The faculty who teach in the International Studies program are committed to bring their varied academic and travel experiences to the classroom for the benefit of students who want to expand their horizons. The International Studies program is intended to provide students with the opportunity to earn a degree that will prepare them for an interconnected world in which business, government agencies, and civic and religious organizations have operations that span national boundaries.
We endorse a recent report of the American Council on Education:
An increasingly multicultural United States requires citizens who understand other peoples and their heritage - and who can communicate across national, cultural and socio-economic boundaries.
Evidence of the need for university graduates who can respond to these challenges is pervasive. Many United States-based private sector corporations are expanding their operations into foreign countries. Many foreign-based businesses have opened offices and plants in the United States - particularly South Carolina in recent years. At the same time U.S. governmental, civic, and religious organizations are increasing their activities in foreign lands. Even private corporations and public organizations that serve mostly local constituencies (Such as marketing firms, public schools, and welfare agencies) find that they need to understand the cultures and traditions of foreign nations. The International Studies program at Francis Marion University has responded to these trends with the establishment of a set of courses that will give students the opportunity to develop a major (or a minor) designed to fulfill their academic interests and career goals.
In more specific terms, the International Studies major at FMU enables students to direct their studies into one of seven areas of concentration. Three of these areas are thematic: World Cultures, Global Politics and Business, and World Politics. Four of these areas of concentration cover particular regions of the world: Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, and Latin America. Each student will select from a list of more than forty-five courses in order to arrange a unique academic plan to fulfill the requirements of the major.
One of the strengths of the program is that it is based on courses from ten academic disciplines in an arrangement that includes instructors from five different departments. Other strengths of this new program include the large holdings of international books and periodicals in the James A. Rogers Library on the FMU campus. Also several members of the FMU faculty have extensive research and travel experience in a variety of foreign countries. This program received the approval of the South Carolina Commission of Higher Education and is the only International Studies major in the state that draws from such a wide range of academic disciplines.
To enhance the qualifications of the FMU graduate in International Studies, this major includes an eighteenth semester hour foreign language requirement. Six of these hours will count as part of the 31 hours required for the major.
In addition, this program includes the opportunity for students with other majors to earn a minor in International Studies with the completion of 19 hours of course work in the international area or a collateral with the completion of 12 hours.
For more information about the International Studies program at FMU, please contact:
Dr. Duane P. Myers
Professor of History and
Coordinator of International Studies
Francis Marion University
P.O. Box 100547
Florence, SC 29501
Telephone: 843.661.1213
E-mail: dmyers@fmarion.edu
