This fall Georgia Tech's Ivan Allen College of liberal arts will launch a new joint degree program aimed at giving students more of the sought after policy analysis and strategic planning skills in economics and international affairs that employers prefer. The new Bachelor of Science in Economics and International Affairs (EIA) is an interdisciplinary program combining the strengths of the School of Economics and the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs. The program will provide graduates with a unique perspective and understanding of the global community and economy in which they live. The core curriculum includes courses in economics and international affairs, foreign language, social and natural science, mathematics, computer science and humanities. This comprehensive curriculum will provide EIA graduates with skills in strategic planning and analysis in economics and international affairs.

"Students are interested in making their degrees stand out, and they see the merits of joint degrees with rewards in the marketplace," says Molly Cochran, associate profess and director of undergraduate programs in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs. "The Economics and International Affairs graduate will have strong policy analysis skills as well as strong math, science and computer science skills, making them very attractive to employers."

Students will be required to take two senior capstone courses, jointly taught by International Affairs and Economics professors, providing students with a unique perspective on theory and research in the field.

"The new Economics and International affairs degree leverages the strengths of the faculty in both schools," said Willie Belton, associate professor and undergraduate director in the School of Economics. "In Economics we have a significant number of faculty who focus on international economics and international development and in International Affairs many of their faculty's expertise are in political economies of specific countries and regions."

"When you study international affairs, your level of analysis is usually the nation state, and you really can't conceive of the nation state as a political entity without understanding the role that economics plays," says Andrew Miles, a senior who recently changed his major from International Affairs to Economics and International Affairs. "I took three economics courses before I knew this new major existed. The practical side of me felt that adding economics to my degree would make me more marketable in the private sector."

The new EIA joint degree is the newest of several new joint degrees offered by schools in Ivan Allen College, including bachelor's degrees in International Affairs and Modern Languages, Global Economics and Modern Languages, and Computational Media.

Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts
Ivan Allen College, the liberal arts college of Georgia Tech, was founded in 1990 to provide a strong liberal arts dimension for all Tech students and to permit focused majors in humanities and social sciences, with an international, technological and professional emphasis. The College is named for the late Ivan Allen Jr., who represented the essence of "the new South" and, among other achievements, is credited with helping ease racial tension in Atlanta during his two terms as mayor. Ivan Allen College includes the Schools of Economics; History, Technology and Society; the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs; Literature, Communication and Culture; Modern Languages; and Public Policy as well as Air Force, Army, and Navy Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) units.