Introduction

Please click here to see Political Science department information.

The International Politics and Foreign Policy certificate for undergraduates allows students to specialize in international politics and foreign policy, engaging topics and methods essential for graduate study in international relations and for successful careers in the field. More broadly, this certificate is useful to students in any discipline who expect to work or study abroad in the future or who plan to work in a field with significant international dimensions, potentially from business and economics to public health and engineering. One of the unique attributes of this certificate is that it dispenses with the traditional and well-worn “capstone”, and instead emphasizes independent and experiential learning and coursework in order to best meet the needs of students seeking job-relevant skills and looking to prepare for graduate school.

Program Delivery

• The certificate can be earned through a mix of on-campus and online courses. 

Declaring This Certificate

Students interested in completing this certificate should complete this form: CLAS Undergraduate Certificate Intent to Declare Form, which requests that the certificate be added to your student record. Once added, you will be able to run a certificate degree audit. The certificate degree audit should be used in collaboration with the Certificate Advisor to ensure successful completion of the requirements.

Students should then work with Bassem Hassan (bassem.hassan@ucdenver.edu) – the certificate advisor, to ensure completion of all certificate requirements.

Completing This Certificate

Students must also complete the CLAS Undergraduate Certificate Completion Verification Form, before graduation, in order to confirm completion of their certificate. The certificate advisor will confirm that your certificate has been successfully completed, and will work with campus partners to apply the certificate to your transcript.

Students must fill out the Certificate Completion Form before the deadlines below, to ensure the certificate is applied to your transcript correctly. If you are a non-degree seeking student, please fill out this form in the term in which you intend to complete your certificate.

Spring semester – April 1
Summer semester – July 1
Fall semester – November 1

These program requirements are subject to periodic revision by the academic department, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences reserves the right to make exceptions and substitutions as judged necessary in individual cases. Therefore, the College strongly urges students to consult regularly with their International Politics and Foreign Policy certificate advisor to confirm the best plans of study before finalizing them. 

General Requirements

Students must satisfy all requirements as outlined below and by the department offering the certificate.

• Click here for information about Academic Policies

Certificate Requirements

1. Students must complete 12 credit hours from the approved courses.

2. Students must complete six credit hours of upper division (3000 or 4000 level) level courses.

3. Students must earn a minimum grade of C (2.0) in all courses that apply to the certificate and must achieve a minimum cumulative certificate GPA of 2.0. Courses taken using P+/P/F or S/U grading cannot apply to certificate requirements.

4. All courses in this certificate must be taken in residency at CU Denver.  

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Students must complete 6 credits from each of the two clusters listed below
International System/Society Cluster:		6
PSCI 3042	World Politics
PSCI 4146	Indigenous Politics
PSCI 4216	International Politics: Human Rights
PSCI 4226	The United Nations in World Affairs
PSCI 4240	International Security
PSCI 4248	Gender, Development and Globalization
PSCI 4276	Conflicts and Rights in International Law
PSCI 4280	The Politics of War Law
PSCI 4365	Global Ecological Crises
PSCI 4840	Independent Study: PSCI
PSCI 4878	War, Film, and International Law
Area Studies Cluster:		6
PSCI 4002	Topics in Political Science
PSCI 4115	Third World Politics
PSCI 4156	The Arab-Israeli Peace Process
PSCI 4186	East Asia in World Affairs
PSCI 4236	American Foreign Policy
PSCI 4726	Seminar on U.S. and China Relations
PSCI 4736	The Middle East in World Affairs
PSCI 4840	Independent Study: PSCI
Total Hours		12

Students who complete the International Politics and Foreign Policy certificate will build knowledge and skills around the following five learning objectives:

1. Explore international issue areas, central debates, and the politics of specific countries and regions.
2. Analyze actors, institutions, and relationships within and among countries and regions of the world.
3. Apply international relations theories and methods, and use them to evaluate policy interventions and programming in the international arena.
4. Build new solutions to the world’s most pressing problems.
5. Develop and refine key intellectual and academic skills, including the ability to use these skills independently and/or in professional contexts: reading, research, writing, critical and analytical thinking.