Interested in pursuing a degree in France? Learn more about IAU's degree-granting branch, The American College of the Mediterranean

Bachelor's and Master's Programs

January Term Courses

IAU's January Term Seminars offer students the opportunity to enroll in one course for three course credits.
Diplomacy & Human Rights in the Mediterranean

Human Development 355: Diplomacy & Human Rights in the Mediterranean
Human Rights 355: Diplomacy & Human Rights in the Mediterranean
International Relations 355: Diplomacy & Human Rights in the Mediterranean
Political Science 355: Diplomacy & Human Rights in the Mediterranean

Diplomacy is about balancing multiple, sometimes competing priorities. How can the US promote human rights in North Africa while also fighting terrorism? How does the US elicit cooperation from NATO allies while also getting them to pay their fair share? This study tour surveys how US diplomats balance multiple goals and foreign policy challenges while working with partners from other governments, international organizations, and civil society in Europe and North Africa. The Mediterranean region is one where the most pressing foreign policy challenges of the day converge, from migration to counterterrorism and climate change to great power competition with China and Russia. This course will introduce students to the tools the US uses to address these challenges, from public diplomacy to military partnerships.
Europe and the Islamic World

Art History 395: Classical Islam and the European Renaissance
Cross Cultural Studies 395: Jews, Muslims and Christians in Europe and the Islamic World
French 395: Cultural History of France and the Islamic World
History 395: Cultural History of Europe and the Islamic World
Political Science 395: European Politics and the Islamic World
Religious Studies 395: Jews, Muslims and Christians in Europe and the Islamic World
Spanish 395: Cultural History of Spain and the Islamic World

This seminar is designed for students interested in an academic and cultural experience in France, Morocco, and Spain. Students participate in a series of briefings from leading academic, literary, and political experts on the European relationship with the Islamic world. In each city, students attend daily lectures and meetings with distinguished scholars from IAU in addition to local guides and experts in the fields of politics, art history, history, and culture. Special emphasis is placed on the importance of immigration to Europe and its current socio-cultural implications on the region.
French Language and Culture

French 101: Beginner French I
French 102: Beginner French II

IAU's French Language and Culture January Term Program is designed for students interested in a language and cultural immersion experience in the Mediterranean region of Southern France. IAU's exceptional out-of-classroom experiences include homestays, regional field studies and extracurricular activities such as wine tastings and cooking courses. Students receive intensive language instruction and have an immersive experience in the local culture during this three-week program.
Great Cities

European Studies 303: Europe and the Urban Space 
Anthropology 301: The Artist and the City 
Literature 375: The European City in Literature 
Communications 375: The European City in the Visual Arts 
Geography 201: Europe and its Cities

The Great Cities Seminar is designed for students interested in an academic and cultural experience in France, Italy, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic. Students explore major cities across Europe using literature and the arts as a guide to understanding the rise and establishment of the urban setting. Through readings and media studies, students examine the artistic process from inspiration to creation. Site visits and guided tours then allow students to experience the historical, geographical, and demographical foundations that inform the fictional representations of European cities and their impact on perceptions of those cities today. Students have the opportunity to learn from and exchange their observations with experts from IAU as well as distinguished on-site scholars and local guides in order to frame their own perception of the cities and these cities’ representation through the arts. 
International Business

Management 325: International Management
Business 325: International Business
Marketing 325: International Marketing
Economics 325: Doing Business in Europe

The International Business Traveling Seminar is designed for students interested in an academic and cultural experience in France, Morocco, and Belgium. Students gain exposure to the diverse facets of international business while visiting countries at different stages of economic development. While in Europe and North Africa, students visit major multi-national organizations and locally-run businesses as well as meet with public officials responsible for economic policy in order to build a well-rounded understanding of the global market. Students have the opportunity to learn from and exchange their observations with experts from IAU as well as distinguished on-site scholars and local guides.
Photography: History & Digital Practice in Europe

