Global Premodern Studies Minor

Printable Version in PDF Format (Get Adobe Acrobat)

History

• Policy Number: SP.14.010
• Version: Original
• Drafted By: Alison Perchuk/Colleen Delaney
• Approved By: Richard R. Rush
• Approval Date: 4/27/15
• Effective Date: 8/19/15
• Supersedes: N/A

Purpose

Provide information regarding the Global Pre-modern Studies Minor

Policy

Text

PROGRAM IDENTIFICATION

Global Premodern Studies

Joint proposal of Art and History

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

DESCRIPTION OF THE MINOR AND STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
The Minor in Global Premodern Studies (GPS) is intended to facilitate and reward sustained interdisciplinary study of global cultures prior to ca. 1500.  By bundling together all such courses currently offered at CI, the minor offers students a way to find courses (and disciplines) that might be of interest and relevance to them but of which they might not otherwise be aware.  To complete the minor, students must take eighteen units within three or more programs; as per CSU policy, nine of these units must be at the upper division level (300 or above).  As no more than six units may come from within the student’s major field of study, the minor challenges students to move beyond their disciplinary home and intellectual comfort zone to engage with ideas and methods from additional fields of study.  The low number of units is intended to draw a wide range of students into this interdisciplinary minor, including those who are intellectually curious but might not be able to invest 21 to 27 units in a minor, while the requirement that two-thirds of the units be taken outside the student’s major area of study ensures that students gain breadth as well as depth and that the learning outcomes for the minor will be met.  Similarly, students will be encouraged to seek advising from a member of the steering committee from outside of their major field of study.  The criterion for inclusion of a course within the minor is that the course must focus on, or present the majority of its content within, the prehistoric and historical world prior to ca. 1500 CE.  The exceptions are the two methods courses, ANTH 205: Introduction to Archaeology and UNIV 198: Interdisciplinary Research, both of which directly support program learning outcomes.

• Identify, describe, analyze, and interpret artifacts, events, and issues from the world prior to 1500 from within at least three disciplinary perspectives
• Describe, apply, and critique methods of scholarly inquiry into the world prior to 1500 from within at least three disciplinary perspectives
• Apply multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and integrative tools, methods, and perspectives to analyze and interpret artifacts, events, and issues from the world prior to 1500
• Apply multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and integrative tools, methods, and perspectives to describe, analyze, and critique the roles played by the world prior to 1500 in contemporary cultures and societies
• Communicate knowledge of and engagement with the world prior to 1500 effectively in written, oral, visual, and/or performative formats

The Minor in Global Premodern Studies (GPS) is intended to support the development of historical consciousness and intellectual curiosity among our students by facilitating and rewarding sustained interdisciplinary study of global prehistoric and historical cultures prior to the expansion of intercontinental trade, ca. 1500.  In doing so, it will uphold CI’s mission pillar of integrative studies, building an interdisciplinary community of students and faculty with shared intellectual interests.  By incorporating courses dealing with premodern societies worldwide, it will also support CI’s mission of globalism and multicultural understanding, including the intersections of prehistoric and historical societies and the similarities and differences in the methods scholars use to investigate various types of societies and cultures.  Finally, by providing cross-program support for lower-enrollment courses, this minor will help CI to offer a wider range of courses without reducing per-unit FTEs.

The Minor in Global Premodern Studies offers you the opportunity to undertake sustained interdisciplinary study of global prehistoric and historical cultures prior to ca. 1500 CE.  It complements such majors as anthropology, art, English, history, and performing arts by enabling you to balance study of the premodern world within your major with perspectives, methods, and knowledge obtained from engagement with one or more additional disciplines.  Through application of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives, you will gain a rich and nuanced understanding of the complexities of global premodern societies, and of the roles these societies play in contemporary culture and imagination.

The Minor in Global Premodern Studies is intended for any student with an interest in the premodern world, locally or globally, regardless of major or intended career path, and the skills of interdisciplinary critical analysis that it seeks to foster are widely applicable across a range of careers.  The minor may be most relevant if you are considering the following career paths, particularly with a historical emphasis: anthropologist, archaeologist, artist, author, curator, educator (P–12 or college), journalist, lawyer, linguist, and positions in the travel and tourism industries.  If you are considering pursuing postgraduate study in premodern topics, including teaching credentials, MAs, and PhDs, you may find the minor of particular benefit.

