BA in Interdisciplinary with Emphasis in Peace Studies
- Degree Program Description
- Major Program Requirements
- Semester Plan
- Degree Audit
- Major and Career Exploration
Degree Program Description
Peace Studies is an interdisciplinary academic and community-based program. It seeks to educate students and the broader community about ongoing conflicts and the different local, national, and world situations that contribute to the breakdown of peace. With this focus, Peace Studies explores the possible ways of resolving those situations through evidence and questions developed from history, politics, economics, sociology, philosophy, religious studies, Black studies, and women’s and gender studies. In addition, it draws on communication, media and military studies, and the natural sciences, to name just a few of the numerous disciplines that contribute to Peace Studies. Peace Studies graduates will essentially use humanities and social and natural science methods and critical studies to ask the hard questions about human frailty and human flourishing and the relationship between human and non-human life. Therefore, it is appropriate that the Peace Studies curriculum include the climate emergency, inequalities based on class, gender, sexuality, race, food insecurity, access to education, public health, and political representation. It is vital that Peace Studies also include studies of literature and the visual arts. These fields help ensure that students and the broader community can better understand conflict and its resolution based on empathizing with the problems humans face in various locations.
Students with this emphasis examine issues related to global peace and social justice. The focus of Peace Studies helps prepare students for employment, volunteer assignments, and graduate study in such areas as public policy, conflict resolution, human rights, humanitarian assistance, education, sustainable development, social justice, nonviolent social change, and the understanding of global cultural diversity.
Students pursuing Peace Studies will explore four interconnected areas or themes covered.
Nationalism and Conflict: Students analyze the nation-state as both an idea and fact. They gain insight into the nation-state as one relatively recent social, economic, and political organization. They explore, through case studies, the concrete shapes this idea has taken in modern history. Students take up the question of conflicts within and between nation-states and discuss how such conflicts have been managed, mitigated, and influenced by national and international frameworks.
International and Comparative Studies: Students examine global peace and social justice issues in the international arena. Students receive a solid grounding in global cultural diversity while also considering power and violence as drivers of conflict. They explore such topics as diplomacy, conflict resolution, human rights, and the role of non-governmental organizations. Finally, they discuss issues that transcend national boundaries, such as the refugee crisis and global climate emergency.
The History of Global Activism: Students assess various forms of democratic social organizing and mobilizing to make the world fair and just. They explore the multiple approaches to the struggle for justice and examine how to accomplish social change when it runs counter to powerful interests and existing social norms.
Justice and the Public Good: Students investigate what constitutes justice, the public good, and the sometimes-competing ways we have defined these categories. Students explore the structures of social, economic, and political inequality, which often complicate and impede the quest for justice and the public good. They gain facility in openly and honestly evaluating their own beliefs and those of others. With this competence, students can consider building a world that ensures a good quality of life for people with different experiences and relationships with power.
Major Program Requirements
The peace studies emphasis area addresses a wide range of issues concerning peace and justice, including international and civil war and peace; global social and environmental justice; nonviolent social movements, process, and change; cultures, intellectuals, and war and peace; and indigenous peoples and the imperial state. Our courses provide a liberal arts foundation: students explore values to set goals; they evaluate evidence to assess alternate means to achieve goals. Some courses focus on practical issues of community organization, sustainable development (PEA_ST 1120) and construction, and public health (PEA_ST 3401), that students are likely to encounter in work, internship, or volunteer positions. Study abroad courses taught by MU faculty are regularly offered. Since issues of peace and conflict cut across disciplines, the curriculum includes courses offered by both the program itself and cross listed between Peace Studies and other programs and departments of the University.
In addition, students must complete all College of Arts and Science and University graduation requirements, including University general education.