Art 173: Photography: An Introduction to Digital Practice in France, Spain & the Netherlands
Art 373: Photography: Advanced Digital Practice in France, Spain & the Netherlands
Art History 377: The History of Photography in France, Spain & the Netherlands
History 377: The History of Photography in France, Spain & the Netherlands
European Studies 378: Photography: Digital Practice & History in France, Spain & the Netherlands

IAU’s Photography: History & Digital Practice in Europe January Term Traveling Seminar offers students in photography the opportunity to acquire an artistic vocabulary and a technical comprehension of digital photography through museum study and on-site experiential learning in European cities renowned for their art. The questions of observation, composition, digital process, print and screen presentation will be addressed in relation to specific subjects, intentions and aesthetic judgments. Each student's particular experience of place in Amsterdam, Paris, Aix-en-Provence, Marseille and Barcelona will serve as the catalyst for creation throughout the course of the traveling seminar. 
Mediterranean Basin

Art History 385: Ancient and Medieval Classical Art and Architecture
History 385: Ancient and Medieval Mediterranean Cultural History
Archaeology 385: Greek and Roman Archaeology
Cross Cultural Studies 385: Cultural Identities in Mediterranean Europe
Religious Studies 385: From Polytheism to Monotheism, The Early Christian Period in Italy, Greece & Turkey

IAU’s Mediterranean Basin January Term Traveling Seminar is designed for students interested in an academic and cultural experience in Greece, Italy and France. Students build visual literacy in the history of art and archaeology as well as examine philosophical literature of the Mediterranean Basin from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. The seminar cultivates students' abilities to synthesize cultural, historical, political, and social information as it relates to the visual arts. The experiential learning component consists of a series of site visits made by academic experts from IAU in addition to local guides and faculty in the field of history, art history, and archaeology.
Museum Studies

Art 371: Museums of Europe: from Van Gogh to Gaudí
Art History 371: Museums of Europe: from Van Gogh to Gaudí
Art History 374: Museums of Europe: The Curatorial Process from Van Gogh to Gaudí
Museum Studies 374: Museums of Europe: The Curatorial Process from Van Gogh to Gaudí

How does one preserve or even rejuvenate an artist's legacy? This January Term traveling seminar will focus on a selection of European museums in Amsterdam, Paris, Aix-en-Provence, and Barcelona dedicated to artists across a variety of disciplines, including painting, photography, sculpture, and architecture. Through discussions, museum visits, and other methods, students will analyze different curatorial methods of specific European museums as well as study original works by various artists with an emphasis on critical analysis. Students will collaborate with and learn from professionals in arts administration, practicing artists, and art history scholars linking the curatorial process to the history and content of specific works housed in specific museums. Students participating in this Museum Studies January Term program will have the opportunity to experience the inner workings of world-renowned museums and study the artworks that reside in them from this new perspective.

North African Studies

Religion 345: Religious Radicalism: North Africa as a Case Study
Religion 355: Judaism in Islamic Land
Religion 365: Understanding Islam
History 355: Islam and the West: A Historical Perspective
History 365: History and Politics of North Africa
Political Science 365: History and Politics of North Africa
Sociology 365: Human Rights in North Africa

The North African Studies Traveling Seminar is designed for students interested in learning about the major issues multi-ethnic, predominantly Islamic, and developing countries contend with. The Seminar will expose students to diverse and sometimes opposed views to these major issues. During the three-week seminar students will visit six cities and will attend daily lectures and meetings with distinguished scholars and practitioners in regards to culture, human rights, politics, and economic development.

