Grand Strategy Certificate

Established in 2025, this new certificate is an undergraduate interdisciplinary program that encourages K-State students to think about grand strategy in its broadest sense and develop real world skills rooted in historical knowledge and understanding.

The certificate challenges students to take a step back and think about the big picture, from both a temporal and geographical perspective. Its primary focus is on statecraft, geared towards developing long-term foreign policies, but it also goes beyond this traditional definition to ask students to consider the grand strategies adopted by activists or humanitarian groups in order to challenge the established world order.

 

Requirements

Introductory Course (3 credit hours)

Students choose 1 of the following classes.
  • HIST 155 - Introduction to U.S. Military History
  • POLSC 145 - World Politics

Electives (9 credit hours)

Students choose 3 of the following classes, including at least 3 credit hours in HIST and 3 credit hours in POLSC
  • HIST 311 - Race & U.S. Foreign Relations
  • HIST 333 - War and Conquest in Hispanic America
  • HIST 363 - A World in Flames: Global World War II
  • HIST 388 - Nazi Germany and the Holocaust
  • HIST 510 - World War I
  • HIST 526 - The American Revolution
  • HIST 544 - From World Power to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations since 1920
  • HIST 545 - War in the Twentieth Century
  • HIST 593 - The Vietnam War
  • HIST 595 - French Revolution, 1789-1815
  • POLSC 343 - American Foreign Policy
  • POLSC 540 - Global Security Threats
  • POLSC 549 - International Defense Strategies
  • PHYS 102 - Current Topics in the Physical World
  • GWSS 380 - Global Struggles for Feminist, Queer, and Trans Justice
  • GWSS 405 - Resistance and Movements for Social Change
Grand Strategy Simulation (1 credit hour)
  • HIST 400 - Grand Strategy Simulation

Total credit hours: 13

 

Grand Strategy Simulation (HIST 400)

Held over the course of two days during the spring semester, the annual grand strategy simulation provides students with a high-impact, applied learning experience, which pushes them to move from theory to practice and implement the strategic-thinking skills that they have gained in their classes by playing out a crisis scenario.

This one-credit hour class helps foster a sense of community among students enrolled in the certificate and prepares them for their future roles as leaders and change agents.

Grand strategy reading list

 

How to Enroll

To enroll in the Grand Strategy Certificate, please contact the office at hoffice@ksu.edu, or Melissa Janulis at janulis@ksu.edu. Simply include your WID in the email and request to be enrolled in the certificate.

 

See the certificate in the course catalog