| Emphasis requirements | 30 | |
| Core requirements | ||
| Introduction to Peace Studies | ||
| Select 12 credits from the following. It is recommended that students pick four courses distributed in at least four of the following areas | 12 | |
| Area 1: International and Civil War and Peace | ||
| PEA_ST 1051 | International Conflict Resolution and Group Reconciliation | 3 |
| PEA_ST 2200 | Nuclear Weapons: Environmental, Health and Social Effects | 3 |
| PEA_ST 2410 | Philosophies of War and Peace | 3 |
| PEA_ST 2550 | Human Rights, Law, War and Peace | 3 |
| PEA_ST 3230H | Terrorism and Conflict Resolution - Honors | 3 |
| PEA_ST 4331 | Nonproliferation Issues for Weapons of Mass Destruction | 3 |
| Area 2: Global Social and Environmental Justice | ||
| PEA_ST 1052 | Global Warming, Climate Change, Catastrophic Climate Destabilization | 3 |
| PEA_ST 1120 | Population, Environment and Sustainability | 3 |
| PEA_ST 2000 | Exploration in Social and Economic Justice | 3 |
| PEA_ST 2600 | CAFO: Concentrated Animals, Deep Ecology | 3 |
| PEA_ST 3600 | Criminology | 3 |
| PEA_ST 3401 | Global Public Health and Health Care Systems | 3 |
| PEA_ST 3870 | Social Revolution in Latin America | 3 |
| Area 3: Nonviolent Social Movements, Process, and Change | ||
| PEA_ST 2182 | Critical Dialogues: Nonviolence in Peace/Democracy Movements | 3 |
| PEA_ST 2285 | Large Corporations, Economic Crisis, Social Responsibility | 3 |
| PEA_ST 3510 | Think Global: Fundamentals of Globalization and Digital Technologies | 3 |
| PEA_ST 3520 | Collective Behavior | 3 |
| PEA_ST 3521 | Group Decision Making Processes | 3 |
| PEA_ST 3522 | New Media, Conflict and Control | 3 |
| Area 4: Cultures, Intellectuals, And War and Peace | ||
| PEA_ST 2016 | Authoritarian Societies, States, and the Prospects for Democracy | 3 |
| PEA_ST 2021 | The U.S. - Afghanistan War | 3 |
| PEA_ST 2022 | Afghanistan, Central Asia, and the "Great Powers" | 3 |
| PEA_ST 2280 | Race, Democracy, and Violence in Cuba and Haiti | 3 |
| PEA_ST 2320 | Literature of Spanish Civil War | 3 |
| PEA_ST 3780 | World Political Geography | 3 |
| PEA_ST 4600 | Political and Social Philosophy | 3 |
| Area 5: Indigenous Peoples, Human Rights, and The Imperial State | ||
| REL_ST 2100 | Indigenous Religions | 3 |
| ENGLSH 2490 | Introduction to Indigenous Literatures | 3 |
| PEA_ST 3022 | Peacebuilding and Peacemaking in the Modern Caribbean | 3 |
| ENGLSH 3490 | Special Themes in Native American and Indigenous Studies | 3 |
| PEA_ST 3496 | Digital Indigenous Studies | 3 |
| or PEA_ST 3496H | Digital Indigenous Studies - Honors | |
| GEOG 3560 | Native American Geographies | 3 |
| PEA_ST 4550 | Gender and Human Rights in Cross Cultural Perspective | 3 |
| Other Peace Studies courses counted toward the emphasis requirements | 15 | |
Semester Plan
| First Year | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits |
| ENGLSH 1000 | 3 | MATH 1100, 1050, or STAT 1200 | 3 |
| Social Science (MO STATE LAW) | 3 | Second Language | 4 |
| Humanties and Fine Arts | 3 | PEA_ST 1050W | 3 |
| Second Language | 4 | Behavioral Science | 3 |
| Elective | 3 | ||
| 13 | 16 | ||
| Second Year | |||
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits |
| Math Science/MRP | 3 | Bio/Phys/Math Science Course | 3 |
| Social Sceince | 3 | Social Science | 3 |
| Peace Studies Major | 3 | Humanitites and Fine Arts | 3 |
| Second Language | 4 | Peace Studies Major | 3 |
| A&S Diversity | 3 | Elective | 3 |
| 16 | 15 | ||
| Third Year | |||
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits |
| Biology or Physical Science Lab | 3 | Humanities and Fine Arts | 3 |
| Peace Studies Major | 3 | Peace Studies Major | 3 |
| Peace Studies Major | 3 | Peace Studies Major | 3 |
| Elective | 3 | Elective | 3 |
| Elective | 3 | Elective | 3 |
| 15 | 15 | ||
| Fourth Year | |||
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits |
| Peace Studies Major/WI 3000+ | 3 | Peace Studies Major | 3 |
| Peace Studies Major | 3 | Elective | 3 |
| Behavioral Science | 3 | Humanties and Fine Arts | 3 |
| Elective | 3 | Elective | 3 |
| Elective | 3 | Elective | 3 |
| 15 | 15 | ||
| Total Credits: 120 | |||
Degree Audit
The degree audit is an automated report reflecting a student’s academic progress toward the completion of a degree.
MU students can request a degree audit by logging in to myDegreePlanner. Students may also access myDegreePlanner via myZou, in the Student Center, click on the Academic Progress Tile, then select Request Degree Audit. The audit automatically pulls in the student’s MU course work, transfer courses and courses in progress. This is available to current students, admitted students, and those who last attended less than three terms ago.
Past MU students can request a degree audit by contacting the Academic Advising Unit of the division in which they were last enrolled at MU. For contact information, go to https://advising.missouri.edu/contact/.
Prospective students, can access a preliminary MU degree audit via https://www.transferology.com. Information on the college credits already earned will have to be manually entered before it can be evaluated against current degree requirements.
For additional details on degree audits, go to https://registrar.missouri.edu/degrees-audits/degree-audits/.
Major and Career Exploration
The University of Missouri has many resources to assist you in exploring majors and career possibilities. For guidance, visit the Majors and Careers website or view specific resources below.
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If you are considering a change of major or are exploring multiple majors, schedule an appointment with an advisor in the Discovery Center by calling (573)884-9700 or through MU Connect Discovery Center service in you success network.
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If you have decided on a major, visit an academic advisor in the School or College that you are interested in to discuss the process of declaring the major.
- If you would like to learn more about your career interests, abilities, values and talents, visit the MU Career Center. No Appointment is necessary to explore career options with one of our staff members.
- If you would like information about MU majors and degree programs, visit:
- the Degrees, Majors (Degree Programs), Emphasis Areas, Minors and Certificates page in the catalog,
- the MU Majors website.
For additional major and career exploration resources, visit Major & Career Exploration in the catalog.