Academic Overview | Global Communities l University of Maryland

Honors Global Challenges & Solutions (HGLO) is dedicated to providing students with a deep understanding of and appreciation for the different cultures and communities of the world. Students will also gain the analytical skills necessary to evaluate arguments about a variety of issues that arise in a globalized system. These skills include learning how to program in the R computer language, with an emphasis on data visualization, and understanding the basics of multivariate statistical modeling. We also offer students the chance for a global experience, whether through an internship, directed research, global service, or an education abroad program. We hope students will leave the program with broadened horizons both in terms of how they think about the world and about how scholars and practitioners study and solve the problems we face in our interconnected world.

The HGLO program consists of 16 credit hours. In the first year of the program, all students will take the same classes. In the fall semester, they will take a course called Saving the World with Data (HGLO 101) and seminar-style course called Introduction to the University and HGLO (HGLO 100). HGLO 101 is where students will be introduced to the R programming language. In the spring of their first year, students will enroll in Honors sections of Quantitative Methods for Political Science Research (GVPT 201). This class offers an introduction to data analysis, which students will use in the second year of the HGLO program and throughout their college career.

The second year presents students with a choice. They can either pursue the UMD Fellows Internship Track or the Academic Track. In the fall semester, the UMD Fellows track provides students with the opportunity to take classes from practitioners who bring a wide-range of policy experience to the classroom. For the spring semester, the program then helps the student find an internship that has a focus on federal and/or international policy. If students choose the Academic Track, they will take Advanced Data Science Techniques (HGLO 208) in the fall semester. In the spring term, they can either do a capstone project (with a focus in either service or research) or participate in an approved study abroad program.

In addition to the courses described above, HGLO students must also take one 3-credit interdisciplinary 300- or 400-level or H-course involving global issues or social data science, selected from a list available each semester.