Undergraduate Academic Accelerator Pathway (2-Term) - Bachelor of Science in Geological Engineering

at Shorelight Group - The University of Utah USA

Technology is vital to the success of every business, and companies need professionals who can use technology to meet strategic business objectives. With a degree in Information Systems, you will create efficient information management within organizations, establishing processes that are most helpful to users. As technology continues to evolve, it remains an essential component of business, and professionals in Information Systems are needed to support it. The University of Utah’s degree in Information Systems will give students the tools to manage the technical direction of business, solve technological issues, and implement new technological advances to enrich business operations. Program coursework focuses on the intersection of business and technology: students take classes in not only business concepts but also information systems concepts, such as databases, programming, networking, and web development.

The Family, Community and Human Development (FCHD) Major is housed in the Department of Family and Consumer Studies (FCS). The objective of the FCHD major is to provide students with a broad and detailed understanding of the processes of personal development in the context of the family, and as impacted by community and societal forces beyond the family. More specifically, students with a FCHD major will acquire an understanding of:

• The key features of development through each stage of life (infants, children, adolescents and adults);
• How these key features of development are impacted by experience to account for the ways that each of us is unique;
• How family members develop and maintain relationships within and across generations;
• The decisions people make about managing resources such as time, money, and material assets;
• The ways that individual and family well-being are impacted by community and societal forces;
• The impact of local, national, and international policies and laws on individual, family and community well-being;
• How research in these areas is conducted and evaluated, and how the findings from these works may be applied to enhance the well-being of individuals (at every age) and families

In addition to the breadth and depth of our FCHD major as summarized above, our department offers students three opportunities for diving more deeply into specific areas of focus that are both relevant to the broader goals of our major and oriented toward specific career opportunities.

Pursue your passion for dramatic expression and creative exploration with the Theatre BFA. The program offers four emphasis areas: the Actor Training Program (ATP), the Musical Theatre Program (MTP), the Performing Arts Design Program (PADP), and the Stage Management Program. The program curriculum is then specialized to each emphasis area. ATP and MTP students must audition for admission to their respective programs, and from there they receive training in various acting, singing, and movement topics, while the other Theatre BFA programs require an application. PADP students complete coursework in costume, scenery, lighting, and sound design, while Stage Management students take classes in production, stage directing, and stagecraft. If you are interested in becoming a theatre teacher, you can also complete the Theatre Teaching major.

Gender Studies is an interdisciplinary field that focuses on interactions of gender with race, class, sexual orientation, and nationality. In addition to its focus on the history and achievements of women, gender scholarship has inspired research and curricula that address men’s lives, masculinity, and the lives of people who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. The University of Utah Gender Studies Division offers a space for the study of a wide range of feminist thought and practices: theory and community-engaged learning; activism and professional development; lively debate and professional skill building. Pursue your passions!

Rhetoric is the study of effective speaking and writing: it is the art of argument and persuasion. Through the Writing and Rhetoric Studies program, you will become a strong analytical thinker and proficient writer. Students of this program learn rhetorical analysis and the ways that culture and society shape what we define as “literacy,” giving you critical thinking skills and social awareness that can be applied to a number of pursuits. Students in the program choose courses from topics such as under-represented rhetorics, rhetorics of gender, writing poplular non-fiction, professional discourse, grammar and stylistics, digital storytelling, writing as a social practice, and others. The culminating experience of the program is a senior seminar, synthesizing all of the student's undergraduate work into a portfolio piece. Employers consistently rank written communication skills as among the most-desired abilities in job candidates, and strong writing and argumentation abilities are excellent assets for graduate-level coursework.

Urban Ecology is an interdisciplinary field concerned with the interrelationships among social, environmental, and economic systems, with the goal of enhancing the vitality and sustainability of places and communities. The University of Utah’s Urban Ecology program is designed to respond to problems and opportunities that exist in cities, suburbs, small towns, and rural places for example, environmental management, fragile landscape protection, recreation and tourism, public lands planning, rapid population growth, regional transportation, energy production, and sprawl. As a student of the Urban Ecology program, you will take classes in urban ecology, planning, field studies, economics, law and social justice; you can also choose from a variety of electives topics, such as green infrastructure, sustainable development, community leadership and cities in literature. In your senior year, you will do an internship and take on a real world problem in the Ecological Planning Workshop.

The worlds of science, engineering, and business are now reliant on data-driven analysis and decision making.  Data Science is the 21st century discipline formalizing this process, and making enormous impacts in new scientific discoveries, engineering how the world works, and driving business decisions which power much of our economic growth.  A data scientist is one who can weave a complete story with data, from its humble and messy beginnings, through its maturation via sophisticated analysis, and concluding with an explanation of its real-world impact.  This program teaches both technical data processing (programming, data wrangling, data management) and data analysis (machine learning, data mining, visual analytics) skills, and also guides students through the complicated explainability, ethical, and domain integration challenges. 

The Asian Studies program is an interdisciplinary course of study that will both deepen and broaden your understanding of this crucial region of the world. As an Asian Studies student, you will learn the languages and countries of the core regions of East, South, Southeast, and Central Asia as well as Russia, the Pacific, and West Asia. Broaden your horizons and gain a deeper understanding of and appreciation for the fascinating people and cultures of this region: in addition to language courses, the Asian Studies program offers exploratory and history courses about the area. Cross-cultural understanding and language skills are increasingly important as we become a truly global economy, making the Asian Studies program a valuable experience.

If you want to pursue your passion for creative expression, consider studying dance. The BFA in Modern Dance at the University of Utah integrates the rigors of intellectual exploration, technical discipline, and creative investigation in order to prepare dancers for the opportunities and challenges of the profession. As a Modern Dance student, you will be part of a contemporary dance community distinguished by its sense of excellence, professionalism, humanism, and a proud commitment to a lively spirit of creative inquiry: the degree is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Dance (NASD) and ranked as one of the top programs in the country. All incoming undergraduate students must audition for admission into the Department of Modern Dance. Upon admission, the curriculum includes courses in movement, technique, improvisation, musical theory, cultural dance forms, and kinesiology. Students also gain experience in teaching methods through practicums in elementary and secondary schools. This coursework ultimately prepares dancers for a professional career in performance, choreography, and teaching.

Metallurgical engineering involves the study, innovation, design, implementation, and improvement of processes that transform mineral resources and metals into useful products that improve the quality of our lives. This includes processing materials, like metals and alloys, to extract, refine and recycle metals. Without metallurgical engineering, we would not have the components we need to build buildings, aircraft, trains, ships, or even mountain bikes. Accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, the Metallurgical Engineering curriculum consists of coursework across the three main areas of metallurgy: mineral processing, chemical metallurgy, and physical metallurgy. Additional classes cover topics like metallurgical thermodynamics, fluid flow, kinetics, and heat and mass transport, as well as the general sciences (chemistry, engineering, physics, and math). Because society is so dependent on metals, metallurgical engineering has become an increasingly important area of study: continued economic and technical progress will depend on further advances in metal and mineral technology. This program additionally offers students the option to complete one of 6 emphases, allowing them to tailor their program to best fit their strengths and interests.