Bachelor of Music in Music

at Shorelight Group - Towson University USA

Students may elect to become certified in both Elementary and Special Education by selecting the major. This program, specially designed to integrate both elementary and special education, prepares students as elementary classroom teachers and as elementary/middle special education teachers.

The Elementary Education & Special Education major is provided at Towson University, Towson University in Northeastern Maryland (TUNE) and The Universities at Shady Grove. The program is a screened major. The total program equals 127 units.

Communication Studies courses give students a foundation in communication theories and their interrelated contexts, the application of theories to contemporary issues and the scholarly methods of studying communication. The Communication Studies major has a three-fold function:

1. It allows students a greater understanding of the role that communication plays in shaping culture and identity.
2. It looks at the ways in which the process of meaning-making (whether through the use of words, images, symbols or technology) is used strategically to influence human judgment and actions.
3. It sharpens students’ critical thinking abilities, thus enabling them to become ethical producers and consumers of messages.

This three-fold function is accomplished through a theoretical and practical focus on argument development and through a close examination of the ways ideas are discussed, advocated for, and circulated in public and private life. These emphases give students the opportunity to develop speaking, writing, and analytical thinking skills that will allow them to become better ethical participants in the process of creating, critiquing, and disseminating meaning.

The Master of Science degree in Music Education provides a flexible curriculum that allows students to earn up to 15 elective units in a field of specialization. In consultation with the graduate adviser, students may select a group of courses in which they are interested, such as music education, applied music, music theory, music history, music composition or other graduate areas. More than 50 percent of the course work is with graduate students only. Graduates of this program are usually employed as music teachers in public or private schools in the areas of vocal-general and/or instrumental music. 

Forensic Chemistry is a field in which many opportunities exist within law enforcement agencies and private companies. There is a critical shortage of qualified professionals in the field. Graduates of this program will be well prepared for employment in the forensic field with minimal on-the-job training or to pursue a graduate degree.

The major in Forensic Chemistry requires the completion of all the required and ancillary courses that are listed below, as well as satisfying the university’s Core Curriculum requirements.  A student may repeat no more than two courses, including multiple attempts at the same course, required for the Forensic Chemistry major. This includes all foundation courses, as well as required courses for the major.

Foreign Languages majors in the Spanish Education Concentration are eligible to apply for certification to teach Spanish in Maryland upon graduation. In addition to the Core Curriculum requirements and the requirements specified by the Department of Secondary and Middle School Education, students must complete 30 units. Students must contact the Department of Secondary and Middle School Education about admission to the Teacher Education Program. Students are also required to complete the Oral Proficiency Interview and the Writing Proficiency Test. They are required to achieve a level of “Advanced Low" in the Oral Proficiency Interview. 

Students who decide not to complete all education requirements must select and complete a different concentration/track in the major in order to graduate.

The Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) is designed for individuals with a bachelor’s degree in a field other than education, who have no formal teacher training and wish to enter the teaching profession. It is well suited to recent graduates and to those seeking to change careers.

Graduates of the MAT program are eligible for teacher certification in the general education tracks of early childhood, elementary and secondary education.

• Early childhood education prepares students to teach Pre-K through grade three.
• Elementary education prepares students to teach grades one through six.
• Secondary education prepares students to teach grades seven through 12 in biology, chemistry, earth-space science, English, mathematics, physics, or history/social studies. 
• World Languages prepares students to teach Pre-K through grade 12 in French or Spanish.

The field of Health Education and Promotion (HEP) explores the complexities of human behavior and identifies ways to promote healthy behaviors. Health Education and Promotion prepares students to educate and empower the public to understand their health, to make healthy choices, to improve their quality of life, and to reduce disease and disability. Health educators design, market, implement and/or evaluate health education and health promotion programs. The settings in which community health educators work include, but are not limited to health departments, voluntary health agencies, hospitals, universities, nonprofit organizations, government agencies and schools.

The Health Education and Promotion major gives students the foundation needed to be effective health professionals based on principles from the behavioral, biomedical and social sciences. Through coursework and a 12-unit internship, students will graduate with a solid foundation in a variety of health topic areas including public health, health education theory and practice, and program planning and evaluation.

Religious Studies majors must complete 33 units of coursework, including 12 units from a set of Area Requirements. Three courses (9 units) at the introductory level are designed to provide students with broad, working knowledge of Western and Asian religious traditions. An advanced course at the 400 level (3 units) assumes knowledge and skills students will have acquired in their course work in Religious Studies. It engages students in critical reflection on religious phenomena broadly conceived and represents the culmination of their experience as Religious Studies Majors. Students are also required to complete 21 units of electives. 

• Students will demonstrate a fundamental knowledge of the history of art, including artists, titles, and dates of key works, as well as knowledge of the broader artistic circumstances from which those works emerged, and of the interrelationship of those circumstances.
• Students will demonstrate visual literacy (the ability to interpret the visual, formal aspects of an artwork) in the perception and discussion of art.
• Students will demonstrate an understanding of the cultural contexts from which art has emerged.
• Students will demonstrate knowledge of the cross-cultural and multicultural interaction that has influenced the development of artistic forms throughout the history of art and up to the present day.
• Students will prepare for career fields specific to art history, such as teaching, curatorship and preservation.

The Jewish Studies M.A. is a liberal arts program that offers students immersion in the history, literature and culture of Judaism as well as comprehension of the scope of the Jewish experience. Graduates of this program typically go on for a Ph.D. or seek employment requiring a depth of Judaic knowledge. The program consists of a five-course core sequence and a concentration in one of five fields: Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Civilization, Rabbinic Literature, Jewish Thought and Mysticism, Jewish History, or Contemporary Jewish Studies.