Master of Arts in History

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.

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 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 Bachelor of Science in Earth Science prepares students for graduate study, or a wide range of positions in Environmental Geoscience fields, including industry, consulting, or state/federal agencies. In addition to required and elective ESCI courses, additional courses in cognate fields (math and science) are required for completion of the degree program. All students are urged to plan their program with the help of ESCI faculty advising.

The B.A. in Art with a concentration in Studio Art introduces students to a wide variety of art and design media, provides a strong foundation in art history and allows a student to have an extended area of emphasis in a single medium. This major gives students breadth and experience with an array of studio disciplines and classes place emphasis on both technique and ideas in their work. All studio courses use critiques as vehicles for discussion, analysis and evaluation and are appropriately tailored to the course level. Students in the Studio Art concentration have the opportunity to show their work in multiple student exhibitions each semester, including the annual juried student exhibition in the Fine Arts Center Gallery. The Northeastern Art + Design Association (NADA), our student art and design organization, frequently plans and implements shows on campus and all majors mount a senior capstone exhibition in one of our student galleries. Studio areas in the department include:

• Art + Technology
• Ceramics
• Drawing
• Graphic Design
• Painting
• Photography
• Printmaking
• Sculpture
• Letterpress (part of the B.F.A. in Graphic Design)

The Community Health (HSCI) program prepares students to work in a variety of settings that include: city, county, and state health departments, hospitals, worksite wellness, college campuses, parks and recreation departments, non-profit organizations (American Diabetes Association, American Cancer Society, YMCA, Boys and Girls Club), and more.  Example programs community health majors work with include: nutrition and exercise, alcohol and other drugs, sexual transmitted infections and contraception awareness, social and emotional health, environmental awareness, disease prevention, health disparities, immunization awareness, and many more. Graduates use their knowledge and skills to focus on how best to reach vulnerable community members and to better allocate resources to under-served populations. They may initiate wellness programs, write policies, implement educational and primary prevention activities, or create resources to promote healthy living.

Community Health students complete an internship. The internship is comprised of a semester-long fieldwork experience and a weekly seminar with assignments. Community Health students complete 200 clock hours of work (typically unpaid) in a community health related agency. Community Health students must be admitted to the Goodwin College of Education to start the internship.  Moreover, it is highly recommended that Community Health students gain admission to the Goodwin College of Education early in the program, as some courses require admittance to the Goodwin College of Education.

The Department of Africana Studies offers a vibrant and highly competitive graduate program. The department’s Master of Arts degree is designed to provide students with a rigorous interdisciplinary training in the scholarly investigation of people of African descent. The faculty and the courses of the graduate program are drawn from the department and other academic units throughout the university.

The Master of Arts degree in Africana Studies offers two areas of concentrations: the Community Empowerment track and the Culture and Aesthetics track. The Community Empowerment concentration focuses on the historical and contemporary strategies to empower people of African descent. This track exposes the student to the political, economic, and policy responses to the impediments of African and African-descendant community development. The Culture and Aesthetics concentration focuses on the understandings and the interpretations of the philosophical, literary, and artistic contributions of people of African descent.

Students are prepared to pursue a doctorate in Africana Studies or other related disciplines in the social-sciences or the humanities. The M.A. degree in Africana Studies also enhances a career in government, education, the professional fields, and the non-profit sector.

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 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 B.A. in English at Northeastern offers students a foundation in critical and creative methods along with advanced study in literature, literary history and criticism, cultural studies, critical and cultural theory, rhetoric, creative writing, and composition. Courses develop students’ engagement with texts and their cultural and aesthetic contexts while advancing their abilities in creative and critical thinking, reading, and writing. The rigorous study of critical analysis and the craft of effective writing prepares students to engage in society and to compete in degree programs and fields as diverse as professional and technical writing, public relations, web content management and writing, teaching, research, publishing, marketing, library science, law, medicine, and many others.