Bachelor of Science in Business - Business Analytics

at Shorelight Group - University of Kansas USA

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 Communication Studies undergraduate major equips students with a diversity of skill sets by investigating communication in various cultural contexts, including relational, organizational, intercultural, political, and more.

In an increasingly globalized world, competent communication is crucial for career advancement, interpersonal relationships, and public democratic participation. Here’s what we know: humans rely on communication, and the creation and translation of symbols, language, and messages are integral to daily interactions. In other words, communication connects us.

The major expands on fundamental public speaking principles from the introductory course through emphasizing theories, methods, performances that apply to everyday communication practices.

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.

Astronomy is often called the oldest science -- in many ways, it is also one of the newest! Astronomers today rely on cutting-edge technology and  computer programming skills to generate and analyze the enormous data sets we use to examine the universe around us. Our business is studying the physics of objects like exoplanets, stars, gas, black holes, and galaxies in the observable universe, which is why we are sometimes referred to as astrophysicists. Because the objects we study are too distant and too large to bring back samples or replicate them here on earth, astronomy is very different from most other experimental laboratory sciences. Astronomers that work with data are called observers, as the only experiments we can run consist of pointing our telescopes at different parts of the sky to gather information about new objects that will test our hypotheses. We rely on the information we can infer just from light (color, temperature, velocity, and chemical composition) to get insight into the formation and evolution of objects ranging from extrasolar planets to stars to entire galaxies.

The Communication Studies undergraduate major equips students with a diversity of skill sets by investigating communication in various cultural contexts, including relational, organizational, intercultural, political, and more.

In an increasingly globalized world, competent communication is crucial for career advancement, interpersonal relationships, and public democratic participation. Here’s what we know: humans rely on communication, and the creation and translation of symbols, language, and messages are integral to daily interactions. In other words, communication connects us.

The major expands on fundamental public speaking principles from the introductory course through emphasizing theories, methods, performances that apply to everyday communication practices.

To study with the KU School of Music’s Theory and Composition (MTHC) Area is to engage the passions, both musical and intellectual, of six composers and scholars who have each earned national and international recognition for their contributions to the discipline.

Working with faculty in the division, you will be able to pursue a wide range of scholarly interests and musical styles. Our specialists in music theory research and teach a wide breadth of approaches on diverse subjects. In addition to critical assessment of the standard common-practice and contemporary repertoires, students have the opportunity to learn about specific fields of faculty expertise, including film music, philosophy and critical theory, rhythm and meter, and modern rock music.

Our composers in the division are also skilled teachers who can help you refine your craft and develop your unique compositional voice. Among their vast and varied portfolios, they have each made significant contributions in producing new music for a wide range of genres, including works for wind band and orchestra, opera and choral music, instrumental and vocal chamber music, music for film, and electronic music (particularly involving live performance).

The B.A. in the Department of Religious Studies is a research, analytic, and writing intensive program that features close work with faculty in small classroom settings. It seeks to develop a foundational knowledge of the world’s diversity of religious cultures and critical awareness of the ways in which religion shapes how we see and act toward ourselves, others, and the environment around us. Through the study of specific religious traditions and settings, students come away with a background that is invaluable to understanding and working with people of other cultures, whether in international business or simply as an informed global citizen. Through hands-on training in research and academic writing, students also acquire substantial communication and critical thinking skills that translate easily into most any profession. As a department that encompasses multiple disciplinary and area studies expertises, we share synergies with units across the university that allow students to nurture all manner of specialized interests when it comes to the study of religions, from pan-regional traditions to localized indigenous religions, from gender, ritual, and material religion to textual studies.

While not the oldest science, Physics has evolved over the last four centuries into the most fundamental.  From Aristotle through Newton to Einstein, the science has developed into our primary means of probing the forces that serve as the foundation for everything that happens on all levels, from the subatomic to the large-scale structure of the Universe. Physics, like all the sciences, draws individuals who love a challenge, who find problem-solving and complex puzzles motivating factors for getting up and going to work every day. Critically, the puzzles within Physics often challenge our intuition and demand that we rethink the way we perceive the Universe. Ultimately, all of the physical and biological sciences can be reduced to a form of applied Physics.

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.

The Classical Languages major trains you to read the great authors of classical antiquity (e.g., Homer, Plato, Vergil, Sappho, Saint Augustine) in the original language and prepares you for graduate study in classics and for teaching in some private schools.