International and Global Studies Program

As an IGS major, you’ll take four required courses: Introduction to International and Global Studies; Introduction to the Comparative Study of Human Societies; Global Economy or Economic Principles and Globalization; and Introduction to International Relations. 

You’ll then select one of three concentrations in Global Health and Development, International Order, or Law, Justice, and Human Rights. Students are expected to take six elective courses within their chosen concentration.

Students who entered the university prior to fall 2022 have the option of fulfilling the electives under the previous major requirements, which were two courses from three groupings from across campus: Governance, Conflict and Responsibility; Media, Culture, and The Arts; and Economy, Health, and Environment

Our majors are also required to be proficient in a language besides English and to complete an international experience through study abroad or an internship.

If you’re especially passionate and motivated, you might consider completing a senior honors thesis on a research topic of your choice. An experience as rewarding as it is challenging, writing a thesis enables you  to both synthesize what you’ve learned and to deepen your knowledge about a particular area.

Our multidisciplinary faculty are highly productive researchers and award-winning teachers, and their work is truly international in scope. Here are just a few highlights:

• Lucy Goodhart studies comparative and international political economy, analyzing the domestic politics of trade protection and coalition policymaking.

• Kristen Lucken’s research explores immigration, ethnic and religious pluralism, social inclusion and nationalism.

• Elanah Uretsky is a medical anthropologist whose work takes a critical anthropologic approach to examining global health responses to disease, with a focus on the nexus of gender, sexuality, governance, and disease in China.

• Kerry Chase specializes in international political economy, international institutions and the global economy

• Richard Gaskins is an expert in comparative law and social welfare, global justice, human rights, economic philosophies and legal argumentation. He is director of Brandeis’ Legal Studies Program and was the academic program director for the retired Brandeis in The Hague study abroad program.

• Clémentine C. Fauré-Bellaïche specializes in 20th- and 21st-century French and Francophone literature.

• Gregory L. Freeze specializes in modern Russian history, with a particular focus on religious and social history.

• Fernando J. Rosenberg is an expert in critical and post-colonial theory, visual art and performance and legal topics in the arts. His courses include Literature and Human Rights, Culture and Social Change, Nation and Narration, and Latin American Global Film.

We’re very proud of our majors, many of whom receive grants to pursue creative lines of inquiry:

• Emily Rae Foreman’20 was an Undergraduate Department Representative for International and Global Studies and interned for the Office of Foreign Missions at the U.S. Department of State during her time at Brandeis. She now works as a Program Specialist for the Office of Foreign Missions in the U.S. Department of State.

• Lee Wilson ’18 won a Fulbright Scholarship to study intercultural relations and teach English at several high schools in Banja Luka, the central city in Republika Srpska, one of the two main polities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

• Jennifer Almodovar Jimenez ’18 was named 2020 Schwarzman Scholar, a prestigious program that provides graduate fellowships based in Beijing, China.

• Iyvon Edebiri ’13 won a Fulbright Scholarship to study intercultural theater in Italy, including building a show at the Teatro della Albe in Ravenna with African and Italian artists to spark discussion about immigration. Iyvon is currently the Artistic Director and Host of the Parsnip Ship podcast, an innovative platform through which new plays and music from diverse voices are performed and disseminated for free.

• Matt Kupfer ’12 won a year-long Carnegie Junior Fellowship from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Prior to that, Matt worked on AIDS relief in Central Asia, and wrote his honors thesis about the origins of ethnic conflict in Kyrgyzstan. Matt is currently a journalist with the Kyiv Post in Ukraine.

• Jesse Appell ’12 won a Fulbright Scholarship to study improv comedy in China, where he became a regular performer at Beijing nightclubs. Jesse has since become a phenomenon in the Beijing comedy scene, and is the founder of the US-China Comedy Center.

If you are to be a true global citizen, you must experience the world beyond your own, which is why a semester abroad is required. Many of our students participate in approved study abroad programs, including in Spain, China, Israel, South Africa and elsewhere. Others opt for experiential learning in the form of an international internship at, for example, the State Department, Canadas’ International Institute for Sustainable Development, the Green Party of England and Wales and Jordan’s Center for Strategic Studies.

Every semester, Brandeis hosts a nonstop series of visiting lecturers, including many on topics related to global and international relations. Recent presentations have centered on literature and national identity, refugee crises, terrorism, tariffs and trade wars, and LGBTQ+ issues in China.

BSIA aims to educate the Brandeis community on foreign affairs topics and to create a non-partisan space in which to talk about sensitive issues among your peers. BSIA holds group meetings in which students give presentations on current topics in international relations, followed by a discussion of the global ramifications of the current events.

IGS graduates enjoy careers in diplomacy, law, investment banking, international human rights organizations and education. Many also pursue graduate study in the social sciences, or degrees in law, medicine, public administration or business administration.

Julie Lubbers ’17 is a strategist with Sylvian Labs, a design consultancy working with international companies such as Google, Samsung, and GM. Sylvian Labs seeks to apply creativity and ingenuity to complex business problems and opportunities, reimagining global products and brands.

As a Brandeis student, Julie worked as a marketing consultant with the TAMID Group, a group that seeks to prepare the next generation of entrepreneurs by connecting university students with Israeli start-ups.

Following her graduation, Julie went to work as a brand strategist for Droga5, an international marketing and advertising firm.

Read more about Julie and her innovative work in the world of marketing.

Jesse Appell ’12 is an independent creative, entrepreneur and intercultural comedian based in Beijing who uses comedy as a means to bridge cultural divides between China and the West. Jesse has performed on television, radio, and live on various platforms in China, while his comedic pieces have collected millions of views across various media platforms.

Jesse’s work has been featured on TEDx, PBS, NPR and PRI, as well as Chinese media such as CCTV, BTV, and CRI.

In the English-speaking world, Jesse’s "Great LOL Of China" tour has performed Chinese comedy at over 30 schools, such as at Harvard, Yale SOM, University of Washington, Brandeis, Wesleyan, and UH Manoa.

Learn more about Jesse’s most recent project ‘Laugh Beijing’.

Hannah Anderson ’14 is a first year student in the Master of Science of Foreign Service program at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service Global and the Senior Editor at the Georgetown Journal of Asian Affairs. Additionally, Hannah works as a Global Trade Leader at the Hinrich Foundation, an Asia-based think tank focused on sustainable trade.

In previous years, Hannah also worked as a market Strategist on the Global Market Insights Strategy team, based in Hong Kong. She worked on developing and communicating timely market and economic insights to retail and institutional clients across Asia Pacific. She has a particular focus on China’s evolving financial system, global trade, and U.S.-China relations.

Fizz Ahmed ’13 has worked with Google since July 2018 as a New Business Manager, where he is helping global business grow with the power of the internet.

Following his graduation from Brandeis University as an IGS major, Ahmed began work for Oracle. While there, Fizz specialized as a Business Consultant and Data Protection Specialist.

In recent years, Fizz has also completed a Masters of Business Administration at NYU Stern School of Business.

Yidi Du ’17 has most recently worked out of Beijing as a Global Product Operations Strategist for ByteDance, a multinational internet technology company.

As an alumni of the Brandeis IGS program and the Columbia Business School, where she earned her MS in marketing, Yidi has taken on the world of international business in both the United States and China.