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Advising for All GLBL Majors

African woman with hands up. By Amoako Boafo

Need Help?

Navigating an academic major can be challenging, and the GLBL is here to support you in that process. Please access help in the following order:

1. Review the FAQs below

2. Attend Group Advising Sessions

  • These occur every semester, prior to registration, and are announced through the GLBL list-serve
  • These sessions cover: 1) course offerings, 2) descriptions of specialty courses and the requirements they will meet; 3) expected future course offerings for advanced planning

3. Seek help from the GLBL advisor

FAQs for All GLBL Majors

Your GLBL major advisor is Prof. Rheyna Laney, a faculty member in GEP. You can find her contact information and office hours here: Contact Info

We recommend that you track your progress in two ways:

1. Print and mark your progress on the GLBL Degree Plan Worksheet.

Degree Plan / Development Concentration (PDF)

Degree Plan / Area Studies through Study Abroad (PDF)

2. Check your Academic Requirements Report (ARR) to track your progress in the overall bachelors degree

There are 4 categories of requirements that you need to keep track of (or more if you are double majoring or minoring). 

  1. General Undergraduate Degree Requirements (e.g. 120 units minimum)
  2. General Education Requirements (Lower and Upper Division)
  3. SSU (Seawolf) Graduation Requirements (e.g. Critical Race Studies)
  4. GLBL Major Requirements

Check your progress in all four categories. For each requirement, your ARR will show

  • Green Circles (completed)
  • Yellow Diamonds (taking)
  • Red Squares (incomplete)

If there are any discrepancies between your expected progresses and the ARR, contact your GEP Major Advisor

For instructions on how to view and interpret your ARR, go to How to View Your Academic Requirements Report

When to sign up:

We recommend that first take GLBL 310: Professional Preparation.

In GLBL 310, you think strategically about what types of internships will advance your career in the right direction. And, we provide resources for finding those internships.

If you are studying abroad, we encourage you to do the internship while you are abroad.

If you are not studying abroad, we encourage you to explore overseas internships that are available over the summer

If participating in an internship abroad is not available, you should do the internship during your senior year.

How to sign up:

Please go to the internship page for information on how to sign up: Info on Internships

For Freshmen and Sophomores:

You are encouraged to consult with the Advising Center and the GLBL advisor, but our general advice is to:

Build schedule based on the order of priority shown below:

If a class is not available, not needed, or conflicts with a higher priority course, skip to the next priority. Stop when you have added enough total units.

  1. Language Course
  2. Lower division GE courses that also count towards the GLBL Major (e.g. GLBL 150a/b; SSCI 299)
  3. All other GE

For Juniors and Seniors:

You are encouraged to consult with the GLBL advisor, but our general advice is to:

Build schedule based on the order of priority shown below:

If a class is not available, not needed, or conflicts with a higher priority course, skip to the next priority. Stop when you have added enough total units.

  1. Language Course
  2. GEP 305 or 306
  3. GEP 422 (if you are within the last three semesters of the degree)
  4. Any Electives in your Concentration that you are very interested in (they will not come around often)
  5. Any Foundational Courses that you need
  6. Any GE that you need

Capstone courses are designed to provide an opportunity for students to do a substantial amount of scaffolded research and writing. Scaffolded means that students receive regular feedback throughout the research and writing process.

Throughout this experience, students apply and advance their research, critical thinking and writing skills – building on the skills that they have been developing throughout their college career. As well, students produce a well-developed and well-edited ‘finished’ product.

GEP 422 Political Ecology serves as the Capstone for the Global Studies Major.

The Global Studies Capstone (GEP 422 Political Ecology) is offered about every three semesters. You must take it when it becomes available -- either your junior or senior year.

Review the tentative schedule posted here: Reg Info

GWAR is the California State University Graduate Written Assessment Requirement (GWAR). You must meet that requirement in order to graduate. This requirement is designed to ensure that all graduates have strong writing skills.

You complete that requirement by successfully completing a Writing Intensive Course (WIC), during your junior or senior year (when you have taken at least 60 units at the time you take the WIC course, including the units from that semester).

We recommend that you take ENG 375. GLBL majors have found that course to be exceptionally rewarding.

But, you can take a WIC course that is offered by any Department.

Yes. You should explore options in two places:

1. Community and Junior Colleges

These institutions offer lower division courses, so you should consider them for lower division foundation courses in the GLBL major. Here is a list of courses that commonly transfer to GLBL

Community College Course GLBL Requirement
Any language course Language proficiency requirement
Cultural Anthropology Cultural Perspectives
Human Geography>>Cultural Perspectives
Cultural Geography>>Cultural Perspectives
World History Since 1500 >>Historical Perspectives
Intro to Comparative Government>>Political Perspectives
Intro to International Relations>>Political Perspectives

You can also take lower division General Education courses

We recommend that you use this website to verify whether the classes will transfer correctly: ASSIST.ORG

2. Study Abroad / National Student Exchange / Summer courses offered by other Universities

Summer is an excellent time to study away – at other universities and field schools, nationally or internationally. For more information about those opportunities, take a look at:

1. SSU Study Away: SSU Study Away

3. Announcements on the GLBL list-serve (which all majors are automatically signed up to receive) where we regularly pass on advertisements for such opportunities
 

We address issues about GE in another page. Please visit: FAQs about GE