The Global Resource Systems undergraduate major employs a truly interdisciplinary and systemic approach to understanding complex global resource issues. Students develop a core set of technical competencies in a resource area selected from the majors, minors and certificates offered by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Students choose a world region in which to specialize, develop competency in a relevant world language, and participate in a significant cross-cultural internship experience. They carry out a senior project related to their resource specialization within the context of the world region. The undergraduate experience culminates with a senior capstone course, where students work with real-world clients to address global resource challenges.
Multidisciplinary themes are developed in the context of the physical, biological and socio-economic factors affecting global resource systems. In this context, resource systems include natural, food and agricultural, environmental, cultural and human, political and institutional, financial and built, public health and social resources. Graduates of this program have transnational leadership skills and are successful integrators of various specializations on a team. They are skilled in applying a systemic perspective and developing solutions to complex global resource systems problems using innovativeness and creativity. Future professionals communicate effectively and demonstrate environmental awareness, exhibit an ethical perspective, and display clear analysis of how cultural diversity impacts work both here and abroad.
A degree in Global Resource Systems opens the door to employment opportunities in the many businesses and organizations that require globally competent employees.
Student Learning Outcomes
Upon graduation, students should be able to:
Understand sustainable global resource systems by: summarizing factors of biological, physical, and social resources in global systems; and predicting the consequences of the utilization and distribution of global resources and their systems.
Apply global competency skills by recognizing diverse cultures, reflecting on the value of cultures on global resource systems, and employing skills needed to work in different cultures.
Design ethical and innovative solutions to global challenges by using information literacy skills to define global challenges and creating sustainable solutions to global challenges.
Use communication and leadership skills by communicating effectively with diverse audiences using written, oral, visual, and electronic skills and participating effectively as leaders in teams and organizations.
Curriculum in Global Resource Systems
Administered by a supervisory committee in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Students choose a region of the world to develop an expertise; they choose a language to learn and develop proficiency through the intermediate level; they choose and possess an area of technical expertise by completing an additional major, minor or certificate program offered through the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; they complete a required internship in an international setting; and they select and complete a senior research project with faculty mentoring.
Total Degree Requirement: 125 cr.
Only 65 cr. from a two-year institution may apply which may include up to 16 technical cr.; 9 P-NP cr. of free electives; 2.00 minimum GPA.
International Perspective: 3 cr.
U.S. Cultures and Communities: 3 cr.
Communications Proficiency:
Communication/Library: 13 cr.
| ENGL 1500 | Critical Thinking and Communication | 3 |
| ENGL 2500 | Written, Oral, Visual, and Electronic Composition | 3 |
| SPCM 2120 | Fundamentals of Public Speaking | 3 |
| or AGEDS 3110 | Presentation and Sales Strategies for Agricultural Audiences |
| ENGL 3020 | Business Communication | 3 |
| or ENGL 3090 | Proposal and Report Writing |
| or ENGL 3140 | Technical Communication |
| LIB 1600 | Introduction to College Level Research | 1 |
| Total Credits | 13 |
Humanities and Social Sciences: 6 cr.
| ECON 1010 | Principles of Microeconomics | 3 |
| or ECON 1020 | Principles of Macroeconomics |
| 3 |
| Total Credits | 6 |
Ethics: 3 cr.
Life Sciences: 6 cr.
Mathematics and Statistics from college-approved list: 6 cr.
Global Competency: 15-31 cr.
16 cr. of 1000 and 2000 level of a single WLC language; 15 cr. in global competency courses from an approved list with up to 3 cr. may be earned from a travel course.
Physical Sciences: 8 cr.
| 5 |
| 3 |
| Introduction to Soil Science | |
| Introduction to Weather and Climate |
| Soil Conservation and Land Use |
| Environmental Geology: Earth in Crisis |
| Water Resources of the World |
| Geography of Global Resource Systems |
| Total Credits | 8 |
Global Resource Systems: 23 cr.
| GLOBE 1100 | Orientation | 1 |
| GLOBE 2010 | Introduction to Global Resource Systems | 3 |
| 3 |
| Issues in Global Resource Systems (Each offering is 1 cr., must be repeated for 3 cr.) | |
| GLOBE 3030 | Agricultural, Food and Natural Global Resource Systems | 3 |
| GLOBE 3040 | Socio-Economic Global Resource Systems | 3 |
| GLOBE 3200 | Global Resource Systems Internship Preparation | 1 |
| 3-6 |
| Internship - Global | |
| Internship - United States | |
| GLOBE 4010 | Senior Project | 3 |
| GLOBE 4020 | Responses to Global Resource System Challenges | 3 |
| Total Credits | 23-26 |
Specialization 15-18 cr.
Satisfied by any of the majors, minors or certificates offered at Iowa State University.
Electives:
Sufficient coursework to ensure a total of not less than 125 credits.
Global Resource Systems, B.S.
