Master of Music with Emphasis in Theory

at Northern Arizona University - Flagstaff Campus USA

The Bachelor’s in Justice Studies provides online and distance-learning students with a professional, criminal justice-focused education that prepares students to ethically work and lead in the fields of criminal justice and intelligence studies.
 
To help students reach their education and career goals, all Justice Studies faculty members have advanced degrees and extensive experience in the criminal justice or intelligence fields, specializing in areas, such as, criminal justice investigations, police leadership, community policing, drug investigations, federal law enforcement, corrections, intelligence-led policing, military intelligence, cyber crime, and the law.
 
Students complete core courses in ethics, leadership, criminal justice, criminology, the justice system and effective writing. They then move on to tailoring their degree to their individual interests by selecting elective courses in criminal justice administration or intelligence studies.
 
Emphasis in Intelligence Studies
The emphasis in intelligence studies focuses on preparing students to identify, analyze and disseminate intelligence information for the purpose of investigating all forms of criminal activity. In addition, the courses within this emphasis expose students to a variety of contemporary topics in the intelligence field. Upon completion of this course of study, students will have the skills to transition into professional intelligence careers at the local, state or federal level.
 
In addition to working in the criminal justice field, many graduates choose to build upon their critical thinking, criminal justice and leadership courses by pursuing advanced degrees in criminal justice, leadership or the law.

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.

Human-Environmental Systems
With the successful completion of this emphasis, students will be able to:

• Critically analyze human-environmental relationships, identify causes of social and environmental problems and evaluate solutions.
• Understand and explain the economic and social processes of development and globalization.
• Communicate effectively to diverse audiences through written, oral and graphic means

The Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Arts degree encompasses knowledge, skills, and dispositions that are in demand from an array of creative fields—including but not limited to medical, entertainment, and design—in addition to the skills needed to be studio artists. Studio artists work in a variety of different occupations that require a combination of hand skills, an understanding of a variety of material applications, and creative problem solving. Upon graduation, students are expected to exhibit the strong critical thinking, aesthetic design, and conceptual thinking skills needed to participate effectively in a competitive creative arts market.
 
Beyond the skills of artistic creation, students develop business practices for artists including graduate school application, grant application, gallery representation, self-promotion through web and print media, and maintaining a sustainable and safe studio practice. Studio Arts students learn how to apply their skills beyond traditional studio art applications to other industrial and non-industrial fields outside the world of art.

School of Art faculty teach students to apply critical thinking and analysis, innovation and creative solutions, as well as technical artistic processes towards the production of art while building an open mind to criticism respect for public opinion. All Studio Arts majors are required to complete a Foundation year which includes drawing and basic 2D, 3D, and 4D design coursework. Eventually, students work primarily in one of five emphases: Ceramics, New Media, Painting, Printmaking, or Sculpture.  Classes are studio-based and include classroom critiques and discussions about work produced in class, review of professional artwork and artists, and professional practices of an artistic practice. Each Studio Arts student works towards a senior thesis which reflects the student’s experiences and research the student has completed throughout the program.

Emphases Learning Outcomes  
Ceramics
Through a detailed curriculum, students learn all of the making and firing processes in ceramics, to understand sound craftsmanship, and to think critically in design decisions. The curriculum also provides a thorough education in the technical aspects of ceramics, such as an understanding of ceramic materials through glaze calculation and the practical knowledge of kiln design and construction.

The program is designed to provide the foundational skills for continuous learning and to adapt to the fast changing information technology environment.  This program also includes competency-based and hands-on learning modules to enhance acquired business skills.  Parts of the curriculum are designed around highly valued certifications.  Students will also augment their IT skills.

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.

Chemistry Emphasis

• Understand the composition of air, water, and soil to determine how chemicals enter and cycle through the environment, what effects they have, and how human activity affects their cycling.
• Explore natural phenomena that may transport and alter chemicals from human sources including processes causing as air, soil, and water pollution, which result in environmental contamination, ozone depletion, and ocean acidification.
• Understand the sources and extent of pollution, and ways to promote sustainability, conservation, and protection of public health and the environment in the private and public sectors.

The Bachelor of Science in Photography combines the science, art, application and practice of creating images digitally or on film through industry-based software, studio lighting and on-location field instruction.
 
Coursework provides students a theoretical and technical sequence of instruction to professionally create, print and display photographic work; work in varied lighting situations; adapt to the environment around them; critically analyze photographic art; develop profitable business and marketing strategies. Field location courses provide on-location opportunities photographing landscapes, wildlife, night skies using high-tech mobile photographic equipment. Studio courses offer opportunities in photographing food, products and portraits with industry standard lighting equipment.
 
Photography graduates will leave this program with an ability to apply the professional standards of photographic communication and find employment in corporate, conceptual and editorial industries

The Chemistry M.S. program prepares students for research-focused professions in the chemical sciences, emphasizing the development of a students' ability to develop experimental approaches that accurately capture information to solve questions and problems in their chemical field of study. Our faculty members conduct research in the many fields of chemistry, from the level of single molecules to whole chemical systems. From the first day of entry into our program, students work closely with their faculty mentor, selecting a course of study suited to their future goals and professional interests. The program enables graduates to contribute to the forefront of knowledge in the scientific community, share their knowledge through teaching, or apply it in public service or industry.
 
