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Overview

Learning MethodsMajor FocusThe AC DifferenceCareer Outlook

Learning Methods

The interdisciplinary approach in this field will expose students to multimodal instructional methods including music appreciation, interactive role-playing and communications games, flipped classrooms and group presentations, and of course, traditional lectures.
The eclectic nature of the subject matter requires mixed pedagogical and learning approaches.

Major Focus

International Studies is an established interdisciplinary field within the social sciences, but is relatively new owing to its connection with the emergence of a truly global society in the 20th century.
Mainstream courses in international studies draw upon resources from political science, economics, history, sociology, anthropology, cultural studies, feminist theory and philosophy, global/critical race theory, media and technology studies, arts and music, and even the natural sciences as needed to inform our empirical understanding of “the international” terrain.

The AC Difference

With smaller classes sizes and engaged instructors working closely with students, courses in international studies at Alexander College will offer students a chance to collaborate closely across cultural differences, create guided group projects and presentation, and to undertake deep-dive research assignments through the College’s library and electronic reserve offerings.

Career Outlook

International studies graduates work in all sectors of life and their skills with intercultural understanding, collaborative problem-solving in diverse groups, and general knowledge about all matter global and international leave them well-placed in the community.
Scholars of international studies are often employed by international non-governmental organizations and supranational institutions, in national government, in global multi-national corporation, in research and think tanks, in the media and in journalism and various international cultural and educational milieu all around the world.
Our essentially global society will consistently require the diverse and practical knowledge that students of international studies develop in their scholarship with their instructors and professors – and that knowledge is increasingly what is demanded of leaders in all kinds of organizations.

Course Descriptions

Select a course below to see full descriptions. (#) Indicates amount of credits per course

INST 101 - Introduction to International Studies (3)

This course analyzes how global forces and processes affect individuals, nation-states, and the global community. The integration of capital, technology, and information across national borders reflects the emergence of a global society. As such it is appropriate that issues such as war, peace, environmental collapse, cultural transformation, and social justice ought to be examined as global and no longer only national concerns. This course considers politics, economics, institutional transformation, religion, environmental issues, and alternatives to globalization, and is constructed in the spirit of interdisciplinary scholarship that has been at the heart of the development of International and Global Studies.

Prerequisite(s):

ENGL 099

Transfers to:

SFU IS 101 (3) B-Hum/Soc
UNBC INTS 100 (3)

Faculty

Dr. Shiva Olyaei (PhD, M.Law, MA, BA)

Instructor

Dr. Shiva Olyaei (PhD, M.Law, MA, BA)

Instructor

Shiva is a Peter Allard School of Law alumni with a doctoral degree from UBC. Prior to joining Alexander College, she taught at the department of political science as an adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University. Shiva also serves her community as a certified life and leadership coach and as an accredited judicial translator and interpreter.

Shiva enjoys teaching in academia and proudly translates enthusiasm for the subjects she teaches into the skills that can be portable across disciplines and careers for her students.

Denis Dogah (MA, BA)

Instructor

Denis Dogah (MA, BA)

Instructor

Hi All, My name is Denis Dogah. I am a Ph.D. Candidate at the Department of Political Science, SFU. I previously studied for my Master of Arts (MA) Degree in International Relations at Brock University.

I also hold a Bachelor of Arts (BA Hons) Degree in Political Science from the University of Ghana. I look forward to the opportunity to chat about the basic concepts and institutions of Politics, Governance, and International Studies.

Ali Riza Gungen (PhD, MA, BA)

Instructor

Ali Riza Gungen (PhD, MA, BA)

Instructor

Ali Riza Gungen received his PhD from the Middle East Technical University. He taught international studies, comparative politics and political economy courses over the last decade. Ali Riza published extensively on the political economy of emerging economies, and his research inquires about the limits and possibilities of the uses of public banks in the global South and the intertwining of authoritarianism with specific growth models. Ali Riza is the editor-in-chief of the social sciences journal Praksis and is currently a Middle East Studies Association Global Academy Fellow.

Colter Louwerse

Instructor

Colter Louwerse

Instructor

Colter Louwerse is a researcher and lecturer focusing on the transnational history and politics of Palestine and the Middle East. A graduate of the University of Exeter’s European Centre for Palestine Studies and the Institute for Arab and Islamic Studies in the United Kingdom, he was awarded a Master of Arts degree in Middle East and Islamic Studies at Exeter in 2018, and in 2022 was awarded a doctorate in Palestine Studies.

Louwerse’s ongoing research addresses the diplomatic history of Canadian, American, and British foreign policy in the Middle East, Palestinian nationalism on the global stage, the role of the United Nations in negotiating self-determination, sovereignty and human rights claims in the context of the Palestine Question, and the interrelationship between asymmetrical warfare, political violence and conflict resolution in Israel/Palestine and the broader Middle East region.

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