Master of Arts in Communication with Emphasis in Strategic Communication

at Northern Arizona University - Flagstaff Campus USA

The Bachelor of Arts in Political Science degrees provide students with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to understand and participate in the political systems of the United States and the world.  This degree provides a broad perspective on experiences, international and domestic, from both theory and practice.

These degrees build a strong foundation in the basic knowledge of the political world, including contemporary political thought and public policies, and enables students to be able to use key concepts and analytical approaches from Political Theory, U.S. Government and Politics, Comparative Politics and International relations.

Building upon this fundamental knowledge, our curriculum ensures that students can define, design, and implement effective research projects in political science.  In addition, they will be able to make clear and effective demonstrations of their work in writing and in public presentations.  Students will also leave this program ready to understand, and be able to meet, the expectations of professionalism and citizenship.  Students in the BA degree will also leave with an ability speak, read, and write in a second language.

Our goal is to train students to be active, engaged, and informed participants in the global system who cannot only understand the world around them but also shape and influence it.

This M.S. in Informatics will prepare you to either enter the informatics workforce or continue on to a doctoral program of study, building core skills that are widely applicable to many areas of science.

Core coursework provides learning opportunities in the foundations of informatics, programming and computer science, structuring large-scale data sets, machine learning, and statistical data analysis. Elective coursework allows students to customize their program of study so that it is maximally aligned with their professional or research interests, with coursework available in many areas of informatics, including epidemiology, bioinformatics, ecological modeling, and remote sensing. Thesis option students will have additional opportunities to engage in informatics research and scholarship under the mentorship of an informatics faculty member as prepare a thesis on their specific research.

This program is designed for students with strong preparation in an area of science, such as biology or ecology, and experience in computer programming and data analysis gained through successful completion of a relevant undergraduate program or other professional experience. The non-thesis option of the program is designed for students seeking professional preparation, while the thesis option is particularly appropriate for students for considering further graduate study in a doctoral program.

As a graduate, you will be prepared to contribute in a wide variety of informatics areas, including population health, bioinformatics, remote sensing, ecological modeling, wearable computing, and machine learning and data science.

The Bachelor of Science in Geographic Science and Community Planning integrates geographic knowledge and GIS mapping technologies with the problem-solving fields of community planning and urban design. This educational framework prepares students for careers in creating more livable and sustainable communities, while contributing to a better world.
 
Coursework for this degree provides a strong foundation in geography and an option to select one of three available emphases. Geospatial Technologies engages students in the analysis of spatial data through geographic information systems and remote sensing. The Community Planning and Development emphasis introduces students to the professional field of land use planning including the development review process, comprehensive plans and ordinances, environmental impact studies and law and ethics. Human-Environmental Systems explores the interrelationships between natural and social systems to solve pressing societal-environmental issues.

Geospatial Technologies Emphasis
With the successful completion of this emphasis, students will be able to:

• Conduct geospatial analysis through applied project research using primary and secondary sources.  
• Apply geospatial data and technology including GIS to collect, analyze, and present spatial information for diverse audiences.
• Demonstrate competence with, and understanding of, the fundamental principles and processes associated within the primary sub-disciplines of physical geography and human-land interactions

The Master of Forestry (MF) is a course-work-based non-thesis degree intended for students pursuing professional careers in the management of forest resources for public, private, and non-profit sectors.  The degree prepares students for positions in governmental or non-governmental agencies such as forest manager, policy analyst, silviculturist, or wildlife manager.  This degree is for you if you desire advanced training in Forestry with a focus on forest management and policy instead of original scholarly research.

The MF is appropriate for students with a Bachelor’s degree in Forestry or closely related disciplines.  The MF is integral to the School of Forestry’s Accelerated Bachelor’s/Master’s Program that facilitates completion of both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in five years.  The degree is also suitable for students with Bachelor’s degrees outside Forestry who seek training to facilitate a career change to Forestry.  In addition, the MF is part of the Western Regional Graduate Program that provides reduced tuition for students who are residents of other participating western U.S. states.

The MF emphasizes core training in forest management, ecosystem, and forest social sciences; professional presentations; emerging issues in forestry; electives that provide advanced training in specific skills; and a capstone professional paper that showcases student skills in research/knowledge synthesis and understanding, professional writing, and professional ethnics.

The Bachelor of Science in Multidisciplinary Engineering provides students learning opportunities in multiple engineering disciplines and complemented by other disciplines across campus. The program supports a customizable curriculum that includes a capstone experience focused on multi- and inter-disciplinary teamwork. Specific combinations of coursework are formulated in several named emphases that provide unique opportunities and inspires students to build their own unique engineering pathways.

