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Development Policy

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 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 810 – Energy, International Security, and the Global Economy (3 credits)
  • INTAF 815 – Dynamics of International Economic Order: Law, Politics, and Power (3 credits)
  • INTAF 820 – Economic Development and the Environment (3 credits)
  • INTAF 897 – Special Topics: Corporations in Global Affairs (3 credits)
  • INTAF 897 – Special Topics: US-Latin American Relations: Cooperation and Conflict (3 credits)

Penn State Law Elective Courses (requires instructor and SIA faculty director approval prior to enrolling):

  • SEM 941 – The United Nations and International Law Seminar (2 credits)

Penn State Graduate Elective Courses:

  • ECON 507 – International Trade (3-6 credits)
  • ECON 543 – Industrial Organization and Public Policy (3-6 credits)
  • ECON 570 – Development Economics (3-6 credits)
  • INTAD 820 – International Agricultural Development Seminar (3-6 credits)
  • PLSC 597 – Seminar on State-Making (3 credits)
  • PPOL 570 – Environmental Policy (3 credits)

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

  • ECON 402 – Decision Making and Strategy in Economics (3 credits)
  • ECON 411 – Behavioral Economics (3 credits)
  • ECON 412 – Labor Economics and Labor Markets (3 credits)
  • ECON 413 – Economic Growth and Poverty (3 credits)
  • ECON 428 – Environmental Economics (3 credits)
  • ECON 433 – Advanced International Trade Theory and Policy (3 credits)
  • ECON 434 – International Finance and Open Economy Macroeconomics (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)

*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 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.