The goal of this guide is to give you, the current/prospective international studies student the tools needed to adequately understand how to put together an Interdisciplinary/International Studies (IDS/IS) undergraduate career. Given the nature of the program, developing a comprehensive and rewarding curriculum will depend greatly on many factors. These factors include: advising and introspection on your part; an understanding of the IDS/IS system; different ways to develop a program; as well as a knowledge of what each track is; how it is applied; and how to choose courses for each track. This guide will help with all of the above.
 First off, we need to understand the make up of the system. The major is known as Interdisciplinary Studies (IDS)/International Studies (IS). There are two parts of the equation; each has a specific meaning. IDS refers to a program format, whereas IS refers to a modification of that program format. For the sake of ease, the international studies program has been considered in the past as a concentration in the Interdisciplinary studies program, however, the IS program functions differently than the Interdisciplinary program. To illustrate the difference, the following paragraphs give a summary of IDS followed by the modification implied by the IS component of IDS/IS.
 The IDS major was created as an option for students whose academic and career goals are not best served with a traditional major and minor. The program allows students to have a custom-designed major, individualized to reflect personal interests, values and needs. It requires at least 21 units in three (3) subject areas. To be approved, a student must demonstrate how these three areas compliment each other to form a coherent “theme” and how these three areas better prepare the student for their academic and career goals than a traditional major and minor.
Implied in the above description, IDS functions by combining coursework from three departments to fulfill the three subject areas into a “coherent theme.” In IDS/IS we have gone beyond the restraints of placing the need for a specific department to a selected subject area by turning the three subject areas into three versatile “fields of study” identified as international systems, language/regional studies, and functional tracks. Meaning the IDS/IS student can work with various departments to compose areas of study that are highly specific to the students needs. For example, in the past, for the international systems field of study, students have taken courses in the political science department, as well as in the departments of Economics and of Anthropology.
 Each field has a specific focus and purpose. The international systems field functions as the foundation for the program, focusing mainly on creating an image of the international arena and issues. The functional field is considerably more specific than the purpose of the international systems field because this is where one must narrow his/her focus to one of four tracks – Applied Political Economy, Development, Culture, or Science and Technology. For more information on these four tracks refer to The Functional Track Discipline. Next, getting more specific is choosing your language and region of study. Logistically, the Functional Field and the Language/Regional Studies are linked in the sense that most IDS/IS students choose to focus on a specific problem in a certain area of interest, for example urban city development in Bangladesh. Urban City development would be cited as the Development Track in the Functional Tracks Field; Bengali and Bangladesh would comprise the Language and Regional studies field, respectively.
The nature of IDS/IS is to cross-train students in chosen fields of study so they might better address emerging problems – and opportunities – in international affairs. Most IDS/IS students must have a rather comprehensive understanding of what they want to do, how they want to do it, and where they want to do it. Without being able to answer these questions, it will difficult to put together a cohesive set of courses concerning your functional discipline.
The following sections will define the specific nature of each discipline and the purpose of each track for the functional discipline.
For this guide it may be helpful to refer to the major requirements sheet.
If you have any additional questions please email:
Dr. Wayne Decker - wdecker@email.arizona.edu
or
Dr. Karna Walter. - karna@email.arizona.edu
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