, the following instructors are advisors for the concentration in global studies. Contact Director Nicole Simek at simeknj@whitman.edu for a formal advisor assignment.