Tiled roofs in Andong, South Korea
Photograph by Peter Schurmann
The undergraduate major in Asian studies is a rigorous but flexible interdisciplinary program. It is designed to offer students access to the rich course offerings in the Asian field campus-wide in a way that is not available through departments. Each student's program is coordinated to assure deeper knowledge of one East Asian culture and language and also a broad range of inter-area and interdisciplinary perspectives.
The Asian Studies curriculum, including Asian Studies 10, a lower division history course, and at least one class outside of the student's area focus, explores the big picture of Asia. Within that, students concentrate on either China or Japan and study at least two years of the appropriate language. Furthermore, students focus on a particular discipline, taking at least two classes from one department, one of which is a theory and methods course. The eight upper-division elective courses introduce students to faculty all over campus.