The Schnitzer School of Global Studies and Languages has begun development on a new international relations major which will be partially funded by a recent $25 million gift from Portland real estate developer Jordan Schnitzer and the Harold and Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation.
The university currently offers a major in global studies and according to Schnitzer School Executive Director Aneesh Aneesh, the two areas of study have a few notable differences.
“Global studies is more about global processes that do not necessarily involve nation-states,” Aneesh said. “International relations is more state-centric, so it takes the nation-states as important. It treats them as important and also tries to understand the relations among them.”
Aneesh said the proposal for the major would be written by a scholar who knows the field of international relations well and would be funded by a grant the Schnitzer School received from the Department of Education.
“The scholar who writes this proposal and launches this major will include, for example, courses from within (the Schnitzer School). We have a lot of courses that we already offer on international development or international human rights, but we also want to include relevant courses from the department of political science,” Aneesh said.
According to Aneesh, students who study international relations will gain a variety of skills, including diplomacy and security.
“Security is a much broader human security term, they will have the knowledge and understanding and analytical capability in these particular fields,” Aneesh said.
Aneesh also said international relations majors would have the opportunity to pursue a number of different career paths.
“(International relations majors) will be welcomed by any international organization anywhere, whether it’s the United Nations, agencies, department of state (or) foreign services officers, for example,” Aneesh said.
According to Aneesh, international relations students may also work in non-governmental organizations and think tanks.
“Some of the fields might require a master’s degree, some may not, but what opens up to them is international agencies and organizations, related areas and departments, think tanks (and) NGOs that do a lot of human rights work,” Aneesh said.
Aneesh said five to six new faculty members have already been hired who specialize in the international relations discipline.
“We have fortunately recently hired great faculty, but we also in UO outside the (Schnitzer School) have in political science, and in other departments, as well as law school, for example, some expertise in international relations and law issues,” Aneesh said.
Aneesh said any new major would require funding for marketing, promotion and developing courses. The Schnitzer gift will help to fund fellowships awards and promotional events.
“If you wanna get great students, sometimes you have to offer a little bit of fellowship; if you want to attract the brightest and the best sometimes a little bit of fellowship incentive would work, so the gift will go toward that, student funding and attracting students to the discipline to the majors,” Aneesh said.
Jane Cramer, an associate professor of political science with a research interest in international relations, said she believes UO could be one of very few universities to have a well-developed international relations major on the West Coast.
“It’s very good that (UO is creating an international relations major) because this is much bigger at most universities on the East Coast, I would argue, because they’re near Washington D.C.,” Cramer said.
Cramer said the international relations major will be beneficial for UO.
“We don’t have as many people as most universities doing this stuff, so I think (the gift) will help us a lot,” Cramer said. “(International relations) is not as well developed here as at most universities would have, and I think students are hungry for it, and the world needs it, so it’s a good thing to do,” Cramer said.
