By Maya Piel
For The Diamondback
The University of Maryland approved a new global and foreign policy major in the public policy school in August.
The interdisciplinary major aims to teach students about global challenges such as conflict, migration and pandemics. It offers three tracks: development and sustainability; human security and migration; and security, conflict and diplomacy.
The major also partners with the languages, literatures and cultures school; arts and humanities college and agriculture and natural resources college.
“[The interdisciplinary aspect] was critical, because one cannot fully understand or seek to address any global issue without a broad interdisciplinary perspective,” said associate public policy professor Catherine Worsnop, the faculty director of the new degree.
The major launched in October and therefore was not offered during this university’s most recent application cycle. But some students have already voiced interest in the program.
Junior public policy major Ashley Hernandez said she plans on adding the global and foreign policy major in addition to her current major. She said the new major is well-rounded and would help expose students to work in the global and foreign market.
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“I feel like it is going to give me the information that I need and the skills that I need in order to conduct real problems, rather than just learn the theoretical and philosophical aspect of it,” Hernandez said.
Associate public policy professor Joshua Shifrinson, who helped create the major, explained how developers of the major conducted focus groups of more than 100 students as part of the student input process.
The major may expand in the future to include a foreign policy, strategy and statecraft track as well as a fellows program within the major, Shifrinson said. The major is intended to meet outside demand from the job market, he added.
This degree allows for students to gain more focused learning around their interests, Worsnop said, especially with this university’s large specialization range in various policy areas.
“It is really useful and important for every person to have a global perspective and an understanding of policy, because it impacts everything that we do, no matter the area that you’re in,” Worsnop said.
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Next semester, the major will feature several introductory classes on the major’s key concepts, including one on the foundations of global and foreign policy. Another class will teach global order and policy structures.
These classes are required courses within the major’s curriculum and are designed to show students the “range of issues they might want to tackle,” Shifrinson explained.
The major also requires a capstone project, internship or study abroad experience.
Although the capstone projects’ structure are still being developed, Worsnop said, they will likely have a wide range of partnerships with individuals and organizations. This may include local governments, nonprofits or international organizations, she explained.
“This is still the interconnected world where understanding the policymaking landscape gives you purchase on the issues which affect the day-to-day lives of … almost everyone around the world,” Shifrinson said. “I think many schools should be moving more in a policy-focused direction.”
