Bachelor of Arts, Major in Psychology

at Northeastern Illinois University USA

The Bachelor of Arts in Music is designed for students who wish to study music in the context of a comprehensive liberal arts experience, immersing themselves in both the practice and theory. The program's flexibility allows for students to pursue specific music topics to augment their interests, as well as broaden their post-graduate career paths.

Students admitted to this program will be enrolled as Music Majors. Participation in musical ensembles is a requirement of all music students, as well as attendance at live performances each semester. All students seeking admission to the program must perform a live audition.

The M.A. in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) prepares one to teach English in the U.S. or overseas. Within the United States, our graduates teach ESL in public and private schools, as well as in the city in community colleges and adult education programs. English language learners are the fastest growing group of students in the United States today.

NEIU offers a Master of Arts degree for those individuals seeking an advanced degree in Community and Teacher Leaders. The program is designed to develop knowledge, dispositions, and skills to foster reflective, collaborative and transformative leaders in both community and school settings. Specifically, students will learn to harness the collective knowledge of community members and educators to have a positive impact on community and school success in both traditional and non-traditional settings; promote collaborative governance and leadership in communities and schools with a consistent focus on improved outcomes; model excellence in community leadership and teaching with a strong foundation in transforming the climate; and provide coaching, mentoring, and support to educators and community members to promote and influence change.  Instructional strategies include research, inquiry, analysis, and evaluation as well digital literacy and technology skills.  

Students may select one of two concentrations: community leadership or school-based teacher leadership. While both the Community and Teacher Leaders concentration lead to a Master of Arts degree, the Teacher Leader concentration also leads to a Teacher Leader Endorsement as recognized by the Illinois State Board of Education. Teachers who already have a Master's degree and an Illinois teaching license may take a subset of these courses to earn only the Teacher Leader endorsement. This school-based teacher leader concentration provides knowledge and skills related to leadership and mentoring, professional development, promoting school culture that focuses on student learning, using data to improve educational outcomes, and building collaborative relationships with stakeholders. The community-based leader concentration provides knowledge and skills that foster leadership in ethical and culturally sensitive public engagement, acknowledgement and consideration of the complexities of local and global communities, and leverages community assets to promote social justice.

The Department of Counselor Education offers a 60-credit hour program (20 courses) leading to the Master of Arts in Counseling: Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC).  This degree fulfills the educational requirements for the two levels of licensure as professional counselors in the State of Illinois: Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC).

The Clinical Mental Health Counseling program is accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). Find out more information at Counselor Education accreditation, licensures, and credentialing.

What difference does it make if we join a gang, have a baby, or go to college? What difference does it make to have money? What do changes in the family mean for future generations? What do social policies, such as AlDS legislation, or social campaigns, such as anti-choice or anti-drug activities, mean to society? How do military and governmental activities or changes in technology affect people’s everyday lives? What is the social significance of cultural diversity, race, social class, and gender? What can we do in our everyday lives to effect positive changes in our families, communities and society?

Sociologists try to answer questions like these in order to understand what society is and how it affects individuals. One of the main insights of sociology is the understanding that groups and group life influence every aspect of our lives. Sociology is the systematic study of human societies, their patterns and arrangements, and their processes of development and change. Our faculty have a strong commitment to critical analyses of social structure and social arrangements, emphasizing analyses of race, class, gender inequality and social change.

The Sociology major sharpens students’ sociological imaginations through close study of social structures and processes in which our personal biographies are embedded. As a Sociology major, you will have the opportunity to analyze society with an intersectional lens that challenges the status quo.

Global Studies is an interdisciplinary undergraduate program that offers a major leading to the B.A. in Global Studies. The program provides students with the opportunity to investigate and analyze the globalized world and the transnational interconnections that are its hallmark. The innovative curriculum includes required core courses housed in Global Studies as well as cross-listed courses drawn from across the university. Through critical analysis of the contemporary world, carried out in coursework and through hands-on research and internship opportunities, students in the program accrue knowledge, scholarly abilities, and practical skills that will prepare them as informed global citizens and members of the 21st century workforce. The program will prepare students to pursue graduate education and careers in a wide range of fields, including international business and law, applied social sciences, community resources management, social services, and international development.

The Global Studies Program at Northeastern Illinois University is an interdisciplinary undergraduate program that offers a major leading to the Global Studies B.A. as well as a minor.
 
In Global Studies classes, students investigate and analyze life in a globalized world from cultural, economic, political, and other perspectives. 

The program is organized around five thematic tracks:

• Culture, Society and Identity
• Language, Knowledge and Representation
• Nature, Technology and the Body
• Power, Movements and Political Economy
• Violence, Resistance and Resolution

These tracks transcend traditional disciplinary, topical, and theoretical borders, providing opportunities for creative thinking, critical debate, and novel scholarship.  
 
