Advising for Incoming Freshmen
Welcome to Global Studies!
During your first year or two at SSU, the Advising Office will provide most of the advising services you need. That team runs the freshman orientation program, and they will help you develop your class schedules during your first several semesters here. As a GLBL major, your main contact person on that Advising team is: Ryan Walsh at the Advising Center.
The Department of Geography, Environment and Planning (GLBL's administrative home) and the Global Studies Coordinator are here to support you as well. We can assist you in finding the right classes to ensure that you progress through the major as efficiently as possible. And, we try to provide you with opportunities to meet fellow GLBL and GEP majors and develop a community here. In that spirit, here are answers to some questions that you may have:
FAQs for Freshmen
Your GLBL major advisor is Prof. Rheyna Laney. You should see Prof. Laney’s name in your MySSU Student Center.
Prof. Laney's contact information and office hours are provided here: Contact Info
Global Studies is an interdisciplinary major that is stewarded by a team of internationally-oriented faculty from across the campus. That team is led by the Global Studies Coordinator, who also serves as your academic advisor. That coordinator is currently Prof. Rheyna Laney.
Administratively, Global Studies is housed within the Department of Geography, Environment and Planning (GEP). If you have any administrative questions, you are welcome to visit the GEP Dept Office for help – in Stevenson 3715.
Yes.
One main priority for you will be to advance your language skills. Please refer to the FAQ in this section that addresses that issue specifically.
In addition, there are several classes that you can take to get started with the major and simultaneously meet GE requirements.
One option is to enroll in the First-Year Learning Course (FLC) GLBL 150a/b. That is a year-long class that extends across the Fall (150a) and Spring (150b) semesters. With that class, you will complete GLBL's foundational "cultural perspectives" requirement. And, you will complete two GE Areas: A3-Critical Thinking and C1-Arts. As well, the course includes a transition curriculum that will help you acclimate to academic and student life at SSU.
GLBL 150a/b -Global Societies through Film
Students apply tools within human geography and film studies to analyze how people navigate economic, political, cultural, and environmental processes that span across local to global scales. Students examine the common challenges and the unique adversities that people face around the world as they manage their lives within those processes. Students also consider how film production itself is a culturally embedded and globally diverse medium for telling those stories.
Another option is to take GEP 110. That single-semester class meets GE Area A1-Oral Communication Note, however, that while it covers environmental issues, it does not meet any GEP Major requirements.
GLBL 110 - Communication of Global Social Justice
In this class students learn how to communicate information about global social justice issues through audio-visual presentation more effectively. We first focus on researching, designing, framing and delivering presentations generally. Then, through the frame of four global social justice topics (such as precarious, child, sweatshop, and forced labor, fair trade, corporate social responsibility, and ethical consumerism, and activism), we improve our abilities to research and design both positioned and more objective individual and group presentations. We will participate in group evaluation workshops following each presentation to engage our critical listening and critical thinking skills to improve our confidence with making public presentations.
The Global Studies Major requires intermediate-level proficiency in a language other than English
As you know, learning a language takes a significant amount of time and effort. As well, which languages you speak can have a significant impact on your career options in the future.
Hence, you want to think deeply about which language you want to pursue, and then how and when you will pursue it.
We recommend that you email the Global Studies Advisor (Prof. Laney: laney@sonoma.edu) before you develop your class schedule, and ask to set up a meeting where you can talk about the issue and develop a plan.
In general, you want to think (and talk to her) about:
- Which region of the world you want to establish expertise in (and perhaps engage with in your future career)
- Which language(s) you already speak, and which you studied in high school
- Whether you want to study abroad during you college career at SSU, and if so, where
- Which languages are available at SSU
For more information about the language requirement, go to: Language Requirement
Yes.
To fulfill GE Area B4 – Quantitative Reasoning, we recommend that you choose one of the following:
ECON 217 - Statistics for Economics and Business (4 units)
MATH 103 - Ethnomathematics (3 units)
MATH 165 - Elementary Applied Statistics (4 units)
You have many options as you build your class schedule.
Nevertheless, just to give you an idea, your schedule might look something like:
| Fall Semester | GE | Units |
|---|---|---|
GLBL 150A: Global Societies through Film GEP 201: Global Environmental Systems ENGL 101: Expository Writing and Analytical Reading MATH 165: Elementary Statistics KIN 101: Activity class (e.g. yoga, tennis, rock climbing etc) | C1 B1 A2 B4
| 3 3 3 4 2 |
| Spring Semester | ||
GLBL 150B: Global Societies through Film GLBL 110: Communication of Global Social Issues BIO 110: Biological Inquiry SPAN 102: Basic Spanish, Second Semester NAMS 200: Introduction to Native Americans | A3 A1 B2/3 C3 F | 3 3 3 3 3 |
If you took an AP Language Course (e.g. Spanish, French, German)
A score of 3 is equivalent to 3 semesters of language in college. You will need to take a 4th semester-level courses (202 level at SSU)
A score of 4 or higher meets the GLBL language requirement. You will not have to take an additional language course. But, we recommend that you consider pursuing a double major or minor in that language.
If you took AP Human Geography
A score of 3 or higher will transfer as GEP 203 Human Geography. That will satisfy the GLBL Foundational Requirement: Cultural Perspectives
To review other possible course equivalents, review that information here: AP Course Equivalents
During freshman orientation, you will learn how to register for classes on Seawolf Scheduler and you will enroll in your Fall courses.
For a refresher, we provide a number of videos here: SSU How To Videos
We recommend that you:
1) Enroll in GLBL classes designed for freshmen (e.g. GLBL 150A/B; GLBL 110), as discussed above
2) Connect to the GEP/GLBL Student Club through Instagram and participate in its events and activities. Go here: Student Club