U-ICS-AB - International Comparative Studies (AB)

The International Comparative Studies Program offers a bachelor of arts degree to students interested in an interdisciplinary individualized major focused on global and transnational studies. The ICS Program mission is to prepare lifelong learners who can live, work, and thoughtfully engage with people and problems in a complex, diverse, and interconnected world. ICS majors gain knowledge in the culture(s), history, politics, and language of one geographic region of the world through region and foreign language coursework. This multidimensional study of a particular part of the world is complemented by an examination of transnational dynamics through core and comparative coursework in global studies. Well over 75 percent of ICS majors complete some of their coursework in study away programs. Core courses, individualized advising, and research mentoring encourage ICS students to formulate and address questions through a variety of disciplinary approaches.

The most up-to-date listings of approved global and region courses is available on the ICS website under “Courses.”

The ICS major is divided into four categories: (1) Core courses are taught by ICS faculty members and include the required gateway course (taken in first or second year), the required capstone seminar (taken in senior year), and for students in excellent academic standing who wish to complete a lengthy supervised research project, the two-semester senior year honors thesis sequence. (2) Region courses focus on a particular geographic area of the world. (3) Global courses focus on global and transnational studies. (4) Foreign language courses build expertise in one language related to a student’s region focus. Region, Global, and foreign language courses are offered by faculty members in many of Duke’s academic programs and departments, as well as in study away programs. Each ICS major must complete a curricular plan, updated with and approved by an ICS advisor each semester, to assure they are on track toward fulfilling major requirements. 

Departmental Graduation with Distinction

ICS offers a Graduation with Distinction program for majors whose achievements in university coursework and co-curricular experiences have prepared them to complete an interdisciplinary research-based project on a question of interest relevant to the global and transnationalism focus of the ICS Program.

Structure: A two-semester seminar sequence (International Comparative Studies 495S and International Comparative Studies 496S), taken fall and spring of senior year, supports the completion of the distinction project. Each student chooses a Duke faculty member qualified and willing to mentor the student on the project topic to serve as a research supervisor, and is guided through a multi-stage writing process by the ICS faculty member teaching the seminar sequence. Under most circumstances, the product is a completed thesis of seventy to one hundred pages on a topic relevant to ICS’s focus in global and transnational studies. Students may work in, with, and through different mediums, but all are required to complete a research-based and interdisciplinary piece of writing and to submit the final project in electronic form. The completed project is proposed research project and to have taken at least one university course that required completion of a research paper (on any topic). The ICS Distinction Program Coordinator can provide assistance on conceptualizing an ICS honors project. Further details on the application process, including specific deadlines, are available on the ICS website.

Levels of Distinction and Evaluation Procedure: Three levels are possible: Distinction, High Distinction, or Highest Distinction. Levels of distinction, based on the quality of the completed work and participation in the Honors sequence, are determined by the ICS Distinction Committee in consultation with the student’s research supervisor. Students who have done satisfactory work in the submitted for evaluation to the ICS Distinction Committee by mid-April of the senior year.

Coursework: Successful completion of International Comparative Studies 495S in fall term fulfills the major requirement for International Comparative Studies 489S, the senior capstone course. Students must complete eleven non-Foreign Language courses to graduate with distinction in the major instead of the standard ten.

Application: To apply for admission to the honors seminar sequence a student must complete, by the end of the junior year, a substantial portion of the major (roughly eleven courses, including foreign language), must have strong academic achievement (at least 3.3 GPA) in all the courses completed for the major, and must have an updated and approved ICS curricular plan on file with the program. Applications from interested juniors are due the week after spring break. The application includes a project proposal (about five pages) and initial bibliography (one to two pages), along with a letter of recommendation from a Duke faculty member qualified and willing to serve as the research supervisor. Ideally, this faculty member should be someone who has worked with the student in a classroom setting. It is particularly important to have taken at least one university course that provides foundational knowledge on the topic of the honors seminars but whose thesis is denied distinction will receive graded credit for the coursework. 

Double Honors: The ICS Program does not typically allow students to pursue double honors (i.e., complete a single interdisciplinary thesis for two different departments), but individual and rare exceptions may be granted.

Further details on deadlines, schedules, and expectations for Graduation with Distinction in ICS are available on the ICS website.

Website: internationalcomparative.duke.edu/academics