Academics

Major Instructions & Policies

Declaring the IR Major:
To declare a major in International Relations students must submit the Declaration of Major/Change of Advisor Form (Liberal Arts) to Student Services (Dowling Hall). Students must declare their major by the end of sophomore year. The IR Program does not offer a minor field of study.

Double Major:
For students with multiple majors, no more than half the credits used to fulfill the requirements for one major may be used to satisfy the requirements for a second or subsequent one. However, for courses taught in a foreign language beyond the third-year level of instruction, this overlap may be extended: up to 80 percent of the courses used to fulfill the requirements for major may be used to satisfy the requirements for a second or subsequent one. Students pursuing a double major are responsible for monitoring their compliance with this requirement. Questions regarding overlap may be directed to your advisor, the IR Program Office, or to the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Education.

Double Counting Courses:

• There is no double counting among the Core, the Thematic Concentration, and the Language Requirement courses.
• Within a Thematic Concentration a course may fulfill more than one Thematic Concentration requirement. For example, ANTH 144 Popular Cultures of the Middle East in TC1D satisfies both the social science and the culture requirement. However, a student who employs double counting must still complete a total of 12 courses for the IR major.
• Courses used as part of the major may also be used to fulfill distribution requirements.
• No more than two course credits used toward a departmental minor may be used toward the IR major.
  

Petitioning Courses:
Students are not permitted to petition courses to count toward the IR major. Each semester the IR Program invites faculty members to submit their courses to the International Relations Faculty Board. The IR Faculty Board will review courses submitted by faculty for inclusion in the IR major.

Grades and Pass/Fail:
A grade of C- or better is required for a course to count toward the IR major. The Pass/Fail option may not be used for courses used to complete the IR major.

Experimental College and Institute for Global Leadership:
Ex-College and IGL courses may not be used for credit towards the IR major.

Graduation Requirements:
In order to graduate, students must complete an IR Major Checklist as part of their graduation packet (signed by both student and IR advisor) to the IR Office (Cabot 605) at least two weeks prior to the Dowling Hall Student Services due date. Generally, degree sheets for students graduating in February are due the preceding October; degree sheets for students graduating in May are due the preceding November. The IR Program will e-mail all graduating students in the fall of their senior year with guidelines and due dates. Questions regarding graduation requirements can be directed to the IR Program Office.