GPS Steering Committee:
Catherine Bae, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, History and Minor Advisor
Alison Perchuk, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Art and Minor Advisor
Jennifer Perry, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Anthropology and Minor Advisor

Michael Blodgett, Ph.D., Lecturer, History
Amy Caldwell, Ph.D., Lecturer, History
Scott Corbett, Ph.D., Lecturer, History
Colleen Delaney, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Anthropology
Blake Gillespie, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Chemistry

CURRICULUM

• Lower and Upper Division Course Requirements (including pre- and co- requisites.) Identify required elective courses. Identify currently available course in the catalog, and separately identify newly developed courses.

Eighteen (18) units to be taken from among the following courses, a minimum of nine (9) units of which must be taken at the upper division level.  Courses must come from at least three different disciplinary areas, determined by prefix including cross-listed prefixes.  No more than six (6) units taken within a student’s major field of study may be counted for the minor; these six (6) units may be double-counted for the major and the minor.  Transfer students may petition the GPS advisor for minor credit for courses without articulation at CSUCI.  Special topics, independent study, and capstone courses may be counted within the minor upon petition to the GPS advisor.

UNIV 198: Introduction to Interdisciplinary Research

• Total number of units in the Minor (including pre- and co-requisites)

18 units

ACADEMIC STRUCTURE AND ENROLLMENT

• Identify the program area and persons responsible for program management and oversight.

The minor will be housed in the History Program, as this is the major anticipated to provide the most students for the minor, and because such period studies minors are typically housed within history departments/programs. 

The minor will be overseen by an interdisciplinary steering committee comprising Catherine Bae (History), Jennifer Perry (Anthropology) and Alison Perchuk (Art), each of whom holds an interdisciplinary degree at the B.A. or M.A. level; the steering committee members will also serve as minor advisors.  The housing of the minor in one program, advising across three programs, and an interdisciplinary steering committee all support the minor’s interdisciplinary ethos.

• Estimate number of students enrolling in the minor in the initial year, and after three (3) and five (5) years. 

FACULTY AND STAFF RESOURCES

• Existing faculty and staff qualified to each in and support the minor, including the percent of their work assignment contributing to the minor

Alison Potter, Program Analyst, History: 2.5% administrative support

Plus any other faculty teaching courses listed within the minor.

• Additional faculty and staff needed for the minor and the areas of expertise needed.

Any faculty with expertise in the premodern world will be invited to participate in the minor, including by integrating relevant courses within the minor.  As the minor is meant to add value to existing courses and majors, including supporting courses with historically lower enrollments, no minor-specific courses or faculty are needed.  Students wishing to complete interdisciplinary projects (independent study, capstone) will be directed to the minor advisor or to participating faculty within existing programs.

FACILITIES, EQUIPMENT, FINANCIAL AND INFORMATION RESOURCES

• Existing facilities, equipment, and information resources available to support the minor.

Existing facilities, equipment, and information resources available to support the minor include regular classrooms, classrooms with projection or performance capacities, library computer resources, and physical and digital library holdings, including article databases (Academic Search Premier, JSTOR, Project Muse).

• External funding already in progress or anticipated

No external support has been sought for the minor.

• Facilities, Equipment, and Information Resources Needed to Support the Minor

A modest amount of library resource acquisitions would be desirable, including possible subscriptions to such digital resources as the International Medieval Bibliography, the bibliographic catalogue for medieval studies research, and to Oxford Medieval Bibliographies, a new subject area guide to medieval studies.  Library purchases might include such staples as the Cambridge Ancient History and Cambridge Medieval History reference sets or equivalents.  Current subscriptions to select periodicals, e.g., Speculum, the flagship US medieval studies periodical, would also be helpful.  Because no new faculty or courses are anticipated and the minor is intended to serve current students, no other special needs are anticipated.

Exhibit(s)

N/A