Bachelor of Arts, Major in Urban Community Studies

at Northeastern Illinois University USA

Northeastern Illinois University’s Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Justice Studies program gives students the opportunity to examine the social and historical roots of justice, crime, and the law. Students seek to discover how these roots have shaped public policies, including those of the criminal justice system, and study systematic explanations for the failure—or triumph—of justice in society and explore the potential for transformative justice.

Through critical inquiry, social science investigation, and experiential learning, Justice Studies students develop an understanding of social and economic justice issues and critical criminology. For instance, criminology examines the structural roots of crime and takes up the legal and social concerns of diverse, urban, low-income, and disenfranchised communities, whose members are often heavily targeted by the criminal justice system.

The graduate program offers work leading to a Master of Arts degree in Linguistics. Our dynamic curriculum combines core studies in the structure of language [phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics] with current approaches in sociolinguistics, language acquisition, psycholinguistics, language contact and bilingualism, World Englishes, native and endangered languages, discourse analysis, and identity studies.

Our carefully designed curriculum provides students with a solid foundation in the study and understanding of human language as a convergence of genetic, psychological and social systems and networks. We train students to critically examine and analyze the world within and around them—skills that can be applied to teaching, curriculum development, corporate cultures, legal contexts, intercultural communication, forensics, artificial intelligence, publishing, counseling, speech pathology, and child development. Knowledge of how and why we use language brings us closer to understanding who we are and how we can affect our worlds.

This Master’s program prepares professionals who will be responsible for the training, education, and development of employee adults in organizations involved in business, health care, human services, and government. The program has been developed especially for those wishing to move into HRD field in a management or planning capacity, as well as for current practitioners desiring more formal training.

The program is designed to develop the ability to:

• Assess the nature of performance problems;
• Apply needs and task/content analysis techniques;
• Assess the relevant characteristics of learners/trainees;
• Design training, education, and instructional programs for adult learners/trainees;
• Determine the effectiveness of training/education/instructional programs;
• Communicate and interact effectively with groups and individuals;
• Consult with managers to address employee and organizational development needs;
• Manage human resource development projects and programs;
• Work effectively across an organization in order to plan, develop and implement performance improvement.

The major in Special Education is designed to meet state teacher licensure requirements by training students to be knowledgeable and skilled regarding the education of all school aged children and adolescents with disabilities. Majors are selected during October to begin studies during the following Spring semester. Majors progress through the program as a cohort. Most coursework is offered during daytime hours.

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. 

The Department of Counselor Education offers a 60 credit-hour program leading to the Master of Arts in School Counseling for licensed teachers. Additional coursework is required for students without a teacher license.  The School 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.

Counselor Education also offers a Non-Degree School Counselor Endorsement leading to licensure as a school counselor for individuals with an advanced degree in counseling or related fields.

The B.A. in Art with a concentration in Art History introduces students to numerous periods of art, cultural and historical events, visual means of expression and communication, and research methods. Students begin the program with survey courses that cover the history of Western art from ancient to modern eras, plus selected areas of non-Western art and continue on to seven specialized courses at the upper-division level, which include areas such as:

• early European art
• Latin American art
• Pre-Columbian art and architecture
• African, Native American and Oceanic art (through the lens of art and ritual)
• Contemporary art (national and international movements across media in the visual arts)

Upper-level art history courses include theory, analysis, and criticism and students have access to NEIU’s extensive database of more than 300,000+ art history images. Students have the opportunity to take part in international art history study trips to Italy and Peru and are able to work with the Northeastern Art + Design Association (NADA), our student art and design organization, on a variety of student organized art exhibitions and events. Each semester one art history major is appointed to tutor students in 100-level art history courses through the NEIU Learning Support Center.

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 Human Resource Development (HRD) program offers courses of study leading to an undergraduate degree in Human Resource Development, which prepares professionals who will be responsible for the training, education, and development of adults in settings such as business, industry, health care, social service, and government. Students in the program will be provided opportunities to develop the knowledge and competencies necessary to meet the increasing needs that organizations have for HRD professionals. Competencies that have been identified by professional organizations have been carefully considered in the development of specific objectives for the course work in the program.

Upon completion of the major, students will demonstrate:

• Knowledge of different organizational settings in which training and learning occur;
• Knowledge of the training, educational and development needs of organizations;
• Skills in task analysis, program planning, and program design that are in keeping with organizational needs;
• Ability to apply principles of learning and motivation as a basis for decisions regarding instructional programs for adults;
• Sensitivity to the psychological and cultural needs of diverse populations needed for adaptation of training/educational planning; and
• Competency in the use of methods and technology appropriate for the instructional/learning needs of organizations.

The Communication, Media and Theatre (CMT) Department, as suggested by its name, includes three distinct, creative and demanding disciplines that are linked with their foundation in the study of communication in a variety of contexts. Students majoring in these areas will learn to become more proficient in the theory and practice of communication, media and theatre arts, while developing an appreciation of differing values and perceptions of the world in which they live.