Bachelor of Arts in Ethnic Studies with Concentration in Black Studies

at California State University - East Bay USA

The Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences offers graduate study leading to the Master of Science degree in Environmental Geosciences, focusing on near surface and environmental geology, seismic hazards and Bay Area tectonics, and water and soil characterization and remediation.

This program is designed to prepare students for:

• Employment as geologists and environmental scientists in government (city, county, regional, state, and federal) and private consulting firms (environmental, engineering, and geotechnical firms, mining and oil companies, etc.);
• Professional licensing requirements;
• Doctoral study in environmental science, geology, geochemistry, and geophysics; and
• Teaching at the Community College level

The department also provides continuing education for professional geologists, engineers, planners, etc.

Our M.S. program is unique in the bay area in that many courses are offered in the evenings, and augmented by field experiences. Graduate seminars address diverse subjects; for example, geochemical evolution of groundwater, natural tracers of geologic processes, tectonic geomorphology, earthquake hazards, bay area tectonics, near-surface geophysics, and modern depositional environments. We maintain strong connections with East Bay Regional Parks, the California Environmental Protection Agency, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, NASA Ames, the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

Candidates for the M.S. degree will engage in significant, guided, individual research. Recent M.S. thesis and project research topics include near surface geophysics, groundwater dating, groundwater nitrate source identification, local catchment characterization, surface water-groundwater interaction, geologic mapping, slope stability, geochemistry, Bay Area structural geology, engineering geology, and neotectonics. Prospective candidates should determine whether their research interests coincide with those of the faculty members before applying to the program. We invite interested persons to contact the department faculty directly for more details on the program. The Graduate Coordinator provides guidance that enables students to complete the requirements for advancement in the graduate program.

The Liberal Studies Major aims to provide a rich liberal art educational experience through selected courses from a wide range of academic disciplines, while at the same time allowing students to select a field for in-depth study of their own interest.  The broad-based, interdisciplinary nature of Liberal Studies provides a solid well-rounded undergraduate educational experience, integrating knowledge from arts and humanities, social science, and natural sciences, with analytical and communication skills well suited for many careers and professions.

The major consists of a common core and a choice from seven concentrations, designed to meet diverse student interests and needs not only for school teaching, but also for leadership in government, non-profit organizations, and business, and for graduate education in law, counseling, social work and services, public affairs and administration, and educational leadership.

Psychology is the science of behavior and mental processes. Many psychologists work primarily with people to understand how they think, respond to stress, learn and forget, develop into unique personalities, and interact with one another. Others study the behavior and nervous systems of animals in order to find general principles that apply across species. Psychologists apply their knowledge to do therapy and counseling, to improve practices in schools, prisons, and rehabilitation centers, and to enhance performance in industrial and business settings.

The B.S. programs are designed for more specialized purposes. Students in the B.S. program must select one of the two concentrations in that program: Industrial/Organizational Psychology or Ergonomics and Human Factors. The concentration in Industrial/Organizational Psychology provides preparation for careers related to business, with an emphasis on personnel management. The concentration in Ergonomics and Human Factors provides preparation for careers in the design of work environments to take account of human limitations and strengths, for example, the design of equipment (computers, aircraft, automobiles) or the design of industrial procedures.

Students who pursue a degree in History come to understand the major issues facing the contemporary world through a historical lens, and understand how actions and actors of the past have created the political, social, and environmental circumstances faced by civilization today. Their studies afford them entree to the riches of the recorded past and understanding of the process of historical change. At the same time, a History major enables them to develop critical reading and writing skills that are valuable in life and crucial in any employment field they choose to enter.

Health Sciences is an interdisciplinary field that focuses on the application of physical, biological, and social sciences to understand and to improve health in human beings. It is an applied science that focuses on knowledge necessary to practice in both clinical and population health settings.

Our program helps students to understand health at the individual level, the community level and the population level. In addition to the biomedical model of health, we ask students to think critically and to explore health from a variety of perspectives and to understand the role that culture has in constructing health.

The program also emphasizes problem-based learning. Our goal is to help students develop strong critical thinking skills, team work, and strong problem-solving skills rooted in a population perspective.

Our program emphasizes the environmental factors that impact human health. The effects of climate change have an immediate and long-term effect on human health and the communities of California. Our program focuses on helping students develop the skills to face some of these health challenges.

