School of Global Studies

Rachel Halverson (German), Director (330 Admin. Bldg. 83844-3174; 208-885-6179; SGS@uidaho.edu). 

The School of Global Studies provides students with several interrelated disciplines in which they can pursue B.A./B.S. degrees or minors. These programs are situated in two primary domains: one focused on international studies and one focused on language and culture. The School of Global Studies offers majors in French, International Studies, Latin American Studies, Modern Language Business, and Spanish, with minors available in Asian Studies, French, German, international studies, and Spanish, as well as the Certificate of Modern Language Study. The American Language and Culture Program (ALCP), an intensive English-language program, is also housed in the school.

International Studies

The program in international studies offers a unique, interdisciplinary approach to studying global issues. Students take a core of common courses in a global theme during the freshman and sophomore years, and then select an issue emphasis and a regional emphasis that shape the courses taken during the junior and senior years. The regional emphasis is supplemented by language study and an international experience of at least ten weeks' duration. Such international experience can take the form of studying abroad, completing an internship abroad, or participating in service learning or other volunteer experience abroad.

Program staff and faculty emphasize experiential learning, undergraduate research opportunities, and excellence in teaching for all students in the program.

Languages and Cultures

Students who take modern language literature and culture courses to complete a major, minor, and/or certificate 

  • gain a deeper understanding of a variety of cultures, including their own;
  • become highly competitive in the international and domestic workforce;
  • increase their critical thinking and communication skills;
  • understand and make connections within the interdependent world; and
  • become engaged world citizens.  

As a leading center for the study of languages and cultures in Idaho, the School of Global Studies helps students gain a deeper understanding of a variety of cultures, including their own, and become engaged world citizens. Faculty members, who are from the U.S, China, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, and Spain, prepare their students for professions in which proficiency in a second or third language is useful or required, including business, education, government, health care, law, and media. This is reflected in the growing number of double/triple majors and academic minors who choose to combine the formal study of a language with another field related to the student’s other career or professional interests, enabling them to become highly competitive in the international and domestic workforce.

In addition to coursework at the University of Idaho, language majors are required to fulfill an international experience requirement (eight week minimum) by completing an approved study abroad program or international internship or faculty-led experience or a combination of all, or take FLEN 4010. Participation in a study abroad program or doing an international internship should take place after the student has finished language study through the intermediate (2000) level. The study abroad program, internship, or faculty-led experience must receive prior approval from the student’s advisor. Shorter international experiences exceptions can be considered in case of extraordinary financial or family circumstances.

If a student has already studied a language in high school, they may be eligible to receive vertically-related course credits simply by completing a more advanced course at U of I.