This two-year, thesis-based degree program has three distinct emphasis areas: 1) A comprehensive emphasis, (2) an emphasis in Carcinogenesis and Cancer Chemotherapy and (3) an emphasis in Bioorganic and Biomedical Chemistry. All chemistry students work closely with a faculty adviser to design and implement individual thesis research. Students in the Carcinogenesis and Cancer Chemotherapy emphasis generally focus their coursework and research on learning about cancer and its causes and treatments from a chemical perspective. Students in the Bioorganic and Biomedical Chemistry emphasis generally investigate the principles of organic chemistry and biochemistry that serve as a foundation for the medical sciences.

Through this Bachelor of Science degree in Parks and Recreation Management, recreation resource professionals are prepared for diverse careers in the field of parks and recreation. The PRM Program focuses on small class size, high student-teacher interaction, on-site field experiences, and experiential learning opportunities. The faculty are are dedicated to expanding the scholarly knowledge base of people and organizations to enhance the quality of leisure experiences and places.

Community, Commercial & Tourism Emphasis
Students within this emphasis will have the ability to:

• Create, organize, identify sponsors, market, implement and evaluate large community events
• Describe the fundamental concepts and principles of ecotourism and sustainable development as it relates to transportation, lodging and cultural impacts.
• Use accounting and budgeting practices to prepare, analyze and interpret financial statements
• Respond to budgetary constraints while achieving the positive guest outcomes
• Develop, use and evaluate appropriate and effective strategies to address cultural differences, values and expectations in the planning and implementation of recreation programming.
• Plan, design and operate recreation facilities and adjoining areas to increase tourism, commercial, and community benefits
• Design programming in a manner that best promotes cultural and environmental awareness.

The Geology Program offers a thesis-based, multidisciplinary MS degree in Geology with the objective of educating students for success in the private sector, government employment, or further pursuit of graduate studies.  During the two-year program, students use geological, geobiological, geophysical, geochemical, and numerical-modeling techniques to examine geological problems and develop explanations for the processes that produced them.  Students learn to study what is known about a subject and then identify what is not yet understood.  Based upon observations, they develop testable hypotheses about a poorly understood geological  process, design a study to test these, and then carry this study out, learning new analytical techniques along the way. They then write this work into a thesis and present and defend their work in a public session.  In many cases, the thesis is then turned into a published journal article.

The mission of the Women’s and Gender Studies program (WGS) at Northern Arizona University is to provide students with a deep and sophisticated understanding of feminist scholarship.  Interdisciplinary and intersectionality are at the core of the WGS educational mission and frame a variety of curricular offerings that emphasize women of color, indigeneity, transnational and queer/trans scholarship.

• We analyze strategies for social change that students can use in any future career to create new possibilities for a more socially just society.
• WGS empowers students with unique and distinctive training that allows them to evaluate a range of local, national, regional, and global issues.
• Students have opportunities to research and participate in activist organizations and grassroots efforts by communities that are taking direct action toward a future that is regenerative and restorative.
• Discussion based classrooms support a critical understanding of politics, histories, literature, economies, and activism shaping the social construction of genders and the material condition of people’s lives in a globalized world.
• In its focus on diversity, WGS is central to the university’s mission.

Student Learning Outcomes

• Identify and explain key topics, concepts, and issues in Women’s and Gender or Queer Studies, including intersectionality, reproductive health, sexuality and the body, and power, privilege, and violence.
•  Interpret and compare key concepts of assigned sex, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, racialization, nation, social construction, hegemony, inequity, discrimination and social justice, and the intersections among them, in a variety of feminist theoretical traditions, texts, and frameworks, and then analyze and critically evaluate their assumptions, insights, oversights, and applicability to other texts, concepts, and real-world situations.
• Analyze variations in LGBTQIAP+ people’s experiences by using queer and trans theory to identify and describe gender and sexuality assumptions; also be able to articulate the applications, insights and oversights of queer and trans theory.
• Think through and apply feminist and queer studies concepts and theories in specific political, historical, geographic, and cultural contexts.
• Understand the intersectionality of women’s and/or queer and gendered identities, informed by hierarchies of race, ethnicity, ability, class, nation and so forth.
• Analyze women’s and/or queer experiences within gender systems of power, privilege, and violence.
• Apply theoretical frameworks of queer studies and feminisms to current issues in local communities, and at statewide and national levels.
• Understand the historical and contemporary variations of feminisms/queer theories in a global context and transnational framework.
• Write critically: write clear and well-reasoned prose that acknowledges complex and diverse points of view and methods of critical inquiry/research, especially those that address constructions of gender, sexuality, race, and class.  
• Verbally express ideas effectively, tailoring arguments and presentation styles to audiences and interactive contexts.
• Develop skills of leadership, advocacy, organization, and community building to bring about social change.