The BS in Health Sciences without a concentration is designed to prepare students to enter directly into careers in health care or to enter into post-graduate professional programs such as medicine, physician assistant, occupational therapy, nursing, radiation technician, and other clinical fields.

The Master of Science in Counseling degree requires 60 units organized according to university and degree program requirements. Requirements are established to ensure that each degree candidate obtains adequate breadth in subject matter, field experiences, and research.

Marriage and Family Therapy Concentration
The primary focus of the concentration is to train psychotherapists who eventually plan to obtain a California Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) and/or a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC) internship license. Additional units may be taken to meet the requirements for the LPCC and the MFT internship. (See BBS Sections 4980.37, 4980.41 (a)(4)&(5) for MFT and 4999.33 for LPCC.).   These additional LPCC courses lead to completion of the required hours of clinical experience for the license application. The LPCC units may be completed at the same time as the M.S. in Counseling, Marriage and Family Therapy concentration.

The  MFT course work is geared towards a relational approach to counseling that focuses on  multicultural diversity, collaborative treatment, wellness, resiliency, and recovery. Faculty orient students to promote resilience and practice strength-based interventions. Course work combined with clinical practicum training in the field prepares graduates to work from a relational perspective.

The Master of Science in Counseling degree requires 60 units organized according to university and degree program requirements. Requirements are established to ensure that each degree candidate obtains adequate breadth in subject matter, field experiences, and research.

School Counseling Concentration
The School Counseling concentration is designed to prepare candidates to be professional school counselors who use data-driven, comprehensive programs and services to advocate for social justice, equity, inclusion, and diversity in P-20 settings.  Candidates have an option to complete additional fieldwork hours to acquire an Associate Marriage and Family Therapy License (Intern License) to increase their options to work with children and families inside and outside of schools.  The School Counseling Program is committed to training socially just candidates who are competent in developing, implementing, and evaluating comprehensive programs and services that are designed to be educational and preventative with a focus on developmentally appropriate and culturally responsive approaches. 

The Department of Statistics and Biostatistics offers graduate study leading to the degree Master of Science in Statistics. The program is flexible in order to serve the needs of students with varying backgrounds (including statistics, mathematics, computer science, engineering, business, economics and other quantitative fields) and with different career objectives. The program includes concentrations in in Actuarial Science, Applied Statistics, Data Science, and Mathematical Statistics. All students are expected to master a wide variety of applied statistical, computational, and probabilistic techniques and the theoretical foundations upon which these techniques are based. Students are expected to be familiar with recent developments in the field and to be able to use the statistical literature to learn new techniques and theories throughout their professional careers. In addition to the general requirements stated elsewhere in this catalog, students must satisfy the departmental requirements stated in the following paragraphs.

The mission of the B.A. program in Sociology is to provide a stimulating and cooperative learning atmosphere for a highly diverse group of students. The program seeks to foster a lifelong love of learning about the social, cultural, political, and economic institutions humans have created and the directions they are changing. The program’s goal is for students to think deeply about ways social structures and processes influence individuals’ lives and opportunities, and how individuals can contribute to building more inclusive and satisfying communities and organizations. The program’s faculty members are dedicated to providing students with tools that will empower and prepare them to be active citizens in their families, communities, organizations, and workplaces, and to expand their understanding of community engagement to include national and global projects aimed at addressing larger social problems. The wide range of courses and flexible program structure prepare successful students to enter master’s and doctoral programs in several fields including Sociology, Social Work, Anthropology, Law, Political Science, Counseling, Education, and Public Administration.

Students will increase their appreciation of the value of all human beings and a commitment to an inclusive and just society that addresses the needs of all groups of people. In acquiring a deep understanding of the structure of groups, organizations, and societies, and human interaction within these contexts, students develop their capacity for more personally rewarding and socially responsible participation and leadership in their families, their work, their communities, and society as a whole.

Biology is concerned with living matter in all its forms, responses, and interactions. It deals with the study of anything that has been or is alive: microbes, fungi, plants, “protists” and all animals, including humans. The science of biology includes a large number of highly integrated sub-disciplines such as microbiology, genetics, molecular biology, ecology, evolutionary biology, physiology, systematics, and behavior. Biologists must draw upon a wide variety of academic disciplines to make observations and form conclusions, and well-trained biologists have solid backgrounds in chemistry, mathematics, computer science, statistics, physics, and the humanities, as required by graduate programs and professional schools, to meet the demands of professions in the life sciences.