Bachelor of Arts in English (Creative Writing)

at Kaplan Group - Arizona State University - Tempe Campus USA

The BA program in Asia studies offers students the opportunity for in-depth study of East Asia, South Asia or Southeast Asia through a coherent concentration of academic study across a number of disciplines. The transdisciplinary approach provides students with a variety of intellectual tools that enable them to address contemporary political, social and cultural issues in Asia and apply their knowledge in various academic and practical settings.

The BA program in English with a concentration in writing, rhetorics and literacies teaches students strategies for inquiry.

Students explore the ways in which communication creates knowledge and action. Students study how communication is constructed, circulated, reacted to and repurposed through time and place. Through differing tools of inquiry, students investigate the history, theories and methods of inquiry as well as pragmatic and social actions of rhetoric, writing and literacies.

The BS program in business data analytics prepares business students with the requisite knowledge, skills and experience to create and manage big data initiatives as well as associated business processes to facilitate large-scale business data analytics in organizations.

Students learn organizational and technical competencies to implement data gathering, cleansing, integration and modeling tasks as well as data asset analysis for business applications. The program covers data warehousing, dimensional modeling, big data analytics methods and visualization tools and techniques, and it introduces topics such as data mining and predictive analytics.

The BA in art history is a dynamic program that investigates visual culture and engages students in a rich and diverse curriculum. Inherently interdisciplinary, art history intersects with a variety of fields including history, literature and economics.

Faculty members emphasize critical concepts in their teaching, including the close study of artists, objects and technologies. Students explore art's history in economic, social and political contexts and the relationship of visual art to other disciplines such as literature, science, anthropology, media and performance studies. In addition to art history courses, the program includes interdisciplinary coursework from disciplines across the university.

Internships are available at a wide range of arts organizations. The program is enriched by partnerships with the ASU Art Museum and museums throughout the Phoenix metropolitan area and beyond, including an affiliation with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

The BA in religious studies with a concentration in religion, culture and public life approaches religion as a mode of human culture, as constituted in intellect, language, emotion, practice, art and everyday life.

The program focuses on the role religions play in the formation of cultural identities, traditions, norms and memories, and it examines in particular the impact religions have on culturally specified ways people reason, communicate, socialize, work, entertain, dress, eat, live and die. Special consideration is given to the influence of religion on gender roles and sexual norms; the formation of images of the body and the moral assessment of medical practices; and the reflection and reproduction of religion in film, popular culture, and conventional, digital and social media.

The concentration addresses present-day interests and prepares students for jobs in a variety of professions, including education, journalism, media studies, gender studies, health care, politics, law, education, migration and international studies.

The computer engineering program provides the knowledge and skills necessary to advance and develop new paradigms for the design, system integration, testing, evaluation and deployment of state-of-the-art hardware and software systems that include computing, communications and networking (wired and wireless), control functions, sensing, signal processing and actuation. It is a multidisciplinary program that builds on the fundamentals of computer science, electrical engineering and applied mathematics, with a balance between hardware and software courses. Students must choose a concentration: computer systems engineering or electrical engineering.

Computer engineering is a trans-disciplinary program that builds on the fundamentals of computer science, electrical engineering, applied mathematics, and physical sciences. Graduates of this program will have the knowledge and skills necessary to advance the design, system integration, testing, evaluation and deployment of the state-of-the-art hardware and software for systems that include computing, communications and networking (wired and wireless), control functions, sensing, signal processing and actuation.

Computer Systems Concentration
The MS in computer engineering is a transdisciplinary program that builds on the fundamentals of computer science, electrical engineering, applied mathematics and physical sciences. Graduates of this program will have the knowledge and skills necessary to advance the design, system integration, testing, evaluation and deployment of state-of-the-art hardware and software for systems that include computing, communications and networking (wired and wireless), control functions, sensing, signal processing and actuation.

The program is intended for students who want to gain knowledge deeper than that provided at the bachelor’s degree level and sufficient for designing and implementing state-of the-art systems in industrial research and development positions. The program is also appropriate for students contemplating future doctoral study and desiring to gain experience in research. Master’s degree program graduates may work under the direction of scientists and engineers who hold doctorates in high-tech lab settings assisting in developing innovative products and systems that require strong foundational knowledge in the underlying sciences and the ability to synthesize and analyze engineering principles as they relate to the development of new computer engineering technology.

The School of Music, Dance and Theatre provides an inclusive, dynamic and culturally diverse learning environment in which students develop as creative artists, scholars and educators. The BFA program in dance offers an engaging curriculum that emphasizes collaboration and a holistic approach to movement and education. The program encourages artists of the 21st century to develop multiple skills for success in the arts and its related fields.

The core values of the program include creativity, inquiry and humanity. To bridge knowledge and community and to gain understanding of dance as inquiry, these values are embedded in a broad range of academic experiences and exploratory processes. The dance program includes coursework in creative practices (the study of the creative process and dance-making using improvisation, choreography and interdisciplinary approaches); dance and digital arts; dance history, ethnography and philosophy; movement practices (the study of the theory, history and technique of a range of dance forms and mind-body practices, including Afro-Latin movement, contemporary ballet, Hip Hop practices, postmodern contemporary dance and somatic practices); and seminars.

The MM in performance with a concentration in conducting presents conductors of orchestras or wind bands with the opportunity to improve their art, craft and scholarship in pursuit of both professional and academic career aspirations. This program is also beneficial for public school teachers of orchestras and wind bands who want to strengthen their skills.

There are three tracks within this concentration.

The wind band track allows conductors to study privately with the director of bands and work closely with other members of the conducting faculty, including the director of athletic bands, to develop their conducting and rehearsal skills.

Podium time is essential for the development of conducting skills; therefore, wind band conductors enjoy significant time leading the ASU Wind Ensemble and Wind Symphony, serving as assistant conductor of the Maroon Band, and co-directing the Gold Band. Another exciting opportunity is the ASU Chamber Winds, a stand-alone graduate-level chamber wind group that the wind band conducting students have the opportunity to work with twice a week.

The orchestral track is designed to meet the needs of the conductor who focuses on orchestral conducting. Required courses are specific to orchestral conducting, and elective courses provide additional opportunities for further orchestral study.

The music direction track is designed to meet the needs of the musical director focusing on musical theatre and opera conducting. Required courses focus on music theatre and opera rehearsal techniques, technical production and repertoire.

Students in the MA program in art with a concentration in art education investigate issues in art teaching and learning from multiple perspectives, including art inquiry, curriculum theory, spatial design, studio practice, visual culture, social intervention, human development and cultural context.

The culminating experience may be conducted in a range of contexts where art learning takes place, such as in K-12 art classrooms, art centers and museums, public settings, university studios or in a teacher's own classroom.

The BFA program in art with a concentration in painting and drawing offers a dynamic environment for creative, intellectual and technical growth that leads students to a quality studio art practice and a professional career in painting and drawing. The program's curriculum encourages a wide spectrum of innovative approaches to contemporary painting and drawing.

Working from a variety of sources and subjects, students develop technical proficiency through experimentation with a wide range of materials and processes. In addition, students develop the ability to critically assess imagery through written and verbal analysis. Through concentration courses, and especially preparation for their senior exhibition, graduates leave the program with a body of work created with an individualized approach to form and content.

Students declare their Bachelor of Fine Arts concentration at the time of ASU admission. Following admission, if students wish to change their concentration, they may meet with their School of Art academic advisor.