Department of International Relations {College of Liberal & Creative Arts}

Image: A cropped map of the world foregrounded by silhouettes of people

Graduate Studies

Program Description

As the name implies, international relations emphasizes the interrelations of the world's primary political institutions, the nation-state system. The International Relations student examines specific nation-states of the world and all of the ways they are interconnected: through political treaty, trade considerations, geographic or ethnic affinities, shared social, economic, or ideological goals, hierarchies of power and wealth, and other factors. The international relations discipline places increasing emphasis on those non-state entities whose power to influence nation-state decisions is growing rapidly - entities such as multinational corporations, international governmental and non-governmental organizations, and various social movements throughout the world.

We encourage you to peruse our website, to survey the rich research and teaching interests of our faculty as well as our diverse course offerings, and to meet with our MA students in order to familiarize yourself with all our Department has to offer!

News and Announcements

  • IR MA student Brandon Thomas was awarded a US Department of State Critical Language Scholarship (May 2011). 1 of only 575 winning US undergrad/grad students, Brandon will study Turkish in Turkey during summer 2011 (May 2011)
  • Graduating IR MA student Guilherme Serodio won a Graduate Student Distinguished Achievement Award (May 2011)
  • IR MA students Aidan Guy and Christine Calouro presented papers at the 2011 International Studies Association annual meeting in Montreal, Canada
  • IR MA 2nd year Guilherme Serodio won the Best Graduate Student Paper Competition at the 2010 ISA-West in October for his paper entitled "China-Latin America: Economic Relations and Political Implications."
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