Eleanor Roosevelt College - Ethos and Academics

Ethos and Academics

Eleanor Roosevelt College's philosophy stresses international learning and global interaction, and this is reflected in its set list of academic general education requirements, which include proficiency in a foreign language, non-western art, as well as its own core writing course called "The Making of the Modern World" (MMW). It also offers special encouragement for its students to study abroad. In 1992, over 40% of the college's students studied abroad, and the college continues to have the highest study-abroad rate of UCSD's six colleges. Moreover, MMW courses offered during summer quarter are typically taught abroad.

The Making of the Modern World is a cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary series in world civilizations, organized chronologically, that seeks to combine various disciplines including history, religious studies, philosophy, sociology, and visual arts into course that offers a survey of the sum total of world history, not just from a eurocentric perspective, but from a more international view, including developments in China, India, Africa, and the Americas. Originally six quarters (two years) in length, it was the longest core writing course of all six colleges. In March 2011, citing budget cuts, the college shortened the series to five quarters by combining the first two courses in the series into a single course.

Eleanor Roosevelt College is also the sponsor of the International Migration Studies and Human Rights minors.