Bachelor of Arts in Slavic Languages and Literature

at Shorelight Group - University of Kansas USA

If you’ve ever been seen by a doctor, shopped for medicine at a pharmacy or purchased health care insurance, you’ve been influenced by the work of a health information management (HIM) professional. HIM professionals connect the people, processes, technology, data and information security that makes our health care industry work.

Careers in HIM can be found at the intersection of medicine, science, business and information technology. HIM graduates work with cutting-edge technology; manage people, processes and systems; massage big data to find health care solutions; and serve as educators and advocates throughout the industry. Ultimately, they are gatekeepers who keep our medical information safe, complete and accurate.

There are two emphases to choose from.  Production, with a focus on film and video production, will prepare you for a career in the film industry.  Culture and Studies will allow you the opportunity to not only work in film production but also explore the impact of film in various cultures and societies as well as the prospect of what the future holds for the development of new forms of media.

Film/Media projects originate in our media production courses. Many of these student works have won honors at regional, national, and international competitions. The Fiske Guide to Colleges has listed KU as one of the "Major Universities Strong in Film/Television" placing us with other film schools such as the University of Southern California and New York University.

The study of economics offers students insight into some of the most fundamental questions facing societies today: what goods and services should we produce? How should we produce them? How should we distribute them ? Economics offers an outstanding preparation for careers in policy analysis, international relations, business, and other careers that require rigorous analytic thinking. Economics also makes an excellent foundation for graduate study in economics, business, law, political science, or public administration.

The KU Jazz Studies Program has both performance and academic components, including three big bands, seven combos, and classes in arranging, improvisation, jazz history, jazz theory and jazz pedagogy.  KU Jazz groups and individual students have distinguished national credentials, winning 22 Down Beat Student Music Awards since 1992. With the generous support of the Gregory Harding Memorial Jazz Fund and the Lipscomb Jazz Fund, the Jazz Studies Program also sponsors clinics and master classes during the academic year. Past artists include Michael Brecker, Jerry Bergonzi, Hal Galper, Dr. Billy Taylor, Wynton Marsalis, Jim McNeely, Peter Erskine, Maria Schneider, Dave Douglas, John Fedchock, John Abercrombie, Gary Foster, Kenny Werner, Vince Mendoza, Greg Osby, and many others.

The KU School of Music now offers a Bachelor of Arts degree with a Jazz Studies concentration.  Students in the degree program perform in the KU Jazz Ensembles and Jazz Combos, study privately with KU studio faculty and jazz lecturers, and take courses in jazz studies along with other music courses and liberal arts classes.

Microbiology is the study of bacteria, viruses, fungi, the immune system, and their roles in human health, the environment and beyond. Job prospects for Microbiologists with a bachelor’s or higher degree continue to be strong. The upper-division major courses in immunology, pathogenic microbiology, virology and microbial genetics couple laboratory courses with lecture courses in order to provide students with hands-on practical experience with the material. The B.A. Microbiology major includes a choice of three of the upper-division lecture and laboratory course pairs.  

The Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies (REES) program offers students a broad background in the languages, arts, literatures, histories, politics, and cultures of Russia, Ukraine, the South Caucasus, Central Asia, and countries of the West Slavic (Poland, Czech Republic) and South Slavic (Balkan) regions. The program is interdisciplinary and draws on over 45 faculty members and courses from 14 different KU departments and schools.

The B.A. Option in Italian is a program consisting of eight, three-credit courses in which students pursue studies in Italian beyond the beginning and intermediate levels. In consultation with departmental advisors, students combine their work with other academic disciplines and develop particular strengths and interests in Italian literature, language, and culture. Students pursuing the B.A. Option in Italian are strongly encouraged to study abroad.

Honors in Italian
Students may graduate with honors in Italian by completing 3 hours of ITAL 499 and one approved 3-hour course in a relevant field in addition to the 24-hour requirement for the option. Consult the department early in the junior year. To begin honors work and to graduate with honors, students must have minimum grade-point averages of 3.25 in all courses and 3.5 in Italian.

Students studying business administration receive a broad business education through high-level exposure to all areas of study. As a business administration major, you will develop communication and leadership skills that will make you a competitive candidate for high-level management jobs across a variety of fields.

In philosophy we ask big, important questions. While asking such questions is easy, answering them is difficult. Because these questions are often abstract and vague, it is necessary to use precise reasoning and analysis to clarify what exactly it is we are asking. Only then can we attempt to develop answers. For example:

• What is the morally right thing to do?
• What is the nature of the mind?
• When can we know something, rather than merely believing it?
• Do the sciences exhaust what can be known about the natural world?
• What is justice?
• What assumptions do we make when we try to answer questions like these?
• Plus many, many others...

In studying philosophy, you will learn what others have thought about life's big questions. You will also learn to challenge those views, and to develop your own thoughts in a precise, logical manner. Philosophy will help you develop critical thinking skills, enabling you to analyze the underlying logic and assumptions in arguments about a variety of topics. This is a skill that generalizes to virtually every area of life.

In the Department of Visual Art, you get the best of both worlds. You will work side by side with world-class, practicing artists. Small classes provide time for directed and individual instruction and space for developing big ideas. You can explore all seven studio areas to create an education as individual as you are.

The Bachelor of Arts in Visual Art is a four-year, 120 credit hour degree program. The B.A. in Visual Art is a more traditional liberal arts undergraduate degree, requiring only 24 credit hours in Visual Art beyond the Foundations, as opposed to the 49 required by the more art intensive B.F.A. Because of this, students interested in pursuing a double major may find it easier to pair the B.A. with other more traditional undergraduate degrees. Popular double majors in Visual Art include: Visual Art/Psychology; Visual Art/Chemistry; Visual Art/Museum Studies.

The first year is spent in Foundations where students focus on the development of their creative and technical skills.