I added Global Studies as an additional major because I’ve always been interested in exploring world cultures and historical movements. After taking a class that examined and interpreted world texts, I realized that the major fit my passions. The program gives students freedom to focus on whichever topics interest them with such ease, and I love how this liberty has nurtured my intellectual curiosity and allowed me to pursue my passion for culture. The program also has an amazing set of advisors and faculty, and their encouragement and support was another reason as to why I decided to join GS! 

I chose to major in Global Studies because I am fascinated by culture, language, and history and because the major doesn't intellectually pen me in. My interests are broad, and Global Studies allows me to take a course such as "Intersectional Feminism" alongside "The Politics of Water in Global Perspective" and a course like "Language Diversity & Cultural Identity" while also taking "Coffee and Capitalism." I plan to merge my global interests with my Mexican heritage and take on a Hispanic Studies minor, which allows me to double count courses that will also count towards my Global Studies major. Global Studies' location within Dietrich has also led to my acceptance into the Community Engagement Fellowship, a program which focuses on hands-on, experiential learning intended to complement the interdisciplinary education that Global Studies and other humanities-centered majors provide. Ultimately, the Global Studies major allows me to utilize Dietrich's incredible course selection and faculty to further my understanding of our complex world through lenses such as race, gender, and geography while granting me the freedom to pursue complementary academic endeavors.

The Global Studies major has allowed me to explore my interests and the world at large by encouraging unique, interdisciplinary approaches to academia. With the support of the Global Studies program, i’m able to study multifaceted themes of human development, culture, and change by blending together disciplines like psychology, history, and anthropology. The faculty are also deeply committed to seeing students thrive and help provide opportunities to foster positive change – both within and outside of campus. With novel combinations of knowledge, innovative partnerships, and flexibility to pursue your own specific strengths and passions, the Global Studies major gives you the skills needed to navigate a complex, interconnected world. 

I majored in Global Studies because the program has allowed me to pursue my passion for learning
more about history and globalization without constraining myself to a single discipline. The intellectual
strength and flexibility of the Global Studies program has proven incredibly valuable to working in a
surprising range of topics such as my time at my environmental policy internship at a Washington DC
thinktank. Thus, I highly recommend the Global Studies program for anyone seeking to understand and
work within the global networks of histories, cultures, and identities that shape our increasingly
interconnected world.

I chose Global Studies because it felt like a perfect fit with Hispanic Studies, my primary major. Global Studies not only has many overlapping courses but overlapping disciplines and themes. It allows me to freely study and question the past and contemporary world from different perspectives including culture, language, gender, and identities through texts and open discussions. Courses like Mexico: From the Aztec Empire to the Drug War allow me to bridge my Mexican upbringing to a higher education setting giving me a background to the complex culture I know and understand. I can share my story through the context of what I am learning in the classroom with other students who might relate and feel represented. This course, like many, is taught by professors who are not only passionate about the topics taught but also push their student's potential to build and thinkbeyond the classroom.