About the Department of Global and International Studies
Chair's Message
A warm welcome to the 2025-26 academic year which promises to be a very exciting one, despite the political challenges faced by all universities and colleges across the country. We welcome our sixth cohort of nine doctoral students to the department and are excited to engage with their various research interests. With a total of seventeen faculty, our thriving department is fast becoming a leader in the field of Global Studies with its unique interdisciplinary curriculum that spans the social sciences and humanities and engages the pressing issues of the 21st century. I am thrilled to welcome everyone to the new academic year as we embrace the opportunities ahead and collectively uphold the basic principles of academic freedom and intellectual independence for everyone.
Eve Darian-Smith
Distinguished Professor and Department Chair
What is Global Studies?
Global Studies is a fast-growing field of inquiry dedicated to understanding pressing
global issues such as rising authoritarianism, climate change, human rights, ethnic
conflict, inequality, immigration, global health, global governance, and more. Scholars
of global studies explore and develop theoretical and empirical models with the aim
of analyzing and critiquing process of globalization in social, cultural, economic,
political, legal and historical contexts. While the nation-state undoubtedly remains
a crucial terrain of political, economic and cultural contestation, global studies
seeks to move beyond methodological nationalism, deploying a multi-scalar lens to
examine social relations across a local-global continuum. Because the "global turn"
emerged out of a transdisciplinary conversation exceeding the focus of any single
discipline or methodology, we engage a holistic approach and pluralist analytical
framework. As scholars and teachers, we interrogate taken-for-granted concepts and
relations of power while foregrounding the deep historical legacies of colonialism
and imperialism.
Goals of the Department
- Linking teaching and scholarly work with inclusive social transformation.
- Promoting dialogue between different geo-historical societies with diverse systems of knowledge and understanding.
- Building collective futures no longer imagined from one single and overarching western perspective.
- Training students to be social engaged, sophisticated, innovative and globally aware citizens of the world, competitive in the job market and well prepared for graduate and professional training.
Undergraduate Major in International Studies
International Studies majors acquire twenty-first-century analytical skills and knowledge that enable them to understand and contribute to shaping the rapidly evolving global community. The degree in international studies equips students for professional careers in a variety of fields such as international affairs and public policy, international business and finance, international organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and academic research and teaching. The department has a track record of placing its majors in a wide range of exciting careers and graduate programs.
In addition to their coursework, students in the Department of Global and International
Studies at UCI are encouraged to engage globally in a variety of ways: involvement
in student organizations, study abroad, UCDC, and internships (local and international).
Graduate Degree in Global Studies
Our new PhD program leads the emerging field of Global Studies with its cutting-edge curriculum, faculty, and embracing of scholarship from across the social sciences and humanities. Our transdisciplinary curriculum engages multiple theoretical perspectives and critical methodologies. We emphasize the importance of engaging global south scholarship and non-western epistemologies that broaden the base of knowledge production and bring new perspectives to bear on the pressing global issues impacting us all. With close mentorship from our outstanding faculty, graduate students are prepared to develop sophisticated interdisciplinary research on global issues that are relevant in today's world. Our goal is to produce excellent scholars that are professional, productive, innovative, insightful, and ready to compete in today's job market.