Arianna Rhu: Finding Relevance in Courses You Wouldn't Expect

Hi! My name is Arianna Rhue and I am a sophomore from Columbia, South Carolina. I am majoring in Economics with a Visual and Media Studies minor and, naturally, a Markets and Management Studies Certificate.

Choosing which MMS courses to take can be quite daunting. There are a multitude of classes that span a variety of majors and topics; and while the DukeHub course descriptions may be helpful, they are not all encompassing and do not take into account the true student experience. As a sophomore I cannot give a holistic review of the MMS program and its various courses. However, I can speak on my experience in the courses I have taken, which may be able to help make other students’ course selections simpler in the future.            

During the fall 2018 semester, I took an MMS core course called Nations, Regions, and the Global Economy. This course is a 300-level sociology course that was taught by Professor Mary Hovespian. Professor Hovespian is an understanding professor who is willing to help students and is very knowledgeable on the content. The structure of the course itself is not too challenging. There are only 2 exams that are pretty straight forward and heavily based on the slides she presents in class and the slides are based on the readings. There is also a partner research project that is about ten pages long but if you have a good partner (like I did) and are passionate about the information, it can be a rewarding experience.

I would really recommend this class for anyone who is interested in history, economics of developing countries, imperialism / colonization, economic policy – whether it be international, foreign, or domestic economic policy – because this is really a culmination of all those topics. During my time in this class we took a comprehensive, in-depth look into how colonialism and imperialism affected the global economy and how certain country’s economies have been disadvantageously affected by various colonial systems whose effects can be seen even to this day. In addition, we also analyzed how certain countries compare to one another and how international monetary organizations, like the IMF and the World Bank, have differing effects on different countries. Through the readings we also took a look at a range of viewpoints and perspectives presented by various authors which allowed us to look at globalization in a variety of ways.

Overall, I really enjoyed this course. I will warn that though the content is interesting it can be dry at times due to the nature of readings. Do not let this discourage you, I learned a great deal and furthered my understanding on issues that I had not gotten a chance to learn about before, such as Structural Adjustment Policies, migration of workers, how the international monetary organizations are run and how their various policies can severely affect domestic economies, and more! While I am not really interested in policy or economic policy, as an Econ major and someone who enjoys history, I found this class to be insightful and highly relevant because it allows you to better understand the complexities of the world economy today.

I hope this post gave more clarity on this MMS course and gives you more of an idea of what kind of classes are included in this program. Good luck on all your Markets and Managements endeavors!