Founded in 1962 as the Area & International Studies Program, Global and Regional Studies is an interdisciplinary program that brings together students, faculty, and other members of the university community interested in international and global affairs, as well as particular regions of the world. Although we are based in the College of Arts and Sciences, we draw from the research and teaching expertise of approximately 150 faculty members from four colleges across the University of Vermont.
We currently have eight area studies programs. Six of these—Asian Studies, European Studies, Global Studies, Latin American Studies, Russian and Eastern European Studies, and Canadian Studies—offer a major and a minor. Our other two programs—African Studies and Middle Eastern Studies—offer only a minor at this time.
Each program offers a rich slate of courses and extracurricular
activities in a large number of fields, including Agriculture;
Anthropology; Art History; Business; Classics; Economics; Education;
Environmental Studies; Foreign Languages (Chinese, French, German,
Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Russian, and Spanish);
Geography; Health Sciences; History; Lit
erature; Music; Political
Science; and Sociology.
Rather than simply providing a window through which students can observe other regions of the world, the individual GRS programs seek to engage actively with those regions and their cultural, political, economic, environmental, and social issues. We bring scholars, political figures, artists, and activists to campus; strongly encourage our students to study abroad and conduct internships; and sponsor faculty-led study courses to sites around the world. Nearly all GRS majors participate in academic semester or year-long study abroad programs sometime between their sophomore and senior years. In addition to their academic work, many of our students are also actively involved in internship and service-learning programs at leading organizations and universities in Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, New Zealand, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. It is common to count many of these credits taken while abroad toward the GRS area major or minor.
Our programs provide a strong liberal arts education enhanced by significant cross-cultural and linguistic competence, skills that serve our graduates well in a wide variety of careers. Our graduates have gone on to pursue graduate degrees and successful careers in such fields as international business and consulting; international non-profit organizations specializing in issues like environment, health, population, and food; the foreign service and other government agencies; policy analysis; research; print and broadcast journalism; the Peace Corps and other international development organizations; higher education; and social activism throughout the U.S. and the world.
As a minor, any of our programs provide an ideal complement to a major in all fields of the humanities and social sciences. Our minors require somewhat less planning than the major, but also involve language courses and study abroad, so you should discuss your intentions with your normal academic advisor and an area studies director as early as possible.
If you have any questions about any of our programs, please visit the link to the specific program that interests you, or contact the director of an individual program. During the 2009-10 academic year, the directors are:
Looking for more information on the new Global Studies major? Click here to see the handbook.
If you have any other questions about our programs, or would like to
request a speaker on an international or global topic for your school
or group, please contact me: lvivanco@uvm.edu
Luis A. Vivanco, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Anthropology
Luis
Vivanco, Director
Global and Regional Studies
A-507 Old Mill
Burlington, VT 05405
802-656-8665
lvivanco@uvm.edu
Mary Lou F. Shea
Program Coordinator
A-506 Old Mill
802-656-1096
Marylou.Shea@uvm.edu
Last modified September 02 2009 11:05 AM
