Bachelor of Arts, Major in Special Education

at Northeastern Illinois University USA

Environmental science integrates a wide range of scientific disciplines necessary to understand the environment and the many interactions among its components.  These interactions include the impact of human activities on the environment and the impact of the environment on humans.

The Environmental Science program promotes the development of problem-solving skills, a broad and solid scientific knowledge base, and it teaches effective team collaboration, because the understanding of and solutions to environmental issues often involve expertise in many scientific areas such as geology, hydrology, biology, chemistry, physics, as well as environmental policy. Team skills, including leadership abilities, are vital to the environmental scientist and are an integral part of the new Environmental Science major. The program will produce graduates who are committed to civic engagement and are qualified for employment with industry, governmental regulatory agencies, environmental consulting firms, and graduate study in Environmental Science or related fields.

Major in Management: With a curriculum encompassing leadership and managerial skills, organization theories, international business, and strategic management, this major will equip students with the necessary knowledge and skills to successfully lead and manage people and organizations. The large set of permissible electives caters to student's own career interests to build strengths and allows for the development of a broad range of business competencies.

Major in Management with Human Resources concentration: Designed for students who aspire for knowledge of a broad range of human resources principles and practices, this major has a focused elective curriculum on knowledge and tools in human resource management aligned with the current needs of organizations. Upon the successful completion of the concentration, students will be better prepared for the role of HR generalist or specialist in a variety of organizations.

The Management major is designed for those who wish to learn how to plan and organize the collection of activities, organizational infrastructure, capital and human resources involved in business processes, as well as how to staff, lead and control these processes to achieve an organizational goal. Students can choose one of two concentrations:

• Management
• Human Resources

The College of Business and Management has a set of well-established Program Learning Goals and Learning Objectives across all programs that are assessed on a periodic basis. The College of Business and Management is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and is among the top five percent of the worldwide business schools offering degree programs. See the Dean’s Welcome for four compelling features to study in the College of Business and Management.

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.

The Music Department at NEIU offers a Master of Arts in Music degree in Applied Pedagogy. Pedagogy is defined as the art of teaching. This degree prepares students who already have a Bachelor's degree in music for successful 1) college level teaching, 2) in-service elementary and secondary public or private school teaching, 3) or for continuing into doctoral degree work.

The Music Department at Northeastern offers a Master of Arts in Applied Music Pedagogy. Pedagogy is defined as the art of teaching. This degree prepares students who already have a bachelor's degree in music for successful:

• College-level teaching;
• In-service elementary and secondary public or private school teaching; or
• Continuation into doctoral degree work.

Northeastern is one of the only universities in the region to offer a degree in pedagogy.

This graduate program is designed to provide advanced study of communication research and the principles and practices of communication, media and theatre, for teachers of communication at the secondary level, elementary school teachers, candidates for teaching positions in higher education, students interested in positions in business and industry, and as a preparation for further graduate study. All newly admitted students begin coursework in the fall semester.

The General Business Administration program trains business generalists. While General Business majors learn about different functional areas of business, including Management, Marketing, Accounting and Finance, they do not specialize in any particular area. This program is most suitable for those students who may not have strong interest in any particular area of business, and who may wish to start or work in a small or medium-sized enterprise where employees and managers will be required to exhibit a broad range of business competencies. Students can qualify for a variety of jobs in many sectors of business because of their broad based preparation in general business. This preparation is especially suitable for those who want to become entrepreneurs and interested in starting or managing small to medium-sized businesses. The General Business Administration major has two options.

The Master of Arts in Geography and Environmental Studies is a program offered in the evenings and on weekends. The program is designed for students with various academic backgrounds who are interested in a career that spans the human and natural environments -- the social and physical sciences -- and who desire the spatial analytical skills of geography. Graduate students develop an area of proficiency within the broad scope of environmental policy, planning, and management or within the geographic realm of spatial analysis. The program is both theoretical and practical; students gain knowledge, conceptual skills, and technical skills. The program provides a solid basis for a career, a career shift, career enhancement or preparation for post-graduate studies.

Students are expected to:

• Acquire knowledge about human-environmental relations in which the environment is considered as both space and milieu;
• Acquire knowledge of rapidly changing landscapes, synthesizing diverse but interrelated information;
• Acquire knowledge related to locational studies concerning geometrics of movement, size, shape, and distance;
• Acquire knowledge related to environmental resources including interpretation, planning, development, use, and conservation;
• Acquire knowledge related to socio-economic development;
• Use computer cartography and geographic information systems to analyze, monitor, evaluate, and project spatial data;
• Refine skills related to map interpretation, composition, types, and preparation, and in interpretation of aerial photographs, field observation, and satellite imagery;
• Refine skills in collection and analysis of statistical data;
• Develop skills related to computerized data processing;
• Refine computational and oral as well as written communication and research skills.

The Marketing major is designed for those who wish to develop a thorough understanding of how to find what customers or potential customers think, how to get products across and appealing to potential customers, and how to close a deal when products and customers meet.

The College of Business and Management has a set of well-established Program Learning Goals and Learning Objectives across all programs that are assessed on a periodic basis. The College of Business and Management is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and is among the top five percent of the worldwide business schools offering degree programs. See the Dean’s Welcome for four compelling features to study in the College of Business and Management.

The curriculum for the Marketing major is designed to provide students with a foundation of marketing theory and practice in all types of business and organization. Modern developments in technology (e.g., social media, digital media, and internet) are emphasized in the Marketing curriculum.

Successful completion of the Marketing major will enable you to approach a marketing situation from a problem-solving perspective: abstract key issues to be addressed in the situation, identify relevant marketing knowledge and options suitable for the situation, critically analyze these options and make a clear written and oral recommendation.

The master's degree program in gerontology is a multidisciplinary degree intended to provide both breadth and depth in the study of aging. The required portion of the 36 credit program consists of three parts: The classroom component consists of seven required courses (21 credits), the experiential component consists of an internship (3 credits) and the capstone component involves a thesis (3 credits). In addition to the internship, a practicum is required for those students who do not have prior experience in the field. The thesis may be in basic or applied research or may be a theoretical integration of a topic area.

The combination of required and elective courses prepares graduates to assume positions of responsibility in direct service, administration, social policy, and research with, or on behalf of, older people.

By design the program is part-time, with courses offered in the evening and Saturdays. A student may complete all but the thesis in three academic years by enrolling in one course in the first semester and two courses each semester thereafter. The thesis is the final course and is usually taken after all classroom work is completed.

Northeastern Illinois University offers the Master of Arts in Educational Leadership degree.

• Higher Education Leadership.

The Higher Education Leadership concentration provides knowledge and skills related to the history and development of colleges, universities, and community colleges, and to effective administrative practices at that level. It stresses an understanding of administrative and supervisory skills for the development and support of instructional systems at the collegiate level. Students in this concentration have the option of completing a thesis. Courses are taught in the evenings and Saturdays at the main campus, at El Centro, at Carruthers Center, at Lake County, and at a variety of locations in the Chicago metropolitan area through Distance Education and web-enhanced courses.