Asian Studies Minor
This exciting minor (and 12-hour certification option) offers students the opportunity to develop cultural competence. The minor in Asian Studies is an academic program open to all UT Tyler students. The ultimate goal of this program is “cultural competence.” With a focus on Asia, this program provides students with combination of awareness, knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors, which, when applied in the professional setting, results in the ability to work and communicate effectively and appropriately with people from culturally different backgrounds. Law, medicine, and other professions, require cultural competence as it is essential for effectively working with populations from different ethnic backgrounds and with varying beliefs. The Asia studies minor is interdisciplinary in nature and includes courses in the humanities, psychology, and the social sciences, as well as the option for travel study experiential learning and a capstone project. Students looking to add cultural competence to their portfolios will focus on these four objectives:
- Awareness/Sensitivity: With a focus on Asian studies, lectures, discussions, readings, and experiential learning will serve to heighten student awareness of how cultural variables may influence personal, social, and professional interactions.
- Knowledge of Self: Students will study interpersonal and small group communication and behavioral processes, including verbal and nonverbal communication. Self-awareness of personal communication behaviors and skills will be examined. Students will learn how to enhance their effectiveness in interpersonal and small group situations, socially, professionally and personally. Students will be provided with the opportunity to be self- reflective.
- Knowledge of Others: Students will be provided with opportunities to develop a knowledgebase in Asian studies that will serve as the foundational case study for the intersection of ethnicity and culture and general sensitivity to those of another culture. Students will examine culture at play in daily interactions and in broad societal circumstances.
- Skill-building: Within each course in this program, students will be encouraged to actively search for applications of the information they are learning. Students will demonstrate these learned skills through course assessments that reflect the ability to elicit information, listen, understand, explain, recognize differences, and negotiate interactions competently and sensitively. Like all skills, cross-cultural competence requires first an understanding, and secondly, practice. This program provides opportunities for students to practice communication skills in the context of cross-cultural interactions through Asian case studies, role-playing, and experiential travel-study activities.
Students planning on careers in government, healthcare, law, business, or who simply want to broaden their knowledge about a part of the world that includes a significant portion of the world's population and economic output would benefit from this minor. The minor is a valuable complement to the academic portfolio of any student who wishes to add an international dimension and cultural competence to their intellectual profile. This interdisciplinary minor requires 18 hours of undergraduate coursework.
Minor Requirements
Required Courses A (6 hours)
Required Courses B (6 hours)
Select two courses from the following:
Elective Group C (3 hours)
Select one course from the following:
Capstone Experiential Learning (3 hours)
This course serves as the culminating experience for undergraduate students minoring in Asian Studies. Through a combination of travel study or seminar discussions, independent research, and writing assignments, students will deepen their understanding of the cultural, historical, political, and social dynamics of Asia. Students will engage in advanced interdisciplinary research and analysis of a specific topic within the field of Asian Studies. Students will also have the opportunity to develop and present a substantial research project that demonstrates their mastery of the key concepts and themes in Asian Studies. This course will challenge students to think critically, communicate effectively, and engage with diverse perspectives on Asia.