Cross-Cultural Studies (CCS) Graduate Minor

About the Cross-Cultural Studies Graduate Minor Program

Contact: Dr. Elizabeth Trejos-Castillo, Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Studies; elizabeth.trejos@ttu.edu

The 15-credit-hour graduate minor in cross-cultural studies (CCS) is designed to provide fundamental competencies on multicultural and international/transnational issues affecting diverse populations as well as core principles of human development and sociopolitical change from a global perspective. The CCS graduate minor is supported by a multidisciplinary curriculum geared toward enhancing cross-cultural knowledge, skills, and leadership, along with lifetime professional success in a broad variety of traditional and nontraditional career paths. The CCS minor is offered to all master’s and doctoral students in the university system as well as non-traditional students seeking to enhance their professional expertise by incorporating a cross-cultural dimension to their programs of study.

The core courses (9 credit hours) included in the CCS minor are designed to provide students with a comprehensive, in-depth exploration of culture. In addition, they explore how arguments about cultural diversity, ethnicity, and race are constructed, substantiated, and used across disciplines. The minor encourages critical thinking and analytical reasoning to develop an in-depth understanding of practical applications of cross-cultural theoretical frameworks and methodologies (qualitative-quantitative) from a multidisciplinary perspective. Students also evaluate the significance of cross-cultural knowledge and the main challenges and issues experienced by professionals across fields in today’s multicultural society. Requirements for the minor are as follows:

• Completion of 15 hours of courses as approved by director of the minor program.
• Nine hours of required coursework (see core courses below).
• Six hours of electives approved by the cross-cultural studies program director. Students can choose and combine courses from electives across disciplines in the university system.
• No courses may be taken for pass/fail credit. With approval of the program director, some special topic courses may be taken for credit more than once.
• Many courses may be used toward completion of the minor at the discretion of the cross-cultural studies program director.