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Engaging with Diversity to Build Inclusion SIS Undergraduate Opportunities

Whether students have academic, professional, or personal interests in deepening their understanding of diversity, equity and inclusion during their undergraduate education, SIS offers a range of opportunities. Meaningful engagement with difference comes in the classroom and beyond in the form of living communities, student clubs, and workshops. While thematic areas like “Global Inequality and Development” offer a path toward deeper knowledge of equity, the ethos of service and social justice at SIS offer experiential opportunities to contribute to more equitable systems.

Students will find a range of ways to build skills of intercultural communication, antiracism, and leadership to create more inclusive communities both in and out of the classroom. With future sights on careers in international affairs, these skillsets will be invaluable for the next steps in their journeys.

35 percent

of SIS undergrads identify as U.S.-born students of color

Paroma Mehta in the radio station studio

Student Life

Around the World in 808s – Sharing Culture through Music

Paroma Mehta (SIS/BA '22) started a radio show at American University that highlights cultural influences through music.

Full Story

Course Spotlight

Global Perspectives on Diversity and Intergroup Tolerance

Fall 2022, Professor Naomi Moland

All societies have elements of diversity and social stratification. In this course, students interrogate the concepts of diversity and tolerance and explore how various societies around the world define concepts such as multiculturalism, coexistence, and (in)equality. These explorations are rooted in the premise that different axes of diversity-such as race, ethnicity, language, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, and religion-have more or less salience in different contexts. Case studies include: China's indoctrination centers for Uighur Muslims; racial dynamics in Spain, Italy, France, and Brazil; discrimination against LGBTQ+ populations in Sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe and more.

Highlights

Angela Pashayan

Professor Spotlight

Professor Angela Pashayan teaches "SIS 240: Global Inequality & Development" during the spring term.

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Equity: Paid Internships

The Hispanic Association of Colleges & Universitites (HACU) National Internship Program  provides students with the opportunity to intern with a range of federal agencies in order to gain experience and develop professionally. The paid summer internship runs for 10 weeks. 
Apply by Feb. 28, 2023.

Apply now

Diversity: Regional Courses Offerings

SIS has increased undergraduate regional course offerings, especially in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. 

A list of regional course offerings across AU is now available. Cross-check this list with the course schedule to identify courses offered during a term.

Browse Course Offerings

SIS Student Helps Foster Belonging at AU

Barbara Taylor, SIS/MA '22

I have the opportunity to co-create spaces that shift our worldviews.

Working in the Intergroup Dialogue program at AU’s Center for Diversity and Inclusion (CDI), I have learned how to create space for students to explore their identities and grow through the discomfort of addressing difficult topics. Dialogues are also spaces for marginalized communities to engage on pressing issues they face.

Learn more about Intergroup Dialogue

Past Events and Video Stories

SIS Global Scholars student Sophia Andrews is the founder of Ngoma Kenya, a nonprofit that provides children in Kenya with access to visual and performing arts classes.