Eastern Mennonite University’s two newest programs of study embody its mission to prepare students to “serve and lead in a global context.”
A political science major and revised minor and a global studies major and minor will be offered beginning this fall.
“These new majors reflect an expanding awareness that community, which EMU has long emphasized, also happens at national and global levels,” said Provost Fred Kniss. “With these new majors, students will develop knowledge and skills that will help them effect positive change in diverse settings.”
Political science
The political science major will train students to apply their research and analytical skills to current political affairs and offer students real-world learning through internships. It will prepare students to pursue further studies and careers in fields such as law and public policy.
“This major will closely align with EMU’s core mission,” said Professor Mark Metzler Sawin. “While many universities offer political studies, our program will be distinctive in its embodiment of our university’s values.”
Students will learn to think critically and analytically about power, authority and legitimacy, examining “the traditional role of relevant political actors, institutions, and mechanisms through a critical lens,” said Professor Ji Eun Kim. In addition to developing theoretical and moral ways of understanding political events, they will gain critical oral and writing skills for “speaking and understanding the language of these key actors” based on rigorous reasoning and dignity and respect for others.
Its interdisciplinary approach and diverse curriculum includes course topics such as human rights and dignity, political reconciliation, international relations, American politics, and peace and security in East Asia.
The major also requires a term at the Washington Community Scholars’ Center in Washington DC, where internships offer real-world extensions to classroom learning and vocational experience in policy, politics, advocacy and law. WCSC internship sites in these fields include working on Capitol Hill with the Catholic social justice lobby NETWORK or Mennonite Central Committee’s Washington Office; and working to increase civic exchange political dialogue with the Faith and Politics Institute. [Learn more about internship sites in these fields.]
Global studies
The global studies major is fitting for a university that for 35 years has required students to have cross-cultural experience. In the program, students will identify a regional and language focus to prepare them for cross-cultural engagement, in addition to further study and careers in fields such as international development, human resources, intelligence and research analysis, and education in public and private sectors.
“EMU’s identity and history positions us to create and offer a global studies program to undergraduate students in a unique way,” said Professor Tim Seidel, who helped develop the major with vice president and undergraduate academic dean Deirdre L. Smeltzer, cross-cultural program director Ann Hershberger, and professors Adriana Rojas, Jim Leaman and Ji Eun Kim. “Graduates will be equipped with solid knowledge and relevant skills – and be equipped for postgraduate study and for professional opportunities including working in governments, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector.”
With three areas of concentration – sustainability, justice and peacebuilding, and societies and cultures – the major will focus on intercultural communication and the role of faith in global studies while exploring global political and economic actors beyond the state.
The curriculum will include course topics such as globalization and justice, biblical theologies of peace and justice, and cultural anthropology. Region-focused studies may include, for example, history and culture of Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia.
The major was developed with funding from a United States Department of Education Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Languages grant.
For an EMC graduate who has now spent more than 30 years working in D.C. for the Federal government in the area of conflict resolution, these new programs seem like excellent additions to the variety of majors and minors EMU offers students. And EMU’s biblical perspective will help to create uniquely qualified graduates, ready to contribute and lead in whatever vocational setting they choose. It’s good to see EMU evolving to meet the needs of its students as well as society.