Interdisciplinary Programs

International Studies

The International Studies program provides a strong multidisciplinary foundation for students’ futures, drawing on four academic disciplines: economics, history, modern languages, and political science.

To ensure breadth of training and hands-on learning, our students take a core of thirteen courses in these four disciplines. Each student chooses a regional area of focus that corresponds to their language training.

Recent Allegheny graduates note that their background in economics and modern languages has proved vital when vying for jobs or entrance to graduate schools.

International Studies
Global Citizen Scholars

The Global Citizen Scholars Program will provide students with unique learning opportunities in three areas — civic engagement, global learning, and U.S. diversity. It integrates work in these three areas as its basis, combining coursework with a range of high-impact experiences and intensive advising. These areas combine very powerfully to inform a global and committed citizenry who can think outside the box, as it encourages students to engage in diverse communities and cultures — not as passive observers, but as mindful participants — and asks students to make sense of their itinerary along the way.

As a part of this leadership program, every student commits to civic engagement, diversity initiatives, and study abroad. Each cohort works through the lens of a relevant global theme and/or world region. Over the course of the program, Global Citizen Scholars acquire the skills and competencies to make sensible and sensitive decisions with contextual understanding, and to collaborate and produce results both individually and as a group.

View & download the GCS brochure here

Global Citizen Scholars
Middle East & North African Studies

Middle East and North African Studies is an interdisciplinary minor examining the history, politics, religion, culture, and economics of the Middle East and North Africa (“MENA”). Through this minor, students gain an in-depth understanding of the region and the contexts through which we understand it. In order to provide students a comprehensive view of the region, the required course work is distributed between religious, linguistic, cultural, and social scientific approaches.

Middle East & North African Studies
Global Health Studies

Allegheny College is proud to be among a handful of American liberal arts colleges that boast a program in Global Health Studies (GHS).

Founded on the belief that undergraduate liberal education can play an essential role in meeting the world’s health challenges, the GHS program draws upon Allegheny’s longstanding commitments to civic engagement, diverse perspectives, internationalization, project-based and interdisciplinary learning. Thanks in part to a generous grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, we have added new faculty with expertise in epidemiology and global health, designed new health-related courses, supported student research and experiential learning opportunities, and created both a major and a minor in Global Health Studies.

Foreign Language:

  • Students must demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language equivalent to one year of college-level study as demonstrated by the successful completion of at least one modern foreign language course numbered 120 or above.

Experiential Component:

  • Students are strongly encouraged to complete at least one Global Health Studies-related learning experience (e.g. EL seminars, semester away programs, and research or internship opportunities) that goes beyond clinical observation or shadowing.
Global Health Studies
Latin American & Caribbean Studies

The Latin American & Caribbean Studies minor is interdisciplinary in nature, 
combining the study of humanities and social sciences with the study of languages and experience in the region.

This minor includes courses from the following programs: economics, political science, history, modern languages, and religious studies. Work presented in fulfillment of the minor must include coursework taken in residence and coursework taken at an accredited Latin American university or research institution.

Students must demonstrate proficiency in Spanish through coursework. They must also complete at least one Latin American studies course apiece in two other departments.

We believe that the experience of being in Latin America is invaluable to learning about the region and its people.  As part of the LACS minor, all students spend time studying in Latin America.

Latin American & Caribbean Studies