There are many minors at the university that allow students to formally add an international emphasis. Some minors will integrate more easily with an engineering degree, but all of these are options for interested students. Some minors are listed below. Additional information about majors and minors, including current requirements, can be found at http://bulletins.psu.edu/bulletins/bluebook/.
Minor in a Language
For students interested in a specific language and culture, a minor in a language may be an attractive option. There are many language minors:
- This interdisciplinary minor is designed to provide engineering students with critical principles and skills. Engineering Leadership graduates must demonstrate the ability to assume leadership roles in a competitive technologically complex global society. There are increasing demands for engineers to be able to deal effectively with other people, including the ability to work in teams and to interact with customers and other organizations on both national and international levels. Students will employ engineering case studies in active and collaborative classroom settings to develop these skills. Students in all engineering majors are eligible. For admission to the minor, students must have completed ENGR 408(2). Students should apply during their sophomore year.
- This minor is intended to recognize, for undergraduate students in any major, the completion of an education abroad program, foreign language competency, and related advanced course work. Ideally, the language, international, and advanced study should be integrated around some thematic or geographical focus.
- The Global Health Minor is designed to provide undergraduate students with a multidisciplinary exposure to the theoretical and practical issues affecting the health of populations in various countries and regions of the world. This minor is appropriate for students whose career goals incorporate public health interventions, education, policy or research related to global health. Course work and supervised field work will draw on the diversity and abundance of the Penn State faculty's international resources and networks. The minor consists of 18 credits, of which 9 credits are prescribed courses including a supervised fieldwork experience and 9 additional credits from the list of approved courses.
- This interdisciplinary minor is designed for students in any major of the University who wish to supplement their knowledge of the arts of a country or countries other than the United States. Students enrolled in the minor shall begin by taking the International Arts course and complete the minor with a project pertaining to topics studied for the minor. Credits applied toward the minor shall represent at least two disciplines and should consist of a coherent selection of courses relating to a geographic, chronological, or thematic concentration.
- This minor is an interdisciplinary program of study designed to enable students to (1) gain an awareness and appreciation for the interrelationship and interdependency of the nations of the world for their food and fiber; (2) gain an awareness of the resources available to solve problems in international agriculture; and (3) recognize systems of learning transfer and understand the impact of technological transfer across cultures. This minor may be combined with any undergraduate major in the University. It requires 18 credits in addition to the baccalaureate degree and departmental major requirements of the student's choice. Foreign language competence is highly recommended.
- This minor provides students, regardless of academic major, with basic professional knowledge and skills in the teaching of English as a second language (ESL) in adult programs in the United States and English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) in settings abroad. The program of study includes an introduction to the study of language use, culture, and social interaction from a variety of perspectives, to the role of English in globalization processes and to how globalization changes the structure, norms, and usage of English. It also provides students with an overview of current theories and practices in the teaching of English language and culture, and practical experiences in and basic tools for planning, delivering, and evaluating instruction.
