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Advising

International Studies is an advising-intensive major. While you should review requirements in the online catalogue carefully, there is no substitute for meeting with the advisors. The sooner you schedule an appointment, the sooner you can create a personalized plan to get what you want out of the major and fulfill its requirements in a way that is efficient.

The budget to the CSU has been cut by 33% (approx. $1 bill) just in the past three years and the system is bracing for more (see: http://blogs.calstate.edu/budgetcentral/). In an effort to help manage the shortfall CSULB has significantly reduced advising support (see: http://www.csulb.edu/about/budgetcentral/). To minimize the impact on this advising-intensive major I/ST has re-organized its advising structure as follows:

For general academic advising including GE questions, junior college course transfers, and administrative concerns contact a College of Liberal Arts ATLAS advisor at: (562) 985-7804;http://www.csulb.edu/colleges/cla/advising/.

For I/ST major-specific advising including course planning, double majoring, language requirements, new majors, graduate school planning, and career planning make an advising appointment with Austin Beahm (undergraduate advisor) via the on-line scheduler: http://ISTADVISING.ClickBook.net. To email an advisor a question send to: ist@csulb.edu.

For Education Abroad and Internship advising including planning, direction, pre-approval for course transfers from abroad, and post- education abroad course transfers and advising, click here. Make an appointment with Dr. Julie Weise (education abroad and internship advisor) http://ISTADVISING492.ClickBook.net.

Before meeting with the advisor, you will want to fill out an advising sheet. I/ST rolled out new major requirements in Fall 2010, and anyone who came to CSULB that semester or later will follow this new plan. If you came to CSULB prior to Fall 2010, you can choose between the old and new major requirements. In that case, fill out this worksheet to see which major makes more sense for you.

TIPS FOR NEW TRANSFER STUDENTS All new transfer students are required to attend SOAR. We also encourage you to come in to a major advisor early in your first semester to ensure you start off on the right track. As you work on the advising sheet some things to keep in mind:

1) You need I/ST 200 Introduction to International Studies and should take this your first semester if possible as it is a gateway course.

2) Courses are grouped but not sequenced. If you have transfered in 60 units you can take upper division courses. We do, however, encourage you to finish your major-specific lower division courses first as they will help prepare you for success at the upper division level. In particular, all upper division I/ST courses are writing intensive and require learning theory that can be used as a lens to analyze current issues. The lower division course sequence helps prepare you for this.

3) The Language requirement is “Three Years or the Equivalent.” If you are already fluent in reading, writing, and speaking another language you are not required to learn a third language (though where possible it is encouraged for your own personal growth). To clear this you MUST meet with an I/ST advisor and should not assume this requirement is fulfilled before this. Please see Dr. Igmen. If you are just beginning language study then it is strongly encouraged that you start as soon as possible. There are ways of expediting language study through study abroad and language immersion but learning a language is a process.

4) If planning to study abroad it is very difficult to take your I/ST core courses abroad but it is relatively easy to take your “Geographic Area Concentration” and “Professional Development Area” courses abroad. You should therefore focus your first upper division coursework on your core courses. This requirement, I/ST 492 Education Abroad or Internship, is our best opportunity to help you prepare for what comes next after your degree. Meet with the Education Abroad and Internship advisor early to plan. Please see Dr. Weise.

5) You choose ONE Professional Development Area and ONE Geographic Area Concentration. Each are 9 units.

6) Except for the most extenuating circumstances your Geographic Area Concentration, Language, and Education Abroad/Internship experience must match (eg. Spanish will not help you in China).