Through critical analysis of the contemporary world, carried out in coursework and through hands-on research and internship opportunities, students in the program accrue knowledge, scholarly abilities, and practical skills that will prepare them as informed global citizens and members of the 21st century workforce. 

Northeastern Illinois University’s master’s in Social Work (MSW) degree prepares advanced social work practitioners to serve vulnerable populations and contribute to the functioning and well-being of underserved communities. A master’s degree in social work is a vital step toward licensure and allows social workers to hold clinical, supervisory, or program director roles in the field.

Classes are offered during the late afternoon and evening hours to accommodate working professionals. The program may be completed full or part-time, requiring two or four years of study to complete, respectively.

The Urban Community Studies graduate program places intense emphasis on preparing students for scholar/activist work that addresses the interests and issues of urban residents, particularly communities of color. The graduate program is centered on the in-depth examination of social, cultural economic and institutional structures that impact urban communities. Using ethnographic data collection and other action-based research methodologies as a core focus, courses in Urban Community Studies aim to forge culturally relevant understandings of human relationships in urban communities in the Chicago metropolitan area and worldwide. The graduate program seeks to prepare students to acquire employment in administrative, executive and teaching positions in urban educational, human and social service agencies.

Specific Goals of the Master of Arts Degree in URBAN COMMUNITY STUDIES

• Students will identify, deconstruct and decode the existing socio-economic forces that influence urban structures.
• Students will acquire a rigorous grounding in theory and research required to analyze and understand urban dilemmas
• Students will identify and analyze culturally relevant models of behavior to navigate dilemmas faced in urban communities
• Students will examine social movements and the role of scholar-activists in the solutions to address contemporary problems and issues in urban communities

The Master of Public Health (MPH) is a 42-credit hour program that offers a broad, interdisciplinary training in public health. The MPH program prepares students to lead, conduct research in, serve, and work in a variety of public health settings. Settings may include public and private health care organizations, health research facilities, social service and environmental health agencies, and government institutions dedicated to public health policy, programming, and services. Additionally, students will be prepared to pursue terminal degrees in the behavioral health, epidemiological, or environmental health sciences, as well as health-related law and policy, health care administration, and health communication.

Northeastern’s generalist Master of Public Health is unique in the greater metropolitan Chicago area. The program is taught by a team of faculty across disciplines. Similarly, students will have the opportunity to select six credit hours of electives from a wide variety of disciplines; therefore they are not limited to a concentration area, but rather a wide variety of topic areas related to public health.
Student Learning Outcomes

Students are expected to demonstrate foundational public health knowledge in:

• The profession and science of public health
• Factors related to human health

Students are expected to demonstrate foundational public health competencies in:

• Evidence-based approaches to public health
• Public health and health care systems
• Planning and management to promote health
• Policy in public health
• Leadership
• Communication
• Interprofessional practice
• Systems thinking

The Elementary Education Program provides students with knowledge of philosophical and psychological elements of  teaching and learning, general and specific methods of instruction, and clinical intern experiences of at least 200 hours in local schools prior to the full-day student teaching experience.  Students who complete this program qualify for elementary education licensure. Upon licensure, they are eligible to teach elementary school (grades 1-6).
Program Outcomes:

Students completing the Elementary Education major will:

• Develop highly reflective, creative, and critical teaching skills and demonstrate the knowledge to connect theory to practice.
• Show evidence of a wide repertoire of teaching strategies across the curriculum, and an understanding of inquiry and project-based teaching.
• Demonstrate deep content knowledge across the curriculum.
• Demonstrate knowledge of skills and practices in literacy instruction for diverse learners across the curriculum.
• Develop the skills and habits of mind to critique knowledge, curriculum, and standards, and analyze the political and moral dimensions of schooling and teaching.
• Develop the skills and knowledge to implement culturally relevant pedagogy that considers all forms of diversity; and show evidence of the ability to integrate this content into their classroom curriculum.
• Demonstrate their ability to use and integrate technology and media in their teaching and across the curriculum.
• Demonstrate their ability to use a variety of assessment approaches for instructional decision-making.
• Have an understanding of educational research and demonstrate the skills to locate and critique scholarly and relevant studies.
• Demonstrate excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Demonstrate the ability to create a classroom community that is safe, creative, caring, inclusive, and motivating for learning.
• Understand the principles of social justice, the role of schooling in a democracy, and the ability to teach for active citizenship and critical literacy.
• Demonstrate the ability to integrate critical thinking and problem solving in their teaching.
• Show evidence of professionalism, responsibility, integrity, and the ability to work collaboratively for the success of all students.
• Assume responsibility for their own on-going professional development, and understand the role of teachers as school and social change agents