Asian Studies Major Requirements (Between Fall 2012 and Spring 2016)

Below are the requirements for the Asian Studies Major, effective for all students declaring Fall 2012 or later. Students who have declared prior to this date may choose between an earlier version of our requirements and the new ones below. To view this earlier version, click here.

42 credits minimum, 18 of which must be upper division (A&S minimum)

Asian Language: 4 semesters of a single Asian language (12 to 20 credits)
Traditional Asian Civilizations: Students take any 2 introductory courses, focusing on 2 different civilizations (6 credits minimum, LD)
Modern Asian Civilizations: Students take 1 course (3 credits, LD or UD)
Social Science: Students take 1 course (3 credits, LD or UD)
Senior thesis or project: ASIA 4830 (3 credits, UD)
Electives: Students take at least 3 courses (9 credits, UD recommended)
*Upper division credits are recommended for the electives, since the major as a whole requires 18 upper division credits.

For information about which courses are applicable toward which category, please click on the tabs below.

ASIA 4830 requires students to write a thesis / design a project on an academic topic of their own choosing during the last semester of their undergraduate studies (in some cases students may complete the work earlier). It is designed as a capstone course that involves in-depth work in ongoing consultation with a faculty academic advisor. More information on the goals and expectations for ASIA 4830 is available here.

To complete ASIA 4830 students need to: A) identify a faculty advisor who will work with them in an independent study capacity; B) work out the nature of the study project, standards for evaluation, and the time frame for meetings and completion of the work with that faculty advisor; C) make a formal, prepared 10-minute presentation on their completed work to fellow students, faculty, and outside guests at the end of the semester. The formal presentations will be will be followed by 10 minutes of Q & A.

It is up to each student to figure out which faculty member he/she would like to work with on ASIA 4830 and to get that faculty member's formal approval before beginning the work. Colleen Berry, the director of the Asian Studies Program, will help you with that process, which must be completed by the end of the student’s second-to-last semester in college (the research and writing will then take place the following semester, which is typically the student’s final semester of college). After the student has gotten a faculty member's formal agreement to serve as advisor, he/she is required to complete the Asian Studies 4830 form located here. The student should keep one copy of the completed form, give one copy to the faculty member who will supervise the work, and give one copy to the Asian Studies director (Colleen Berry).

Honors Thesis Option: Students with a 3.5 GPA in Asian Studies and 3.3 GPA overall may apply for the Honors Thesis option. More information is available here.

Funding Opportunities: For information about undergraduate research funding opportunities, please visit the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program website here.

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Asian Studies Major Requirements (Between Fall 2012 and Spring 2016)

4 semesters of a single Asian language (12 to 20 credits)

Choose from the following disciplines:

ANTH (all Asian anthropology courses)

PSCI (all Asian politics courses)

GEOG (all Asian geography courses)

WMST (all Asian women's studies courses)