Course Primary Text Course Description

GLOA 600
Global
Competencies
Ritzer, George.
Globalization: A
Basic Text.
Introduces students to different perspectives, theories, approaches, and opinions surrounding
the topic of globalization, and discusses how these positions apply to current world affairs. In
addition to weekly readings, students attend weekly film screenings. The films explore the
different dimensions of globalization, including political, economic, and cultural issues. Two films
which resonated particularly strongly with me were Metal y Melancola about the informal
economy in Per, and Wasteland, a film about global inequality. Wasteland follows the
renowned artist Vik Muniz as he travels home to Brazil. He photographs garbage pickers at the
worlds largest garbage dump, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. He recruits the pickers
to help him in his art project.
GLOA 610
Economic
Globalization
and
Development
Frieden, Jeffry
A. Global
Capitalism: Its
Fall and Rise in
the Twentieth
Century.
Polanyi, Karl.
The Great
Transformation.
The course acquaints students with the creation of international institutions and ideological
disputes during the Cold War. The focus then shifts to debates concerning trade and
development, the character of political sovereignty in an era of globalization, and the
relationship between globalization and economic equality. The course ends with an examination
of the financial crisis that began during the last decade.
GLOA 620
Human
Systems
Various
readings
including Katz,
Jonathan The
Big Truck That
Went By: How
the World
Came to Save
Haiti and Left
Behind a
Disaster;
Kraukauer, Jon
Three Cups of
Deceit;
Mortenson,
Greg Three
Cups of Tea.
This course examines the human dimensions relative to international educational systems and
their relationship to basic education and higher education policy, research policy, science and
technology, culture, language, social justice, equity, conflict and peace, human resources and
national development. I found the readings assigned throughout this course to be incredibly
diverse and thought-provoking. This course allowed me to reflect on my experience as a corps
member in a turnaround middle school, as we discussed phenomena such as gangs and
education policy.
GCH 543
Global Health:
Trends and
Policies
Publications by
the WHO,
UNICEF, World
Bank, and
newspapers
Broad review of the basic components of global public health, including economic, social, and
locality health indicators; maternal and child health; reproductive health; nutrition;
breastfeeding; infectious disease; injury; primary health care programs; ethics/research;
environmental health.
GLOA 710
Seminar
Abroad: Tbilisi,
Georgia
Thomas de
Waal. The
Caucasus An
Introduction;
Robert Kaplan.
The Revenge of
Geography;
Charles
Fairbanks and
Alexi
Gugushvili. A
New Chance for
Georgian
Democracy
This course gave students an opportunity to test their understanding of global theories from the
perspective of a small nation (69,700 square kilometers, slightly smaller than the state of North
Carolina), with a population of less than 5 million, liberated from the Soviet Union in 1991,
intent on surviving, notoriously proud of ancient traditions and culture, seeking ties with the
West and, particularly, the United States, but situated precariously on the crossroads between
Europe and Asia, Russia and the Black Sea, the North Caucasus and Turkey, in a region of
extraordinary ethnic diversity.
Highlights of the trip include a weekend trip to Kazbegi with a magical hike to Gergeti
Monastery, as well as a lecture by Bill LahueNATO liaison for the South Caucasus. The final
supra with toasts was also especially memorable, as was a July 4th day trip to a vineyard in
Eastern Georgia, Kakheti.
GLOA 720
Capstone
Research
Seminar: World
Views and
Evidence
Kuhn, Thomas
The Structure of
Scientific
Revolutions;
King, Keohane,
and Verba
Designing
Social Inquiry :
Scientific
Inference in
Qualitative
Research
The Capstone research seminar extends the students interdisciplinary training in global affairs
to evaluate the turbulent world. The first half of the seminar is dedicated to challenging students
to think critically about his or her worldviews. Students are guided to puzzle about important
issues that aid in explaining aspects of the real world, and to always generalize. Students
examine the advantages and disadvantages of collecting qualitative and quantitative evidence to
support their worldviews. The capstone culminates with a research project of the students
choice. The capstone research project presented me a way to integrate and reflect on my
work and journey in the Global Affairs MA program by allowing me to examine in-depth the
similarities and differences between the two countries I traveled to during my graduate career
(the Republic of Georgia and Cuba).
GLOA 710
Foreign
Investment,
Development,
and Global
Integration in
Havana, Cuba
Ritter,
Archibald. The
Cuban Economy
in the 21
st

Century:
Recuperation or
Collapse?
Villanueva,
Omar. Cuba: An
Overview of
Foreign Direct
Investment
This course provided students with both a background to Cubas economic situation (from the
1959 Cuban Revolution to the present) as well as an on-the-ground look at the countrys
emerging economic transition in the context of globalization. We paid special attention to
economic reform in Cuba surrounding the economic crisis of the 1990s. Using texts, tools, and
methodologies from across the social sciences. The goal of the course is to equip participants
with a well-rounded set of analytical tools that help them assess both Cubas economic situation
in the 21st century as well as the scope and effectiveness of recent economic reforms the
country has undertaken.

GOVT 731
Advanced
Seminar in
Comparative
Politics: Russia
Mankoff,
Jeffrey Russian
Foreign Policy:
The Return of
Great Power
Politics;
McFaul,
Michael
Russias
Unfinished
Revolution;
McDaniel, Tim
The Agony of
the Russian
Idea
The majority of the papers involve analyzing and assessing how Moscow views its security
interests with regard to a particular country or region, such as its near abroad, the Middle
East, and the European Union. The class also conducted several interactive role playing games in
which I assumed the character of Vladimir Putin. One situation we acted was the potential
withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, if the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, refused to
sign an accord that would pave the way for some U.S. forces to remain.
COMM 615
Political
Communication
Balz, Dan.
Collision 2012:
Obama vs
Romney and
the Future of
Elections in
America.
Patterson, T.
Out of Order.
This course examined the communication of political information during election campaigns. We
examined how campaign discourse is shaped by candidate rhetoric, campaign advertising, the
news media, the popular culture, interest groups, and government regulation. The techniques
and findings of social science research were used to analyze past elections and shed light on
future elections.

ITRN 612
International
Business
Operations and
the
Multinational
Corporation
Examines international business environment and challenges facing companies in conducting
operations in increasingly interconnected global marketplace. Focuses on issues of management
and organization, and resolution of conflicts that may arise between business organizations and
home and host governments. Also focuses on role of multinational corporations in international
environment, and impact on global trade, economic development, and political system. Also
studies trade and international investment theories and world financial environment. Explores
broad issues such as sovereignty of decision making and global impact of business activities.