Undergraduate Program
Created over 30 years ago, Clark University's major in International Development and Social Change (IDSC), is one of the oldest and most distinguished liberal arts programs in this field. This major will enable you to understand and think critically about the social, political, economic, and cultural dynamics transforming our world. Working with faculty with Ph.D. degrees in anthropology, education, political science, history, to economics, students acquire a broad analytic background in the social sciences. Not simply thinkers, IDSC students become doers prepared to tackle the challenges of global inequity and injustice in the 21st century.
Since World War II, the field of international development has been one of the driving forces shaping contemporary power and politics. In the IDSC major, you will learn from people who are actively engaged in vital world issues such as: global social movements, corporate power, race and nationalism, health disparities, social justice, education, human rights, refugees and migration, among many other topics.
As an IDSC major, you are part of a diverse student body and will discover a program that offers intellectual excitement, insightful perspectives, and stimulating ideas. After taking a series of core classes, students then specialize in a particular field of development and social change of their choice. Building on what they learn in the classroom and from each other, many IDSC students become actively engaged in political and social action on campus, in Worcester, and beyond. As part of their course of study, many majors also pursue formal internships and research opportunities at home and abroad. In their senior year, students take a capstone course that involves independent research. Download the IDSC Undergraduate Brochure
The IDSC major is part of a growing and dynamic Department of International Development, Community, and Environment that also offers Master's degrees in Community Development and Planning (CDP), Environmental Science and Policy (ES&P), Geographic Information Science for Development and Environment (GISDE), as well as International Development and Social Change (IDSC). Advanced BA students can take advantage of academic and extra curricular opportunities associated with all these graduate programs. Students who earn honors in the undergraduate major are also eligible to apply to Clark University's Accelerated BA/MA program to earn an MA in one of these four programs.