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This paper surveys data regarding student course selections to fulfill the requirements for the International Studies Minor at Truman State University, a public liberal arts university in the Midwest. The purpose of the study is to empirically demonstrate how the minor is used in practice, how it complements the student’s major, and how it fits within the overall philosophy of the institution’s liberal arts mission of preparing life-long learners who will live and work in a globalized world.The study aims to suggest improvements for the minor and ways of extending the minor into an interdisciplinary major program. Although the study is program specific, it will endeavor to draw lessons that might be of use to other colleges and universities as well. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2003, Lutheran World Relief, as an international relief and development NGO, began a peacebuilding initiative in Colombia. They facilitated the formation of a partnership between peace sanctuary churches in Colombia and six communities of faith in the upper Midwest of the United States, coordinated by LWR staff. This partnership, called Sal y Luz (salt and light in Spanish) has the goal of education and advocacy both in Colombia and in the U.S.. Sal y Luz represents a powerful example of transnational solidarity for peace, which may find precursors in past solidarity movements like those in Central America in the 1980s. There are also implications and lessons of this case study for the broader field of NGO peacebuilding work. How should peacebuilding NGOs most effectively help their constituencies in the U.S. understand and become invested in their peacebuilding work? What benefits does this partnership bring in terms of accountability and effectiveness in peacebuilding? ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]