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Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

SFS Overhauls Map of the Modern World Course

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The SFS will see a reimagined Map of the Modern World class next semester.

*Updated at 3:48 p.m. on Sept. 22.*

The School of Foreign Service Curriculum Committee was presented with significant changes to the Map of the Modern World syllabus on Friday. The changes are planned to take effect in the spring of 2010, overhauling a course that has come to define the SFS undergraduate experience.

The changes to International Affairs 008 will de-emphasize the study of the political boundaries of the contemporary world. In contrast to the course developed and taught by Charles Pirtle and subsequently Keith Hrebenak that, as indicated in its course description, aimed “to enhance basic working knowledge of the political map” by examining “the evolution of the modern political map of each region and major nationalist, ethnic, boundary and territorial conflicts and tension areas,” the new course will take a broader view of how physical geography impacts individuals.

“The underlying purpose of the course is to introduce ways of thinking about how physical geography shapes or poses choices for human behavior,” wrote James Reardon-Anderson, director of the Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service program and former dean of SFS-Qatar, in the course proposal provided to the SFS Curriculum Committee.

Reardon-Anderson will teach the new Map of the Modern World course beginning in the spring of 2010 and has developed a syllabus to reflect the revised objective of the course. The new and old courses are structurally similar, comprised of 50-minute weekly lectures and a final examination that is passed with a grade of 70 percent or above. The content of the new course will emphasize science and sociology to an extent its predecessor did not.

“The course content has been modified to provide a greater emphasis on physical geography and to demonstrate how physical geography has influenced large-scale human behavior,” Reardon-Anderson said.

The new syllabus lays out the new course content in a very specific sequence, building from a foundation in environmental development to a survey of the interaction between international affairs and physical geography.

“The course begins with three lectures on the fundamental forces that shape physical geography: the earth-sun relationship, atmospheric physics, and earth tectonics,” Reardon-Anderson said in the course proposal. “The next 10 lectures cover each of 10 regions of the world, showing: first, how these forces have shaped the physical geography of that region; and second, an example from history that illustrates how human behavior has adapted to or been shaped by geography. The last lecture explains the carbon cycle and the process of global climate change.”

Reardon-Anderson will replace Keith Hrebenak as the instructor of the course, required for all SFS undergraduates who do not pass a test exempting them from the class. Hrebenak will continue in his role as a professorial lecturer in the SFS. He could not be reached for comment.

Eric Flanagan (SFS ’10) said that Map of the Modern World is among the most important courses in the SFS. “The course represents what the SFS is about,” Flanagan said. “It instills in the students a strong knowledge of the wider world and the forces and influences that are fundamental to its functioning.”

The SFS Curriculum Committee is chaired by professor Charles King – also chair of the SFS Faculty Council – and includes the directors of each of the BSFS majors, two representatives of the SFS Academic Council and Reardon-Anderson. The committee is responsible for reviewing and approving major curriculum revisions, but not for approving changes to individual course syllabuses.

King called Map of the Modern World “a signature component” of the SFS undergraduate program. “We believe the changes will enhance and deepen the exposure of SFS students to core concepts in physical, political and cultural geography,” he said.

**Correction:** This article originally suggested that the SFS Curriculum Committee formally approved BSFS Director James Reardon-Anderson’s new Map of the Modern World syllabus. The committee does not generally approve or reject individual syllabuses; Reardon-Anderson presented his syllabus to the committee as a courtesy, and according to the 2009-2010 [course catalog](https://courses.georgetown.edu/index.cfm?Action=View&CourseID=INAF-008), the remodeled course will be taught in the spring.”

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