Krieger School of Arts & Sciences > Academics > Fields of Study > law, policy, and government

Women, Gender, and Sexuality

Women, Gender, and Sexuality
Students can: Minor

The Program for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality (WGS) promotes interdisciplinary scholarship on women, gender, sexuality, and related issues. The program coordinates a wide array of course offerings for both undergraduate and graduate students. It incorporates non-Western intellectual traditions where gender and sexuality are discussed in relation to class, ethnicity, and race in everyday life, political organization, and situations of violent conflict.

The program also provides opportunities for intellectual exchange across disciplines by sponsoring lectures, symposia, seminars, and workshops for faculty and students alike. Through both interdisciplinary and specialized courses, students are encouraged to develop critical and comparative approaches to the study of gender and associated topics; race, class, and violence being among them.

Public Health

Public Health
3505 N. Charles Street, Room 201
Students can: Major
Degrees Offered: BA

The public health studies major offers a flexible, challenging, and contemporary curriculum that may include coursework in ethics, the natural sciences, policy, economics, or environmental issues, among other areas. Through these varied options, the PHS program provides rigorous preparation for advanced study in public health, law, medicine, and related fields. The program is a beneficial undergraduate pursuit not only for students planning to enter MHS/MPH and PhD programs, but also for premedical and prelaw students.

Public health spans several disciplines dedicated to the improvement of the health and well-being of populations across the globe. This mission broadly focuses on the prevention of illness, disease, and health care inequalities. Core disciplines include epidemiology, environmental health sciences, health policy and management, biostatistics, and social and behavioral aspects of health.

These disciplines draw on a fundamental knowledge of biology, a basic familiarity with social sciences, and an appreciation of socio-economic and cultural variance among different peoples.

Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies

Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies
Students can: Major Minor
Degrees Offered: BA

The Program in Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies (LACLxS) at Johns Hopkins University seeks to build interdisciplinary understanding among faculty and students of the histories, cultures, societies, and politics of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

LACLxS courses enhance the Hopkins curriculum by offering students an opportunity to explore the rich political, aesthetic, intellectual, and scientific traditions of Latin America, and by encouraging critical perspectives on Latin America's history and role in the modern world. Workshops by LACLxS-affiliated faculty, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellow complement the curriculum with discussions of current events and ongoing research projects.

The program offers an undergraduate major and minor in Latin American Studies. The program encourages undergraduate students to take an active interest in Latin America; in their course work and extracurricular life, and by engaging their other disciplinary and area interests through summer research and study abroad programs in Latin America.

The program contributes to the professional training of graduate students through interdisciplinary discussions of ongoing research projects, pre-dissertation summer research travel grants, and student initiated exhibitions, conferences, and special events.

The program offers undergraduate and graduate students a variety of opportunities to deepen their appreciation and understanding of Latin America. LACLxS courses and expertise draw on faculty from across the humanities and social sciences.

Jewish Studies

Jewish Studies
Students can: Minor

The Leonard and Helen R. Stulman Jewish Studies Program is dedicated to the study of Jewish history, literature, language, politics and religion. Offering an interdisciplinary undergraduate minor, the program provides students with the opportunity to explore more than three millennia of Jewish culture and civilization, from biblical to contemporary times.

With core faculty members in the departments of history, humanities, modern languages and literatures, philosophy, and political science, the program spans a broad array of humanities and social science disciplines. The program is an excellent complement to any major and provides indispensable intellectual training for those interested in the study of cultures and civilizations in which Jews and Judaism play an important role, such as Christianity, Islam, or modernity.

International Studies

International Studies
Students can: Major
Degrees Offered: BA, BA/MA

International Studies is an interdisciplinary major drawing on the diverse strengths of the Johns Hopkins University in the fields of political science, history, economics, anthropology, sociology, and languages.

In today's increasingly interconnected world, new challenges and concerns deeply affect every facet of our individual and collective lives. Balancing the need for national security with the importance of protecting individual rights, encouraging the freedom of globalized markets while simultaneously promoting sustainability and preserving the environment, championing democracy throughout the world while remaining sensitive to cultural diversity—these are just some of the debates that shape our globalized society.

There is no single answer to the issues we face. This is why the key to understanding lies in a multi-disciplinary approach. The International Studies Program offers students a variety of perspectives through which to analyze international events. By learning new languages, studying the history and cultural diversity of various societies across the globe, and understanding the politics and theories of international relations or the dynamics of the world's economy, students gain the tools required to be competitive in a complex global setting.

To narrow an inevitably broad course of study, students are encouraged to identify specific areas of interest and choose a concentration within the International Studies major, whether it is a functional specialization such as international security or a regional focus. Students also have the opportunity to explore their interests in more depth through a senior thesis. The thesis, although mandatory for students wishing to graduate with honors in International Studies, is open as an option to all International Studies majors.

