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Our International Focus

Our college represents our University's commitment to being an "international" university that provides students with a global perspective. We bring the world to our students. Our faculty come to us from a total of 23 different native countries - Bangladesh, Canada, China, Colombia, El Salvador, England, Ghana, Iraq, Jordan, Korea, Mexico, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Tanzania, Vietnam, and, of course, the U.S.A.

In the College of Arts and Sciences, we live the "International" component of our campus' name:

Arts faculty perform and exhibit internationally:

- Susan Berdahl - Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Work with the National Flute Ensemble, activity initiated by a Fulbright.

- Yu-Mei Huang - Taiwan and China. Workshops/Concerts with Altheia University and the University in China.

- Gilberto Soto - Madrid and Toledo, Spain. He has also worked in Dubai and Qatar, sponsored by the Qatar Foundation for his dual language/music and learning research.

- Marcela Morán is an award-winning filmmaker whose work deals with migration/immigration, border landscape and bicultural issues. Her work has been showcased at numerous international film festivals, galleries and conferences.

Faculty also involve students in their international research:

- Building on relationships developed through research trips in 2008-09, Dr. John Kilburn took two TAMIU students to Taiwan, interacting with Taiwanese students as a research team. Tamkang University and TAMIU have become Sister Institutions.

- In 2009, the National Science Foundation funded the research of Dr. Marcus Ynalvez. Through, the NSF research funds, Dr. Ynalvez was able to take six students to Singapore, three to Japan and two to Taiwan to do research.


We emphasize the importance of foreign language study and study abroad.

Through Curriculum Requirements: Though the core curriculum requirements of Texas do not require foreign language courses and do not provide flexibility to add those courses as core requirements, COAS added 6 hours of foreign language study in the same language to most Bachelor of Arts degrees with the option of completing six hours during a study abroad experience in a non-English language dominant country. These foreign language or study abroad requirements of degrees offered by COAS are in addition to the graduation foreign language requirement required by all University degrees.

Through Financial Support: We encourage faculty to develop study abroad programs, to teach the courses in the program, and contribute to the faculty member's round-trip flight to lower the costs to students.

We support faculty travel to international conferences.

It is important for our faculty to present their research to scholars from around the world and to network internationally with their peers. In the past two years (2012-2014), COAS has funded wholly or in large part conference travel for faculty to the following countries single or multiple times: Canada, China, Germany, Honduras, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, and Turkey.

We offer to bright and ambitious high school juniors and seniors the opportunity to attend our Texas Academy for International and STEM Studies.

Students admitted to the Texas Academy take a full-load of core curriculum courses that count both for high school and college credits. To provide them with an international experience, they are required to take four newly created one- hour courses over the course of their two years with us: Global Studies Seminar I, II, III, and IV.

We also offer:

Master of Arts program in Counseling Psychology faculty and most of Program graduates are bilingual and specialize in counseling bilingual or Spanish-speaking-only clients as part of their required clinical work.

Master of Arts degree program in Language, Literature, and Translation that is heavily international in emphasis and is tailored to the needs and the skills of potential students in our service area, 80-90% bilingual.

Master of Arts in Communication that emphasizes communication and media issues central to our bilingual and bicultural region.

We invite foreign-national scholars to provide our Communication students with an international perspective

In order to improve the international experience of our TAMIU students when studying abroad, European colleagues of Dr. Jose Carlos Lozano and graduate students have participated as guest speakers. In SS1 2014, Dr. Lozano's 12 students enrolled in the "Summer in Belgium & Germany" COMM/PSYC 4311/CRIJ 4324 and COMM 4360 interacted with professors Philippe Meers and Daniel Biltereyst of Antwerp University and Ghent University in Belgium, respectively.

We co-edit and sponsor an International Journal – Global Media Journal México.

Global Media Journal México (ISSN 2007-2031), a peer-reviewed, electronic and open access scholarly journal, which has been continuously published semi- annually for the past 10 years, will be migrating this year to TAMIU's TDL institutional repository and will be co-edited by Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM) and TAMIU.

We offer a variety of courses in various disciplines that have an international subject or perspective.

Related Links:

Other Select Texas A&M International University Academic certificates, degrees and programs that extend our University';s global and international mission include:

Certificate in International Leadership:
This is an academic certificate that includes three groups of 3-credit courses based on fostering understanding of the learning outcomes associated with International Leadership. Students must apply and meet criteria to earn the Certificate.
https://catalog.tamiu.edu/undergraduate-information/undergraduate-certificates/international-leadership-certificte/

Certificate in International Studies:
This Certification is intended for undergraduate students in various disciplines across TAMIU who are interested in pursuing careers in the Foreign Service, international institutions, non-governmental international organizations, and multinational corporations as well as those who recognize the importance of understanding international issues to virtually any career field.
https://catalog.tamiu.edu/undergraduate-information/undergraduate-certificates/international-studies-certificte/

Certificate in Latin American Studies:
This Certificate allows students to enhance their skills and expertise with a broad knowledge of this primary geographical region. Completion of the requirements is certified by the Binational Center for Research, Education, Leadership, and Public Service (BINC) and the Office of the Registrar.
https://catalog.tamiu.edu/undergraduate-information/undergraduate-certificates/latin-american-studies-certificte/

Minor in International Leadership:
This is an academic program providing a minor for undergraduate students. It consists of 18 Semester Credit Hours courses and experiences in leadership, including communication, foundations of leadership, teamwork, international politics and transnational trends in communication, among others.
https://catalog.tamiu.edu/undergraduate-information/arts-sciences/social-sciences/international-leadership-minor/

The International Student Mentors Program:
ISMP is a peer support activity program which helps with the assimilation process of new international students to TAMIU and South Texas.
https://www.tamiu.edu/international/ISMP.shtml

TAMIU Trailblazers Program:
The TAMIU Trailblazers program is a co-curricular leadership initiative that serves as a student';s road map to success with co-curricular programs that compliment classroom learning. Activities are divided into five learning dimensions including The Global Perspective.
https://www.tamiu.edu/sole/tamiu-trailblazers20.shtml

Contact

College of Arts & Sciences
Academic Innovation Center (AIC) 373
Phone: 956.326.2462 | E-mail: gvillagran@tamiu.edu