What is IA&PP?
IA&PP is now international affairs and public policy (IA&PP). Students who matriculated prior to fall 2025 may still major in IA&PP instead of international affairs or public policy; however, all students are strongly encouraged instead to choose one of the new majors, and historically IA&PP students have all fulfilled either the IA or PP requirements in any case. The list of IA&PP courses is much more restrictive than IA or PP courses; IA and PP are much better understood by external audiences as well. Please contact the committee chair if you nonetheless would like to apply to major in IA&PP and matriculated prior to fall 2025.
The program at Reed in international affairs and public policy studies (IA&PP) is designed to meet the academic needs of students interested in pursuing a major involving interdisciplinary work in the areas of globalization, international relations, comparative policy, and international economic development. Course offerings reflect the interests of faculty members working in this general domain. Courses applicable to the IA&PP major come from relevant areas within the departments of anthropology, economics, history, political science, and sociology; students are expected to concentrate their IA&PP course of study in one of these four departments (anthropology, history, political science, or sociology), providing students with a firm disciplinary basis within the social sciences. IA&PP majors will be identified by their home department of concentration as IA&PP-anthropology, IA&PP–history, IA&PP–political science, or IA&PP–sociology.
To be admitted to the IA&PP program, a student must apply to the IA&PP Committee for acceptance to upper-division standing prior to declaring their major. Applications for the major are due Monday of the 12th week of the second semester (11th week of instruction) of the sophomore year. First-semester juniors may apply by Friday of the first week of the first semester of their junior year. Since acceptance into the IA&PP program is not automatic, applicants should be prepared to pursue an alternative course of study.
IA&PP is not a department, but an interdisciplinary committee composed of faculty from the Division of History and Social Sciences. Like a department, the Committee monitors your progress in meeting your degree requirements. IA&PP is not a substitute for a department; rather, it guides a student through a home department in a particular way.
While you can certainly focus on any country or region of your choice in the course of your study, including the United States, the IA&PP program does not require that you do so. What the IA&PP Committee primarily requires is that you develop a range of analytical skills to study either international or comparative policy issues that could be applicable to any area of the world. Students must take either an interdisciplinary-international or an interdisciplinary-comparative approach to policy in their subject area.