There is a strong social service component to this seminar, as students will visit NGO's and meet with creative ordinary citizens who are striving to invent solutions to their most vexing problems such as fighting poverty and providing education to their children. 
Psychology of Peace and Conflict in the Mediterranean

Psychology 370: Multicultural Psychology
Psychology 385: Psychology of Peace and Violence
Psychology 390: Psychology of Divided Societies
Psychology 595: Special Topics in Psychology - Graduate Seminar
Sociology 390: Sociology of Divided Societies
Cross-Cultural Studies 390: Empires, Colonies, Hegemony
Human Services 425: Special Topics in Human Services

The Psychology of Peace and Conflict in the Mediterranean Seminar focuses on understanding violence and its impact on the Mediterranean region. Students are encouraged to imagine possible resolutions to conflict and to understand peace processes through the lens of interdisciplinary study. They learn to see communities that have previously remained erased or oppressed in Morocco, France, and Spain and to understand the political, psychological, and sociological side effects of violence. By the end of the seminar, participants will more deeply understand the psychology of political decision-making as it applies to international relations and the legacy that is determined by peace efforts across cultures and their borders. 
Spanish Culture & Society

Art History 338: Spanish Culture & Society
Cross Cultural Studies 338: Spanish Culture & Society
History 338: Spanish Culture and Society

The Spanish Culture and Society January Term Seminar in Seville, Granada and Córdoba is hosted by the International College of Seville (ICS) and is designed for students wishing to deepen their understanding and appreciation of Spain. Over two weeks, students will live with local Spanish hosts in Seville, participate in field studies throughout southern Spain, enroll in courses focused on Spanish culture and society, and participate in cultural activities such as flamenco shows, cooking classes, city walking tours, boat cruises, tapas tastings and even a special New Year's Eve dinner. Faculty members, as well as local guides and specialists, will deepen students' understanding of the people, customs and culture of Spain in a hands-on, experiential learning environment.
Theatre Alive: Theatre in Ireland & England

English 385: Theatre Alive - Theatre in Ireland & England
Literature 385: Theatre Alive - Theatre in Ireland & England
Theatre 385: Theatre Alive - Theatre in Ireland & England

Plays and playwrights are not bound by time or geographically drawn borders. They speak to each other and influence each other across time and space. This course will focus on major playwrights, both historical and contemporary, of arguably the greatest theatrical tradition of all time - that of England and Ireland. From Shakespeare to writers like Synge, O'Casey, and Shaw to modern playwrights like Martin McDonagh, Carol Ann Duffy, David Hare, and Caryl Churchill, we will look at what made those playwrights so influential in their own time as well as how they continue to influence contemporary writers. We will look at plays as literature on the page, and in performance on stage, as they are meant to be encountered. We will also visit key historical sites in order to greater understand the political and intellectual circumstances in which these writers were working and in which their successors continue to work. Special attention will be paid to Shakespeare as a writer for the stage and a man of the theatre, with visits to theatres to hear and see plays, backstage tours, and critical discussions of directorial, design, and acting choices. Plays to be studied are to be determined as productions are announced.
Wine, Gastronomy & Sustainability of the Mediterranean

Business/Wine Studies 306: The Global Wine Industry
Geography/Marketing/Wine Studies 303: Regional Wine Trade and Economics
Hospitality Management/Wine Studies 307: Wine and Food Pairing 
Marketing/Wine Studies 302: Wine Marketing and Analysis
Environmental Studies 375: Environmental Security and Sustainability in the Mediterranean Basin
International Relations 375: Environmental Security and Sustainability in the Mediterranean Basin
Geography 375: Environmental Security and Sustainability in the Mediterranean Basin

The Wine, Gastronomy & Sustainability of the Mediterranean J-Term Seminar focuses on the appreciation of gastronomy and wine, while exploring regional and local delicacies. Students will learn to appreciate how these products are produced, understand how they impact the environment, and will begin to recognize how our consumption choices may be a potential solution or hazard to the global environmental crisis. In this multi-country traveling seminar, students will have the opportunity to taste Spanish, French, and Italian wines, speak directly with winemakers and industry experts, and visit cultural sites in Spain, France, and Italy.

Courses

Academics