About ISS

The ISS Requirement

The Integrative Social Science (ISS) core curriculum provides an interdisciplinary introduction to the body of knowledge, theory, practice and methods that the social sciences bring to an understanding of the human condition.

ISS courses are designed to help students learn to better acquire, analyze, and evaluate information from multiple social science sources; synthesize and apply information within and across the social science disciplines; demonstrate awareness of how diversity emerges within and across cultures; understand the structures of local, national, and global governance systems; and, use a variety of inquiry strategies incorporating multiple views to make value judgments, solve problems, answer questions, and generate new understanding.

ISS is designed to make the following contributions to general education at MSU:

• Gives students a mental toolkit for analyzing enduring and emerging social situations from different cultural or disciplinary perspectives.
• Emphasizes the interactions and mutual effects between domains in social science to critically view, analyze, and interpret this increasingly global system.
• Provides broad social science courses with topical content that develop student competence in integrative thinking, inquiry, and communication.
• Facilitates effective citizenship in local, national, and global contexts through the application of social science knowledge.

University Requirement

To fulfill MSU graduation requirements, each student must successfully complete one 4-credit ISS 200 level course and one 4-credit ISS 300 level course.

Successful completion of one 4-credit ISS 200 level course is a prerequisite for enrollment in 4-credit ISS 300 level course

ISS 300 level courses are restricted to students who have obtained sophomore status (i.e., have completed at least 28 credits)