Global Studies is an interdisciplinary academic area that draws from a wide range of disciplines in the humanities, the sciences, and the arts to examine global processes and events and their effects at a local level. For decades, the world has been undergoing a sustained reorganization along economic, social, political, cultural, technological and environmental lines that cuts across national boundaries. WSU has also experienced an increased global connectivity, integration and interdependence, and witnessed the emergence of planet-wide issues such as climate change, poverty, new technologies, and entrenched wars. In response to these real-world events, Global Studies has emerged as a dynamic interdisciplinary academic field to study the forces shaping these complex processes.
The mission of the Global Studies concentration is to help students understand trans-national phenomena and to provide them with a solid background for decision-making in an increasingly interdependent world community. Students are encouraged to connect their knowledge of a particular region of the world to larger transnational processes and to examine their identities in a global frame. The interdisciplinary concentration in Global Studies helps students develop skills to function in a global market and the depth of understanding necessary to be responsible citizens of planet Earth.
