International Development

About the Interdisciplinary Minor

All graduate students at MU, regardless of department, are eligible to work toward the Interdisciplinary Minor in International Development. Once complete, the minor will be recorded on the MU transcript.

Interested students should contact Corinne Valdivia, PhD, director of the minor and research associate professor of agricultural economics.

Plan of Study

The requirements for acceptance and completion of work for the minor are as follows:

1. The student must be enrolled as a master’s or PhD candidate in good standing at MU.
2. A formal request to be included in the minor must be made in advance of taking courses, to the director, Associate Professor Corinne Valdivia, 210 Mumford Hall. This request should be approved by the student’s advisor. A copy will be sent to the Graduate School.
3. Once the student is admitted to the minor, they should seek advisement from the director and their advisor concerning which courses to take. The plan of study must be submitted to the Graduate School no later than the semester before graduation.
4. The student must satisfactorily complete a total of twelve credit hours in courses dealing with the developing world. This is an Interdisciplinary Minor. At least six of the twelve hours must be taken in at least two departments outside the student’s home department.
5. Foreign language courses are not required, but students who are not fluent in a second language are strongly encouraged to take intensive language courses to develop competency. Credit for language courses does not count toward the twelve hours of credit required for the minor.
6. When the required twelve hours of credit are completed from approved courses, the student’s advisor will submit the second form to the director, who will in turn sign and submit it to the Graduate School. This should be done in advance of the student’s orals to give members of the policy committee an opportunity to sit in on the examining committee if they so desire.
7. The minor is only awarded after all departmental and Graduate School requirements for the advanced degree have been satisfied. An overall grade point average of 3.0 is required for the twelve hours within the minor.

Qualifying Courses

Click here to view a list of preapproved courses. Students enrolled in the minor should check with the director to determine what courses they should take. Credit cannot be given for courses not on this list without approval by the director.