The Munk One program connects big ideas with global challenges
A Munk One student is someone who wants to have impact, someone who wants to make a difference in the global community. The program offers students a unique opportunity to participate in collaborative and engaged scholarship. Munk One students learn by doing, taking an approach that is both creative and systematic as we consider some of the most pressing and complicated issues facing the world.
A message from the Munk One Director
Munk One is designed to help you engage thoughtfully with these issues early on—by asking big questions, developing strong analytical and communication skills, and learning how ideas can be translated into real-world solutions.
About the program
Students are exposed to a balanced mix of skills-focused and content-focused courses designed to build both analytical foundations and real-world problem-solving capacity.
The program includes two foundational courses that develop the theoretical and analytical skills needed to understand contemporary global challenges.
MUN 100: Global Innovation examines innovation as a central driver of economic growth, population health, and societal transformation. Drawing on major global transformations and country case studies — including South Korea, Taiwan, Israel, and India — students explore what innovation is, when and why it occurs, who benefits, and how political, social, economic, and technological factors shape its development, diffusion, and impact on global challenges.
MUN 140: Design for Social Change and Inclusion serves as the Munk One capstone course. In this hands-on, experiential learning class, students work in teams to tackle real-world problems in partnership with organizations addressing global challenges. The course emphasizes applied research, design thinking, collaboration, and iterative problem-solving.
The second pair of courses focuses on the disruptive effects of climate change and shifting global power dynamics.
MUN 130: Climate, Energy, and Power examines how energy is at the crux of a range of pressing global issues, including climate change and the existential threat it poses across the world. This class uses energy—sometimes as a focal point, sometimes as an entry point—to examine a range of issues including inequality, emergent technologies, and policymaking in a global context. Restricted to first-year students admitted to Munk One. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.
MUN 110: Changing World Orders examines how global power structures, institutions, and rules are evolving in an increasingly uncertain international environment. Students engage debates about how world orders emerge and decline while strengthening their ability to analyze concepts and articulate arguments.
Courses in the Munk One Program provide a strong, transferable foundation across a wide range of disciplines. Whether students pursue Munk undergraduate programs, sciences, business, health, or the humanities, they carry with them the distinctive Munk imprint: interdisciplinary curiosity, critical thinking, and strong communication skills.