International Studies Major
Annual Report
2003-2004

The International Studies major is an interdisciplinary major of the UWM College of Letters and Science. More that 140 faculty members in over twenty UWM departments and programs teach courses in International Studies, whose record of University service goes back more than forty years.

In the past academic year, the IS major sponsored two undergraduate senior seminars, one each semester, for our students. These seminars were taught by Dr. Kristin Ruggiero (History) and Dr. Uk Heo (Political Science).

In the 2003-2004 academic year, more than eighty students were majoring or minoring in International Studies. They received advising about their programs of study from Professor Don Pienkos (Political Science), faculty coordinator of the major, and Ms. Anne Banda, Director of Academic and Outreach Programs for the Center for International Education. Program Assistant Ms. Doreen Festge provided excellent program assistance until retirement in April 2004. She has been succeeded in her work by Ms Andrea Herbert. The offices of the International Studies Program are located in Garland Hall.

In the past year, International Studies students, alumni, and faculty received two issues of the International Studies newsletter. These were issued in July 2003 and January 2004.

Information on the International Studies Program was distributed at the UWM Open House in October 2003 and elsewhere. New brochures publicizing the major and the certificate programs with which it is associated (Russian and East European Studies, Middle Eastern and North African Studies, and Asian Studies) were produced and distributed during the year.

Professor Pienkos and Ms. Banda actively cooperated, whenever possible, with the Center for International Education, its Director, Dr. Patrice Petro, and its representatives. The International Studies Major remained committed to working together with all UWM programs having an international focus. These included the various faculty-run foreign area studies certificate programs on our campus, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, the UW-M Institute of World Affairs, and the Global Studies degree. In the Spring semester, it successfully supported maintaining the international requirement in the College and backed the proposal to further define the objectives of the requirement for our undergraduate students.

The IS major, in the past academic year, supported a variety of educational programs, in and outside class, of benefit to students interested in international affairs. It supported the activities of our student-directed International Relations Society. In the past year, the IS major developed and implemented an assessment instrument for evaluating the Program.

Submitted by
Donald Pienkos, Political Science
Faculty Coordinator