Study abroad is an integral part of the International Studies Program. The program has a variety of options that extend beyond the degree itself, offering a five-year BA/MA program with the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, D.C., or Bologna; a five-year BA/MA program with Sciences Po Paris; junior year programs with SAIS Bologna and Sciences Po Paris; and a wide range of study abroad opportunities across the globe.

East Asian Studies

East Asian Studies
Students can: Major Minor
Degrees Offered: BA

Johns Hopkins has a long history of influence in East Asia, and its students and faculty have made enduring contributions to the field of East Asian studies. Majors in East Asian studies engage in intensive language study and work with distinguished faculty on such topics as China in the global economy, nationalism in East Asia, Korean identity in Japan, and women in East Asia.

The East Asian Studies Program offers opportunities for students to pursue a rigorous and exciting interdisciplinary course of study in Baltimore and beyond. Many students choose to study abroad through partner programs in China, Japan, and Korea. Students are welcome to attend our speaker series, view films, and participate in weekly language corners.  

Our students can apply for intersession and summer travel grants. We offer a senior thesis honors option, and seminars that bring together research scholars, faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates in a manner that is distinctly Hopkins. Alumni of the program are making their mark around the world in business and finance, academia, law, international development, medicine and public health, engineering, media, public service, and the arts.

Africana Studies

Africana Studies
Students can: Major Minor
Degrees Offered: BA

The Center for Africana Studies pursues broad inquiry into the ideas and experiences of African peoples throughout the world. Its interdisciplinary approach is organized around three major sub-fields: studies in Africa and the African diaspora, African-American studies, and urban studies.

The Center's work spans diverse academic disciplines in the humanities, social sciences, and public health. While its sub-fields possess distinct and distinctive intellectual traditions, they offer exciting possibilities for comparative as well as integrative inquiry.

Through research, coursework, and public programs, the Center seeks to promote fundamental examination and understanding of the commonalities and contrasts among the historical and contemporary experiences of Africans and African Americans, and of the place of African diasporas in both local and global contexts. The Center strives to understand the movement of black peoples from their ancestral homelands to a variety of host lands, as well as expand upon Black Studies research to raise new inquiries into all aspects of African-American experiences, all the while building upon existing Krieger School strengths in the study of Africa.

The Center offers an undergraduate major and minor and provides teaching and research opportunities for graduate students. With an executive board of 10 actively engaged faculty members and a longer list of affiliated faculty, the Center has infused the campus with new intellectual vitality by sponsoring various speaker series, symposia, seminars, and student and faculty discussions, and it has added tremendous breadth and depth to the curriculum in areas that are Africana-related. The Center offers undergraduate courses covering issues in anthropology; English, history; history of art; Latin American studies; political science; public health; music; sociology; and women, gender, and sexuality studies.

Near Eastern Studies

Near Eastern Studies
Students can: Major Minor
Degrees Offered: BA, PhD

The ancient Near East is where the first crops were sown, the first cities were built, and the first writing was invented. The origins of Western culture are found in its great civilizations, from the three main monotheistic religions—Christianity, Islam, and Judaism—to things we use every day and take for granted, such as the alphabet and marking time by hours and minutes.

The Johns Hopkins Department of Near Eastern Studies offers a wide range of courses on the cultures and languages of the ancient Near East, including Egypt, Israel, Syria-Palestine, Mesopotamia, and the Arabian peninsula. Archaeology is also an option for students, and the department carries out excavations in Egypt, Syria, Oman, and Ethiopia. Courses cover archaeology, history, religion, art, language, and literature of the ancient civilizations of the Near East.

The department uses modern tools of analysis to study ancient Near Eastern civilizations, utilizing ancient written records and physical evidence as primary data. The study of language and script allows for an ability to access sources in the original, while historical and archaeological study facilitates an understanding of context and relationships with surrounding cultures. 

What can you do with your degree?

A degree in Near Eastern studies can be used as the basis for a career in Near Eastern history, languages, art history, or archaeology, teaching or conducting research at a university, college, museum, seminary, or research institute. In addition, the grounding in humanistic, social science, and natural science techniques as well as in the study of different cultures prepares graduates for careers in a wide diversity of fields beyond Near Eastern studies itself.

Related Programs and Centers

Political Science

Political Science
Students can: Major
Degrees Offered: BA, PhD

The Department of Political Science provides undergraduate and graduate training in American politics and law, comparative politics, international relations, and political theory. It offers a rich and diverse understanding of the theoretical and practical aspects of politics, including the processes through which policies, rules, institutions, and political cultures are established, contested, and changed.

The programs of the political science department are designed to help students attain a deeper understanding of politics in its various dimensions. The department encourages students to become analytically sophisticated, to study politics in global and comparative perspectives, and to appreciate how citizens can be responsibly assertive in the community.

