Muskingum University Announces New Degree Program in Global Studies

Dr. Kathleen Cunniffe Peña
Assistant Professor of Spanish, Muskingum University

Beginning in Fall 2023, Muskingum University (New Concord, Ohio) will be offering a major and minor in Global Studies. Responding to downward trends in language enrollment, faculty in World Languages and International Affairs were tasked with re-imagining our programs within a Global Studies model. This was a daunting task that challenged us to engage in conversations across campus about what language-learning could and should look like in the year 2023. Ultimately, our aim was to create a program where Muskingum students could contextualize their world language studies within a professional career path. The result is an interdisciplinary, highly flexible program with courses from diverse areas such as Computer Science, Theatre, Business, Geology, and Philosophy. 

The introductory course, Global Studies 101, allows students to explore global studies through food cultures. Students then take core courses in beginning/intermediate languages, world history, and international politics before choosing one of three professional tracks: International Business, Global Organizations and Security, or Global Arts and Humanities. The signature piece of this program is the requirement of a high impact experience—for example, a study abroad experience, an internship with a local organization doing global work, a globally-oriented performance, or the Model UN—individualized for each student through our integrative advising model.

Albeit unrelated, Muskingum University also inaugurated last year a new International Fellows program for students interested in global career paths; the Global Studies major/minor will serve many of these fellows. To showcase the work of our students and share global career paths with local high school students, we are planning an annual, one-day Global Studies conference on our campus in spring or fall of 2024.  

For more information, please visit our website: https://www.muskingum.edu/academics/global-studies