The Bellarmine College of Liberal arts will offer a new International Relations major and minor for undergraduates beginning Fall 2016.
The program is housed in the Political Science Department but takes a cross-disciplinary approach to understanding international conflict and cooperation. Students will take political theory and comparative politics courses along with classes in history, economics, and a foreign language. They will also apply their learning in the field through a study abroad program or international internship.
“In today’s increasingly interconnected world, we are all global citizens,” said Robbin D. Crabtree, Dean of Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts. “Employers across industries need smart people who understand international politics, trade, culture, development, and diplomacy.”
“In designing the major, our goal was to prepare our students to be global citizens and leaders,” said Jennifer Ramos, Associate Chair of Political Science who is directing the new International Relations program. Students in the program will develop “both the skills and cultural competencies to help solve the world’s most pressing problems,” she said.
The program is Loyola Marymount University’s latest initiative to offer a global education – a priority for the University’s new president, Timothy Law Snyder, Ph.D. In his inaugural address in 2015, Snyder called upon the university community to think and act with a global imagination:
As we contemplate our wildly changing world, as we address that world today, and as our global imagination illuminates pathways into our future, we must accept change, embrace change, imagine, then inspire change.
International Relations students will be especially well positioned to do just that.
Information for current students interested in adding a major or minor in International Relations will be available in March.