Â鶹ÊÓƵ

The African Studies minor is designed to offer students an opportunity to study about the African continent and its peoples through varied courses across the curriculum. The wealth and the diversity of cultures and experiences of African peoples and nations is the focus of these courses. In taking these courses with a focus on Africa, students are encouraged to critically examine the connections between African phenomena and the heritage that was carried over to the African diaspora in the Americas and other parts of the world. As a program that embraces international experience, it also encourages students to take advantage of opportunities that the college offers to study abroad in an African country.

African Studies is an interdisciplinary field that engages the historical, political, social, economic, and cultural experiences of Africans and peoples of African descent, as well as the aesthetic dimensions of these experiences through their art and literature. In that, the program enhances the educational development of students and enables them to develop an appreciation for the contributions that Africans have made to world history and civilization.

The Environmental Studies (ES) Program combines rigorous empiricism with analysis of ethical, aesthetic, and historical issues in examining the relationship between humans and the nonhuman world. A rich array of faculty expertise, courses, facilities, internships, and study abroad options provides the foundation for an interdisciplinary study of the environment.

The Japanese Studies major and minor offer students the opportunity to become familiar with various aspects of Japanese culture: language, literature, history, politics, art, and religion. Students majoring in Japanese Studies are required to study in Japan for at least one semester.. The major culminates in the production of a scholarly paper on some aspect of Japanese culture, written in the senior year under the guidance of one of the participating faculty members.

The Latin American, Latino and Caribbean Studies (LALACS) Program at Â鶹ÊÓƵ gives students the opportunity to study the Americas across a wide spectrum of the humanities and the social sciences. Students learn about Latin American culture and history, study abroad, and serve others while preparing to work and live in our diverse global community. An interdisciplinary program that attracts many of the most engaged and fascinating students on campus, LALACS is growing!

Peace, Justice, and Conflict Studies is an interdisciplinary field of study which addresses the problems of war, social oppression and violence, and the challenges of implementing nonviolent conflict resolution and social justice. Peace Studies serves to focus knowledge from diverse disciplines to converge on the problems of violence and the challenges of finding peaceful solutions.

Â鶹ÊÓƵ offers seminars, advising, lectures, and campus visits by law school representatives and legal professionals. All students interested in attending law school in the future are encouraged to participate. The Â鶹ÊÓƵ Pre-Law advisor offers detailed guidance for pre-law students.

The department of Education provides programs in teacher education that lead to licensure in teaching kindergarten, elementary school, and secondary school. Graduates of teacher education programs at Â鶹ÊÓƵ also qualify for graduate study. The College is accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education and by the National Association of State Directors of Education Certification. Teacher education programs at Â鶹ÊÓƵ are approved by the Minnesota Board of Teaching.

Â鶹ÊÓƵ offers an inter-departmental major and minor in Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies to demonstrate the usefulness of gender as a category of analysis. Through selected courses, students study interconnections among the fundamental questions raised by scholarship on women. Students also gain historical and cross-cultural perspectives on women's experience through the examination of other issues, such as race, class, and cultural difference that are central to the study of gender. A critical awareness of methodology (in the organizing of knowledge and the framing of analyses) also is important within each course.