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Humanitarian Response and Human Rights

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 505 – Strategy, Conflict, Peace (3 credits)
  • INTAF 510 – Cross-Cultural Conflict Resolution (3 credits)
  • INTAF 511 – Ethical Dimensions in Food and Agricultural Governance (3 credits)
  • INTAF 514 – International Development and the Ethics of Development Assistance (3 credits)
  • INTAF 816 – War and Peace (3 credits)
  • INTAF 820 – Economic Development and the Environment (3 credits)
  • INTAF 822 – Global Media and Political Journalism (3 credits)
  • INTAF 823 – Global Human Rights Movements and Nonviolent Activism (3
    credits)
  • INTAF 897 – Special Topics: Global Migration: Threat, Opportunity or Necessity? (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):

  • INTR 961 – Asylum and Refugee Law (2 credits)
  • LWPER 951 – Critical Race Theory/Feminist Legal Theory (3 credits)

Penn State Graduate Elective Courses:

  • AFAM 502 – Blacks and African Diaspora (3 credits)
  • AFAM 503 – Sexual and Gender Politics in the African Diaspora (3 credits)
  • AFR 510 – Post-Colonial Theory (3 credits)
  • AFR 527/SOC 527 – Migration, Urbanization, and Policy in the Developing World (3 credits)
  • AFR 532 – Environment and Livelihoods in Africa (3 credits)
  • AGBIO 520 – Agricultural Biosecurity: Protecting a Key Infrastructure (3 credits)
  • CAS 553 – Disaster Communication (3 credits)
  • PLSC 556 – Civil Conflict (3 credits)
  • SOC 523 – Internal and International Migration (3 credits)
  • SOC 525 – Immigration, Assimilation, and Inequality (3 credits)
  • SOC 532 – Global Health and Mortality (3 credits)
  • SOC 551 – Social Stratification and Social Change (3 credits)
  • WMNST 502 – Global Perspectives on Feminism (3 credits)
  • WMNST 518 – Global Black Feminist Thought (3 credits)
  • WMNST 520 – Gender and Nationalism (3 credits)
  • WMNST 522 – Gender and Sexuality (3 credits)
  • WMNST 550 – African Feminism (3 credits)

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

  • AFAM 431/HIST 431 – Black Liberation and American Foreign Policy (3 credits)
  • AFR 434 – War and Development in Africa (3 credits)
  • AFR 440 – Globalization and Its Implications (3 credits)
  • AFR 443 – Ethnic Conflict in Africa (3 credits)
  • AFR 479 – History of Imperialism and Nationalism in Africa (3 credits)
  • BBH 402 – African Health & Development (3 credits)
  • CED 420W/WMSNT 420W – Gender and International Development
  • CED 460W – Policy, Politics, and Perspectives on Social and Environmental Responsibility
  • EDSGN 452** – Projects in Humanitarian Engineering (2 credits; HESE program)
  • EDSGN 453** – Design for Development Communities (1 credit; HESE program)
  • ENGR 451** – Social Entrepreneurship (3 credits; HESE program)
  • GEOG 421 – Population Geography (3 credits)
  • GEOG 426W – Gendered Worlds (3 credits)
  • GEOG 479 – Spatial Data Science for Cyber and Human Social Networks (3 credits)
  • GEOGSC 402Y – Natural Disasters (3 credits)
  • GEOGSC 450 – Risk Analysis in the Earth Sciences (3 credits)
  • HIST 409Y – Antisemitisms (3 credits)
  • HIST 416 – Zionism (3 credits)
  • HIST 432 – Between Nation and Empire: The Caribbean in the 20th Century (3 credits)
  • LTNST 479 – U.S. Latina/o Culture en Español (3 credits)
  • NURS 452 – Women’s Health Issues (3 credits)
  • NUTR 425 – Global Nutrition Problems: Health, Science, and Ethics (3 credits)
  • PLSC 450H – Genocide and Tyranny (3 credits)
  • PLSC 451 – The Politics of Human Rights (3 credits)
  • PLSC 474 – Civil Liberties and Due Process (3 credits)
  • SOC 422 – World Population Diversity (3 credits)
  • SOC 423 – Social Demography (3 credits)
  • SOC 424 – Social Change (3 credits)
  • SOC 425 – Social Conflict (3 credits)
  • SOC 429 – Social Stratification (3 credits)
  • SOC 432 – Social Movements (3 credits)
  • SOC 445 – U.S. Immigration (3 credits)
  • SRA 480 – Crisis Informatics (3 credits)
  • WMNST 420W – Gender and International Development (3 credits)
  • WMNST 428 – Gender and Politics (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.