A broad and diverse faculty offers a range of courses about politics and government at local, state, national, and international levels. The university's proximity to Washington, D.C., provides a wide variety of internship opportunities.

What can you do with your degree?

Political science majors pursue a diverse range of careers in law, public service, finance, policy research, media, international development, and academia.

Related Programs and Centers

Mathematics

Mathematics
Students can: Major Minor
Degrees Offered: BA, BA/MA, PhD

The goal of every program of the Department of Mathematics is to provide the highest quality education in mathematics at all levels, including the most recent developments and discoveries in mathematical research.

Johns Hopkins has a long history of preeminence in mathematics research and education, dating back to its founding in 1886 by J.J. Sylvester. In fact, the oldest running mathematics journal in the Western Hemisphere, the American Journal of Mathematics, is directed and edited by the Department of Mathematics and is published by the Johns Hopkins University Press.

Today, a vibrant scientific environment continues through the interaction of our faculty, postdoctoral researchers, graduate and undergraduate students, and visiting mathematicians. Our areas of expertise include analysis, partial differential equations, algebraic/complex/differential geometry, mathematical physics, number theory, and algebraic topology. Seminars take place weekly and address a range of topics, and lecture series and conferences bring in top experts from around the world. The department is also home to the Japan-U.S. Mathematics Institute, which sponsors visitors and seminars throughout the year.

Whether you are in our undergraduate BA program, our four-year bachelor’s/master’s program, our doctoral program, or our Future Scholars Program (for outstanding high school students), you will engage with internationally renowned department faculty, two of whom were recently awarded Simons Fellowships, and nine of whom are Fellows of the American Mathematical Society.

What can you do with your degree?

While our PhD graduates go on to conduct research at major institutions around the country, undergraduate math majors at Johns Hopkins finish with a degree that prepares them for PhD programs in mathematics, as well as a wide spectrum of career opportunities. Our graduates have worked in fields as diverse as business and management, education, operations research, data mining, and finance. Our undergraduate program, when supplemented by courses in other departments, also prepares students for graduate or professional programs in other fields, such as economics, physics, engineering, and medicine.

Related Programs and Centers

Physics and Astronomy

Physics and Astronomy
Students can: Major Minor
Degrees Offered: BA, BS, BA/MA, PhD

The Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy combines a strong research program, world-renowned faculty, and state-of-the-art facilities. The instruction and research programs within the department reflect two features which have a long tradition at Johns Hopkins: an emphasis on graduate study and research, supplemented with a strong undergraduate program; and a flexibility that is possible only in a department of our size.

Our undergraduate and graduate courses are purposefully designed to provide a core group of basic subjects at the appropriate levels, which naturally lead to courses in a variety of specialized areas. All students are encouraged to engage in independent work outside of the classroom, such as special projects or independent study. The atmosphere is enhanced by the presence of NASA’s Space Telescope Science Institute—home of the Hubble Space Telescope—located just across the street.

Research in the Department of Physics and Astronomy primarily centers on three areas: astrophysics, condensed matter physics, and particle or high energy physics. The Center for Astrophysical Studies comprises areas within the discipline: cosmology, extragalactic astronomy, galactic astronomy, numerical simulations, large datasets, and instrumentation. The condensed matter physics group maintains active experimental and theoretical research programs at the forefront of both hard and soft condensed matter physics. The particle physics group conducts research in both theory and experiment.

What can you do with your degree?

A degree in physics can lead to many diverse career paths. Many of our students apply and are admitted to graduate school, either here at Johns Hopkins or at another one of the nation’s top universities. Others want to pursue research and teaching positions. Physics and astronomy graduates can also be found in the fields of engineering, law, and medicine. Still others secure employment in government or industrial laboratories.

Related Programs and Centers

Sociology

Sociology
Students can: Major
Degrees Offered: BA, PhD

The Department of Sociology concentrates its teaching and research on two broad areas: global social change, which focuses on cross-national, comparative research; and social inequality, which primarily focuses on family, education, work, race, gender, policy, and immigration.

These concentrations trace back to the department’s founding in 1959 by renowned sociologist James Coleman. The department has since earned a reputation as one of most selective, personalized sociology departments in the U.S. Its small size creates an intimate scholarly atmosphere, in which faculty and students interact and collaborate frequently. Through the department’s two areas of concentration and its honors program, highly motivated students can customize a program of study and engage in self-initiated, original research.

What can you do with your degree?

A major in sociology offers undergraduates a variety of post-graduation opportunities. Graduates from the department have found positions in financial institutions, education, non-governmental organizations focusing on international development, research departments of major corporations, and local government social service agencies. Others continue to graduate school in sociology, public health, law, urban planning, or education.

A major in sociology can also be combined with the pre-medical course sequence, resulting in a medical school candidate who is well versed in the hard science of the human body and the social science of the human experience.

Related Programs and Centers