The Master of Applied Social Science (M.A.S.S.) Program is an interdiciplinary masters program with concentrations in:
USF’s Master’s in International Studies is a three-semester program, which provides students with in-depth, interdisciplinary knowledge of the issues and challenges that face the global community. Our curriculum focuses on development and the environment, political and economic aspects of globalization, human rights, peace and conflict resolution, and international law and organizations.
Our students arrive on campus from all over the world, representing different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. That diversity makes our classrooms rich and dynamic, with perspectives and experiences that cross generations and borders. Our students graduate with the skills needed for a variety of areas, including international and governmental affairs, advocacy work, policy and project development, foreign service, international non-governmental organizations, international development and further graduate study.
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Our internship program provides an opportunity for students to gain practical professional work experience by working at one of the many international studies-related organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area and around the world. Our students have completed internships across five continents.
San Francisco is a vibrant, intellectual, global environment, and our campus is uniquely situated in the middle of it all. MAIS students take advantage of our location through internships, volunteering, and attending talks and activities at the World Affairs Council, the Commonwealth Club, and nearby academic institutions.
Our professors are not only scholars, they've also held leadership positions in governmental and non-governmental agencies. They’re activists in fields such as development, regional conflicts, refugees, law, human rights, environmental protection, and indigenous rights.
The 36-credit M.S. in National Security Affairs and International Relations in the Department of History and Political Science is designed to provide students with theoretical, research, and applied skills in the emerging academic field of national security affairs. Students in this program will build a core understanding of critical issues informing the field of national security today, including the assessment and analysis of the threat of terrorism in the US and beyond and the analysis of intelligence collection. The M.S. in National Security Affairs and International Relations is offered online worldwide.
National security affairs is one of the fastest growing professions with positions open in the public sector in the federal, state and local governments and in the private sector. This program is designed for professionals in the field seeking career advancement, those who aspire to enter the field, individuals in related professions, and those retired from the military and government seeking consulting and other positions. Examples of potential students include personnel in the military, federal, state and local governments, law enforcement, corporations, and academia, as well as recent college graduates.
The program consists of a core of 7 courses (21 credits). Pedagogically, the program core focuses on building the critical analytical skills graduates need to succeed professionally and academically in the field of national security affairs. The ability to critically analyze intelligence information and global security issues, interpret historical and contemporary issues informing the field, and perform textual analyses, defines the program core's most important learning outcomes.
M.S. in National Security Affairs and International Relations in the Department of History and Political Science is designed to provide students with theoretical, research, and applied skills in the emerging academic field of national security affairs. Students in this program will build a core understanding of critical issues informing the field of national security today, including the assessment and analysis of the threat of terrorism in the U.S. and beyond, and the analysis of intelligence collection. Students will also develop a deep understanding of the international context in which U.S. national security issues are shaped.
The program consists of a core of 7 courses (21 credits). Pedagogically, the program core focuses on building the critical analytical skills graduates need to succeed professionally and academically in the field of national security affairs. The ability to critically analyze intelligence information and global security issues, interpret historical and contemporary issues informing the field, and perform textual analyses, defines the program core's most important learning outcomes.
Following completion of the program core, students must complete 15 credits of coursework from the list of available electives. The majority of the elective offerings were developed specifically for the national security and international relations program, with a small number drawn from closely related fields. The elective list contains both courses that emphasize domestic security and courses that have a broader international focus, resulting in sufficient breadth of subject matter to allow students to tailor their choices around particular academic or professional interests.
Students interested in Cyber Security can choose to take a specific concentration in this area. Students who choose this option must complete 9 credits from the Cyber Security concentration and 6 credits from the elective list. Before choosing this option, students must secure permission from the Department of History and Political Science. After a consultation, it will be determined whether the student can enter the Cyber Security concentration, or if additional foundation courses will be required in order to enter and successfully complete the concentration.
