To enrich their knowledge, skills, and experience, students may craft Independent Studies courses in collaboration with interested faculty members and administrative approval. Independent Study courses are numbered 299, 399, and 499, depending on the number of credits and workload. Independent Study courses may be created for any number of reasons to provide instruction on topics not already covered in the curriculum. Typically, a student or group of students with an idea for a course approach an instructor before the semester they wish to take the course in, then develop the syllabus in consultation with the instructor in the August or January block. The syllabus must be submitted to the Concentration Director and the Dean of Faculty along with the Independent Study registration form. Independent Study courses must be approved before the end of add/drop period.
Each Independent Study course is different in terms of scope and content. Remember, Independent Study courses demand dedicated students, since they are tasked with constructing much of the syllabus. It is a lot of work for all involved, so make sure you are keenly interested in a topic, then approach an INTS instructor.
Examples of INTS Independent Study courses include:
-INTS 299, Sub-Continental Divide: Pakistan, India, and the Kashmir Conflict (instructor: Shane Barter)
-INTS 299, The Politics of Apology (instructor: Tetsushi Ogata)
-INTS 399, Testimony and Memory in Brazil (instructor: Ian Read)
-INTS 399, Southeast Asian Anti-Imperialist Feminism (instructor: Tomas Crowder-Taraborrelli)
-INTS 399, The European Experience: Europe in Flux (instructor: Shane Barter). See syllabus here
-INTS 399, Brazil’s Great Drought (instructor: Ian Read). See syllabus here.
-INTS 499, Civil War Conflict Resolution (instructor: Lisa MacLeod)
Related to Independent Study courses are Special Study courses, numbered as INTS 298, 398, and 498, depending on the number of course credits and workload. The basic idea of Special Study courses is for students who wish to take a specific, existing course offered by an instructor, but which is not being offered at a time that the student needs to take it. So if a faculty member only offers a course you really need when you are on Study Abroad, or has not offered it for a couple of years, you may approach the instructor about a Special Study, taking an existing course outside of regular class times and rotation.