The core of the program is a design sequence with loose commonality across most of NAU’s engineering programs.  All students, regardless of emphasis, engage in contextualized engineering design and project management courses. This core is supported by foundational math, computer science, and physics coursework.  The design sequence also becomes the scaffolding for integrating and synthesizing coursework across several disciplines and content areas.

Students who do not select an emphasis area may work with either an advisor or a faculty mentor to select course work in the plan that supports their own personal engineering aspirations and interests. Students who get an MDE degree have many general engineering career opportunities.  This includes areas such as engineering sales, engineering management, engineering communication, or an engineering technician.

Students who select the Audio Engineering emphasis take specialized coursework in electrical engineering, computer science, and media production that prepares them to work as an audio engineer or a broadcast engineer. These students learn the foundation broadcast communication theory and engage in actual media production practice that builds on an engineering foundation.  This curriculum is intended to support certification preparation for the society of broadcast engineers.

The Environmental Science program at NAU constructs an interdisciplinary base of knowledge and skills to explore and develop real-world solutions to environmental problems.

Our program provides a firm grounding in the natural and social sciences to ensure all students understand how chemical, physical and biological processes maintain life, and the complex relationships among humans and the environment. Students work together and individually in the classroom, field and laboratory to practice applying the scientific method to address environmental problems and explore creative solutions that apply cutting-edge technologies.

The broad range of emphases available within our program allows students to delve deeper into a specific knowledge base, then work individually and often together in Environmental Science courses to solve problems by applying the perspectives and knowledge they developed in their emphasis with students from other emphasis areas. To culminate the learning in the program, students develop an individually designed research project or internship addressing an environmental issue of importance to them, which in turn, is expected to further prepare students for a range of professional or graduate opportunities.

Environmental Administration and Policy Emphasis

Explore the basic principles of the organization and management of public organizations, policy-making, theories and practices of human resource management, environmental movements, and political ecology, and through collaborations with those of other disciplines and viewpoints, apply this information to generate sustainable solutions to environmental problems.

The Bachelor of Science in Geography, Environment, and Society (GSP) integrates geographic knowledge and GIS mapping technologies with the problem-solving fields of community planning and urban design. This educational framework prepares students for careers in creating more livable and sustainable communities, while contributing to a better world.
 
Coursework for this degree provides a strong foundation in geography and an option to select one of three available emphases. Geospatial Technologies engages students in the analysis of spatial data through geographic information systems and remote sensing.

The mission of the Master of Arts in Sustainable Communities is to provide interdisciplinary face-to-face graduate education on the complex issues of sustainability and social justice, encouraging students to pursue important social and environmental issues concurrently. The program seeks to educate students as critical thinkers for community leadership and to enable its graduates to contribute to the well-being of communities. At the same time, the program aims to push students intellectually, looking to produce thoughtful and critical graduates who can think theoretically. The curriculum is student-centered; students bring their intellectual, ethical, and practical concerns to bear on their particular academic inquiry. These skills are sharpened in collective collaborations between students and different communities through praxis.

Computing has become integral to the infrastructure of modern society.  From banking and health to education and business, our world runs on algorithms and computing machines.  Software and hardware are ubiquitous in every aspect of modern life.  This infrastructure is powerful, complex—and highly vulnerable. Small design flaws or less than vigilant safety guards can lead to attacks and exploits that can cost businesses hundreds of billions of dollars and valuable consumer trust, and loss of infrastructure critical to modern civilization.  At the same time there is a shortage of workers with the skills needed to secure these systems.

Chemistry is a diverse discipline that encompasses living processes, inorganic interactions, and analytical methods. Chemistry deals with the basic laws of the physical world and the composition and properties of matter. Students trained in chemistry enter careers in academia, research, pharmacy, forensics, medicine, the environment, space exploration, and national defense. Students can select an emphasis that best prepares them for their chosen career path.

The breadth of the field of chemistry requires a wide range of knowledge and skills. The goal of the NAU chemistry degree program is to ensure that our graduates:

• Are well versed in the fundamental principles of chemistry: the atomic theory of matter, the quantum nature of the atom, and the principle laws of thermodynamics;
• Are knowledgeable about frequently encountered elements, compounds, and reactions;
• Understand biosynthetic pathways and modes of action of biomolecules;
• Understand factors controlling the mechanisms of chemical reactions;
• Are knowledgeable about synthesis strategies and can successfully conduct synthetic sequences in the laboratory;
• Understand the principles of chemical analysis and are proficient at using modern instrumentation to carry out analysis;
• Are adept at solving problems independently and contributing to a team effort;
• Able to communicate their scientific results orally and in writing.