Sauer leads International Studies Institute

Economics Professor Christine Sauer currently serves as director of the International Studies Institute in the College of Arts & Sciences. Sauer and Melissa Bokovoy, associate professor of history, are co-organizing an ISI program at Schloss Dyck, a castle near Düsseldorf, Germany this summer.

Sauer is also continuing work that Bokovoy began as ISI director to establish a major degree program in international studies through the College of Arts & Sciences.

2009 Summer in Germany

“The 2009 Summer in Germany program is intended for students who don’t know, or aren’t required to know German. It also opens possibilities for students to have a study abroad experience without worrying about credits transferring,” Sauer said.

Sauer and Bokovoy are teaching Revolutions of 1989 and the “New Europe.” The program commemorates the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, and other changes that occurred in 1989 that illustrate the transformation of Central European society, culture and the economy over the past two decades. The program will also focus on the European Union and its institutions.

Participants will visit the European Common Bank in Frankfurt and the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Bokovoy will teach Studies in History – 1989: The Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe; and Sauer will teach Seminar in International Studies – 1989 and its Consequences for German and the European Union.

Courses for the program are cross listed across disciplines. “They are established with an eye toward degree completion for undergraduates. They need to be able to participate without getting off track for graduation,” she said.
The Summer in Germany program allows students to “transform their educational experience by traveling and studying in a foreign country,” Sauer said, adding that the students will gain German language, culture and society experiences.

International Studies Degree Program

Sauer and Bokovoy want to see international studies grow, not just through study abroad programs, but through course of study. To that end, the international studies degree program has been created. It has been approved up the UNM chain and only waits for approval from the New Mexico Higher Education Department.

The international studies degree program is modeled on the area studies programs. “We have Russian, European and Asian Studies programs. The international studies degree program, like those, includes a language focus above the university’s requirement,” Sauer said. Additionally, students will take 9 credits in a region – Latin America or Africa, for example. Click here to read more.