Core Courses (21 credits)
Electives (15 credits)
Optional Cyber Security Concentration
In addition to successfully completing all course work, students must pass a tabletop examination to be awarded the M.S. in National Security Affairs and International Relations. When a student has completed all coursework, has maintained a minimum of 3.0 GPA with no "incomplete" grades, and is a "student in good standing" with no disciplinary actions pending or disciplinary tasks to complete, the student will be eligible to take the tabletop examination. The tabletop exam is an assessment of the student's ability to integrate the knowledge and skills gained through course work.The exam tests the student's written ability to critically analyze and apply conflict assessment, theory, and research methodology to hypothetical conflict situations. The exam also tests knowledge of material specific to the academic curriculum.
Students in our Public and Urban Policy master's program ask questions that challenge conventional policy definitions to rethink critical urban issues.
Partner with policymakers in government agencies and nonprofit organizations to design creative solutions to real-world urban policy issues. Work within a community of scholar-practitioners to put theory into practice in the intensive Urban Policy Lab, and challenge the status quo to create initiatives that drive real innovation in social and urban policy.
Change begins with a question. What will you ask?
Graduate students at The New School for Social Research ask the kind of questions that challenge the status quo across the social sciences and humanities.
Guided by rigorous scholarship and a desire to apply academic discourse and discovery to current social problems, they critically examine interdisciplinary fields to become a force of new knowledge and ideas in the world.
All graduate programs at The New School for Social research can be completed full-time or part-time on our New York City campus. Competitive merit-based scholarships are available in all departments -- in recent years, 85% of master’s students have received merit scholarships at The New School for Social Research.
Change begins with a question. What will you ask?
The New School for Social Research was founded in 1919 as a home for progressive thinkers, and housed the University in Exile in 1933, providing an academic haven for scholars persecuted in Nazi Europe. The school became the foundation for a comprehensive university – The New School – and continues the legacy of critical thought, civic engagement, and academic freedom today.
Life is conflict. Life is cooperation. Both define the human condition. Conflict will never be eliminated, nor should it be, because conflict can foster change. But conflict can be approached in ways that do not involve mass killings, assaults on human rights, and oppressive structural violence that creates the appearance of order while people suffer. The newly created Master’s Program (and Bachelor’s/Master’s Program) in Peace and Conflict Studies within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers University-Newark offers a unique approach to the issues which will shape our future. Based in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, this program prepares students for further scholarship or employment in three areas: the social bases of peace and conflict, the causes of large-scale violence, and nonviolent social conflict and recovery from violence. Students will also have opportunities for research and practical internships associated with the Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights, and the International Institute for Peace, whose Directors are faculty members of the Master’s Program. The Center and Institute bring scholars, policy makers, peacemakers, projects, and events to our campus, and connect us to researchers, practitioners, and peacebuilding communities around the world.
There are many good programs covering peace and conflict issues, but ours is different in two ways. First, the Master’s is based in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, and is oriented to the social bases of conflict and cooperation, of war and peace. Social dimensions include topics of migration, economic development, environmental degradation, inequality, education, race, ethnicity, religion, and gender. Beyond the Sociology/Anthropology Core Faculty and courses, the program is very interdisciplinary. Associate faculty, including both Newark and New Brunswick campuses, come from programs and departments of Political Science, Global Affairs, History, English, Criminal Justice, Psychology, Economics, and Religion.
Second, we expect graduates to have dual competence in understanding violent conflict, such as war, genocide, ethnic violence, and terrorism; and in nonviolence, including both nonviolent prosecution of conflict as through social movements and civil resistance, and in moving away from violent struggle toward reconciliation, justice, and sustainable peace.
Our students will be prepared to continue toward a higher degree in the most demanding PhD programs. They also will attain a most valuable competence for employment by any governmental agency, NGO, or business working in areas of high social conflict—the ability to analyze and communicate about complex situations, understanding the interacting factors that lead to nonviolent social movements or to large scale violence, ways to mitigate destructive conflict, and move forward toward sustainable peace.
Students may be full or part-time. Master’s students will complete 36 credits, and pass a final examination. A full-time student may complete the program in three semesters. Part-time students should complete it within three years, with extension beyond that requiring program approval.
Nine credits of foundations include
Distribution requirements include
Final Graduation Requirements
For graduation, students are required to fulfill one of three final requirements. 1) Three written examinations, one for each of our distribution areas. 2) A final thesis, according to University regulations. 3) Or, an extended research paper. (See Graduation Requirements.)
