College of Architecture & Urban Studies

School of Public and International Affairs

www.spia.vt.edu/

G. Kearns, Director
Executive Committee: L.S. Jensen; T.W. Luke; C.T. Koebel;
A. M. Khademian; M.O. Stephenson; J. Peters

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Overview

    The School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) provides students interested in public issues with opportunities to gain perspectives and skills from several related disciplines. SPIA is a school within the College of Architecture and Urban Studies and is made up of the Center for Public Administration and Policy, the Government and International Affairs Program, and the Urban Affairs and Planning Program. Undergraduate degrees are offered by Urban Affairs and Planning – a B.S. in Environmental Policy and Planning and a B.A. in Public and Urban Affairs (see Urban Affairs and Planning in this catalog).

    SPIA sponsors the Washington Semester, a ten-week, twelve-credit-hour summer program that allows undergraduate students to combine Washington, D.C.-area internships with course work for academic credit. For more information about undergraduate degree programs, students should contact Urban Affairs and Planning. Information on graduate programs may be obtained from the Center for Public Administration and Policy, Government and International Affairs, and Urban Affairs and Planning.

Undergraduate Course Description (SPIA)

1004 (PSCI 1004): NATIONS AND NATIONALITIES
Introduction to world and American ethnic and indigenous cultures and to social constructions of human and group identity, nationalism and extreme ethno-nationalism. Music, dance, film, art, ceremonial rituals and other multimedia forms of creative or symbolic expression, supplement readings and lectures. Multidisciplinary exploration of collective conceptions of cultural differences. (3H,3C)

2984: SPECIAL STUDY
Variable credit course.