Welcome to the Nordic Studies Program!

The Nordic Studies Program offers a wide variety of historical, cultural, and literary courses ranging from the Viking Age to contemporary times, in addition to comprehensive Swedish language instruction. Our minor provides a dynamic, flexible, and highly beneficial option for students from a variety of majors. Check out our menu to the left for detailed information on our program’s diverse offerings.

Why Study the Nordic Region?

The Nordic countries consist of Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Finland, Åland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Sápmi, the area of the indigenous Sami. In spite of its relatively small population, the region is highly influential in world politics, education, and development. Its nations consistently enjoy very high standard of living, and are known for the famous Nordic Model for social welfare as well as for innovative and collaborative business models.

The Nordic region has made major contributions to the arts, literature, and popular culture through artists such as poet Carina Karlsson (Å), philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (Denmark), film director Katrin Ottarsdóttir (Faroe Islands), architect and designer Alvar Aalto (Finland), poet/performance artist Jessie Kleeman (Greenland), singer/songwriter Björk (Iceland), playwright Henrik Ibsen (Norway), poet/performer Nils-Aslak Valkeapää (Sápmi), and mystic Birgitta Birgersdotter (Sweden). Further, the region’s inventors and entrepreneurs are major players on the world scene, with global brands such as IKEA, Nokia, Helly Hansen, and Lego.

Why Nordic studies?

Because we care about our students, and provide them with highly individualized attention, mentoring and advising. Because we offer our students a choice – although we take great pride in our language courses, we do not require language for the minor. Our students can apply language courses toward the minor requirements or take only literature and culture courses. And, last but not least, because we extend our offerings beyond the CU campus through our own summer course in Reykjavík, Iceland, as well as studies at world-class Nordic universities offered through CU’s Study Abroad Program.