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African Development

Concentration Requirements:

  • Please select a minimum of four courses (12 credits total) from the list below, including two INTAF courses.
  • Please note that this list will be reviewed and updated periodically. However, students should always check LionPATH to determine the availability of these courses in any given semester and review any mandatory prerequisites prior to enrolling.
  • Please note that enrollment in any course listed below is not guaranteed, especially when the course is outside of INTAF.
  • Classes included on the list below are approved to use as electives for this concentration. Any course that is not listed below must go through a formal review process. To begin this review process, please complete this form.
    • Courses that are not approved electives from the below list will NOT count towards your concentration unless you obtain approval through the review process.

SIA Elective Courses (please select at least two courses from the following list):

  • INTAF 501 – Water and Sustainable Development (3 credits)
  • INTAF 502 – Science, Technology and International Policy (3 credits)
  • INTAF 504 – Political Economy of Development and Growth (3 credits)
  • INTAF 505 – Strategy, Conflict, Peace (3 credits)
  • INTAF 511 – Ethical Dimensions in Food and Agricultural Governance (3 credits)
  • INTAF 512 – Institutional Change and Development (3 credits)
  • INTAF 514 – International Development and The Ethics of Development Assistance (3 credits)
  • INTAF 534 – Political Economy of Energy and Extractive Industries in Africa (Oil and Mining) (3 credits)
  • INTAF 810 – Energy, International Security, and the Global Economy (3 credits)
  • INTAF 815 – Dynamics of International Economic Order: Law, Politics, and Power (3 credits)
  • INTAF 816 – War and Peace (3 credits)
  • INTAF 820 – Economic Development and the Environment (3 credits)

Penn State Graduate Elective Courses:

  • AFR/SOC 527 – Migration, Urbanization, and Policy in the Developing World (3 credits)
  • AFR 532 – Environment and Livelihoods in Africa (3 credits)
  • AFR 534 – Political Economy of Energy and Extractive Industries in Africa (Oil and Mining (3 credits)
  • ECON 570 – Development Economics (3-6 credits)
  • INTAD 577 – Global Agricultural Systems (3 credits)
  • INTAD 820 – International Agricultural Development Seminar (3 credits)
  • LGWR 520 – Global Workers Rights (3 credits)
  • RSOC 508 – Sociology of Agriculture (3 credits)
  • RSOC 517 – International Rural Social Change (3 credits)
  • RSOC 525 – Fertility, Population Change, and Development (3 credits)

Penn State 400-Level Elective Courses (please select no more than three courses from the following list):

  • AFR/PLSC 434 – War and Development in Africa (3 credits)
  • AFR/PLSC 443 – Ethnic Conflict in Africa (3 credits)
  • AFR/GEOG 444 – African Resources and Development (3 credits)
  • AFR 454 – Government and Politics of Africa (3 credits)
  • AFR/PLSC 464 – Extractive Industries in Africa (3 credits)
  • BBH 402 – African Health and Development (3 credits)
  • CED 420W – Gender and International Development (3 credits)
  • CED 425 – International Community and Economic Development (3 credits)
  • ECON 413 – Economic Growth and Poverty (3 credits)
  • ECON 428 – Environmental Economics (3 credits)
  • ECON 438 – The Winners and Losers from Globalization (3 credits)
  • ECON 445 – Health Economics (3 credits)
  • ECON 471 – Growth and Development (3 credits)
  • EDSGN 452* -- Projects in Humanitarian Engineering (2 credits; HESE program)
  • EDSGN 453* -- Design for Development Communities (1 credit; HESE program)
  • EDSGN 454* -- HESE Field Experience (.5 credits)
  • ENGR 451* -- Social Entrepreneurship (3 credits)
  • ENGR 455* -- HESE Reflection and Research Dissemination (3 credits)
  • LER 475 – Labor in the Global Economy: U.S. and South African Perspectives (3 credits)

*Courses are part of the Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship (HESE) program. EDSGN 452 and EDSGN 453 taken concurrently can be used toward the M.I.A. elective requirements. EDSGN 454 is an optional travel component to the course for .5 credits during the Maymester after successful completion of the two courses. Please note: the international experience during the Maymester semester in combination with ENGR 455 (HESE Reflection and Research Dissemination) for 3 credits can serve as a Capstone project (internship or master's paper). Students interested in the Capstone option should speak with the SIA director of career services.

All World Campus courses, including any that appear as elective class options on this list, require enrollment permission from the SIA faculty director prior to registering for the class. Please contact the SIA academic adviser for more information.