Alternative and/or additional options may be available.The Global and Comparative Governance Thematic Area is designed for students who are interested in how a range of actors—local, national, global—seek to understand and solve the compelling security, development, environmental, and economic problems of our time. Students will take a multidisciplinary approach and will acquire the skills to empirically evaluate phenomena, anticipate emerging trends, and interpret data through an innovative curriculum that emphasizes theory and applied knowledge.SISU 280 Ruling the World: Comparative and Global Governance (multiple sections available)*Course offerings vary by semester. Courses in this area help students assess the choices as well as challenges involved in preventing, resolving, and managing conflict. The School of International Service at American University was founded in 1957. In particular, race, gender, class, religion, sexual orientation, and nationality are determinate identities for many, though in reality, everyone holds multiple identities at the same time. They do so because they believe the world needs leaders w The first year includes foundational SIS courses such as World Politics and a First-Year Seminar.A First Year Seminar at SIS is a seminar-format course capped at 20 first-year students; it is an opportunity for students to begin to develop critical intellectual skills and habits of mind that will prepare them to get the most out of their college experience, while studying a special topic that the professor has chosen because it genuinely excites their passions and piques their scholarly interests. Capstone projects enable students to integrate their previous coursework and demonstrate the skills and competencies they have gained during their time with us. Students should read the SISU 306 course descriptions carefully and consult with their SISU 206 professor as they select a section of SISU 306.Students at SIS also focus in depth on a particular region of the world.Thematics Areas are the themes around which students choose to concentrate their coursework during their third year in the SIS undergraduate program. ), civil society, and the private sector play in addressing regional and global problems. Students often prefer to take these classes abroad.The following courses are representative of what is offered to students. Students examine the different definitions of peace, security, and conflict as well as general patterns of violence and insecurity in the world. The Master of International Service is an accelerated program designed for professionals and practitioners with seven or more years of experience in international affairs. This introduction to the methods and methodologies of research is the foundation for the second course, SISU 306: Advanced International Studies Research, in which students complete their research project through the application of the research skills and one or more of the methodologies learned in SISU 206. Alternative and/or additional options may be available.The Global Inequality and Development Thematic Area directly addresses issues concerning the theory and practice of achieving equitable and sustainable human development. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, presiding over the groundbreaking, charged the school with a distinct mission: "to wage peace." SIS faculty and courses help students acquire critical intellectual dispositions and expanded moral imaginations-enabling them to think critically, creatively, and independently about important international issues-that will help them shape the global future.The sequencing of the BA in International Studies is designed to give students a firm grounding in the breadth of the international studies field, as well as solid research skills, before they further develop their own research and substantive interests. Students often prefer to take these classes abroad.The final year features a Senior Capstone class that allows for the integration of various aspects of the undergraduate educational experience and enables the creation of a summative project.The Senior Capstone course is specifically designed to provide the cumulative academic experience for our undergraduate students. The following are first year seminars taught in fall 2017; seminars offered change from semester to semester.The second year features core research design and methodology sequence, together with Intercultural Communication and gateway courses in the key Thematic Areas in which students choose to concentrate their coursework during their third year.The second year of the SIS BA curriculum is comprised of a two-semester methods and methodology course sequence designed to provide students with essential research skills and competencies and to empower them to conduct their own independent research. At least one of these courses must be taken at the 300 level. Many SISU 306 students have also published their work or presented at external conferences after revising the SISU 306 paper to take into account course feedback.SISU 306 offerings vary by semester; in general, sections specializing in qualitative case-study analysis, large statistical analysis, game theory, discourse analysis, process tracing, and ethnography are offered. Our courses, embodying both theoretical and grounded approaches, explore each of these identities in their own right, as well as in a historical and an intersectional manner that explores the relationship between them.SISU 260 Identity, Race, Gender, Culture (multiple sections available)*Course offerings vary by semester. Students in the program will learn about an array of empirical cases and master the pertinent theoretical and ethical debates.SISU 270 Human Rights (multiple sections available)*Course offerings vary by semester. American University Catalog 2018-2019. The Environmental Sustainability and Global Health Thematic Area introduces students to the socio-political dynamics of global health and environmental affairs.