Curriculum

Transfer Credits

Upon matriculating, BA/MA students are required to transfer 60 credit hours with grades of B or above that cover the following requirements:

• Composition (3 credits)

• Math (3 credits)

• Four courses (12 credits) from at least two of the following:

  • Social Science

  • Arts/Humanities

  • Physical and Biological Sciences

• Language Semester 1 (at least 3 semester credits)

• Language Semester 2 (at least 3 semester credits)

• Electives (as needed to reach 60 semester credits total)

Core Course Work

Economics

Credits that provide a fundamental understanding of international economics. Sample courses:

• Currencies, Capital Flows, and Financial Crises

• International Trade: Policy and Practice

• Development Economics

• Environmental and Natural Resource Economics

Applied Social Science Research Methods

Credits that focus on social science research. Sample courses:

• Introduction to Policy and Data Analysis (required)

• Introduction to Program Evaluation

• Leading Capacity Development

• Fieldwork and Reporting

• Field Methods

Management and Leadership

Credits that focus on management of nonprofit or governmental organizations. Sample courses:

• Leading Social Change Organizations

• Organizational Sustainability

• Starting Your Own SCO

Finance and Administration

Credits that build competency in organizational administration. Sample courses:

• Finance Fundamentals of Nonprofit and Social Change Organizations

• Organizational Sustainability for Social Change Organizations

Development Paradigms, Discourses, and Theories

Credits that focus on development, practice, and policy. Sample courses:

• Politics of Development

• Introduction to Conflict Resolution

• Development, Theory, and Practice

• Power, Social Change, and Organizations

Electives

Electives by advisement build on your expertise in areas that can benefit your career.

Optional Specializations

Students can choose one of the following seven optional specializations:

Migration, Trafficking, and Human Security

• Analyze trends and patterns in international migration, including human trafficking and associated challenges to human security

• Understand the domestic and international regimes that manage migration flows

• Learn to develop and advocate for policies to protect migrants’ rights and improve social and economic conditions

• Gain professional skills to pursue careers in international organizations, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), advocacy groups, state agencies, and research institutes dealing with migration

Global Poverty and Inequality

• Apply a range of tools from economics, international relations, data analysis, and political economy to address problems of poverty and inequality

• Study dimensions of poverty and inequality, including income, assets, gender, service access, and more

• Design and evaluate regional and national policies, and explore issues calling for international cooperation and global governance initiatives

• Engage in serious and sustained inquiry into poverty across differing regions to develop plans to address it

• Gain professional skills to pursue careers in the private sector, government, or NGOs doing consulting, management, and research

Human Rights, Gender, and Identity

• Explore worldwide issues of human rights, women’s rights, and identity, and how global agendas are implemented in diverse cultural contexts and integrated into development policies and practice

• Examine topics such as women’s participation in decision making in post-conflict states, sexuality and violence against women, the role of men and masculinities, girls’ access to education, and advocacy for human rights

• Learn how ethnic, religious, national, or gender identities are shaped by dominant power interests through everyday interactions, and how they play a role in conflict, and turning the other into an enemy

• Gain professional skills to pursue positions as gender analysts, program officers, and trainers, as well as policy analysts and researchers at organizations promoting human rights/women’s human rights, social inclusion, and the integration of gender equity

Conflict Resolution and Social Justice

• Explore how conflict interveners aim to minimize the destructive effects of conflict while using it as a vehicle to transform relationships and oppressive structures

• Learn to integrate theory, research, and practice through critical analysis, simulations, case studies, and internships

• Strengthen conflict resolution skills, such as communication, listening, negotiation, mediation, and dialogue

• Reflect on personal ethics when dealing with social challenges such as migration, refugees, poverty, insecurity, discrimination, human rights violations, and environmental crisis

• Gain professional skills to pursue jobs at the grassroots level (community organizations, NGOs), the institutional level (international NGOs, research organizations, think tanks), and policy institutions (UN, World Bank, other major international organizations)

Monitoring, Evaluation, and Design

• Learn commonly applied techniques for determining the worth and value of initiatives at the policy, program, and project levels

• Strengthen practical skills for designing, collecting, managing, analyzing, storing, disseminating, and curating data

• Explore the analytical function of transforming information into data, and data into actionable knowledge

• Gain professional skills to work as project, program, or policy evaluators and designers in a range of fields with nongovernmental organizations, governments, and UN agencies

Financial Crime Management

The 16-credit Financial Crime Management specialization is available to students in any degree program. It addresses the growing market need for professionals to prevent, detect, and manage illicit finance.

Intercultural Competence

The 16-credit Intercultural Competence (ICC) specialization is available to students in any degree program. It equips you with the essential knowledge, skills, and attitudes to expertly lead and train multicultural teams, sensitively interact with diverse stakeholders, and create effective ICC assessments and training materials.

Professional Practicum

Put theory into practice through a semester-long practicum in the field or through a capstone research course:

Design, Partnering, Management, and Innovation PLUS

Design, Partnering, Management, and Innovation PLUS includes a three- to nine-month internship applying degree-area skills to benefit a host organization. You’ll also create a case study examining DPMI-related issues confronting the organization. These issues may include project design, project monitoring, training, stakeholder participation, strategic partnering, social entrepreneurship, and innovation.

International Professional Service Semester

An immersive learning experience, the International Professional Service Semester integrates academic work with professional opportunities. Students serve as junior professional staff members in an international organization while producing specific deliverables for academic credit.

Frontier Market Scouts

The Frontier Market Scouts program selects and trains students and professionals seeking careers in social venture management and impact investing. Two weeks of training is followed by a two- to 12-month field placement. To choose the fellowship program for your practicum, you must apply for admission to the program and complete the fieldwork, including an impact research report.

Practicum Project Seminar

This four-credit seminar helps students demonstrate, integrate, and apply competencies central to their degrees. The course is designed to support customized projects depending on your interests and career aspirations. You are required to produce high-quality deliverables related to the issues you explore, either with client organizations or in non-client-based research projects.

Independent Practicum

The independent practicum (four to six credits) is self-directed and requires independent academic planning and responsibilities. You can choose to complete an internship or field-based research. Both require you to engage a faculty sponsor, develop a work plan with that sponsor, submit specified deliverables to be evaluated at the conclusion of the project, and present the deliverables in a final colloquium.

Language and Intercultural Competence

Courses taught in your chosen language combine language skills development with topics related to your degree work and professional interests. Our intercultural competence offerings provide the cross-cultural communication skills needed to pursue global careers. Sample courses:

• Arab-African Relations (in Arabic)

• Citizenship, Security, and Development in Latin America (in Spanish)

• Challenges in Peacebuilding—Congo (in French)

• Intercultural Group Dynamics

• Multilingual Communications in Multicultural Settings

Internships/Study Abroad

Gaining professional development experience during the course of your academic program is essential. The Institute helps support student opportunities to apply their skills, build their résumés, expand their connections, and advance their international careers through innovative real-world learning experiences.

Additional Program Options

Paul D. Coverdell Fellows Program

Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) are encouraged to apply for the Paul D. Coverdell Fellows Program.

Options for Peace Corps Service

Interested students can integrate Peace Corps service into their degree.

Sample Course Schedule

Fall Start, Full Time, Six Semesters