Bachelor of Arts in Political Science

at Shorelight Group - University of Massachusetts - Boston USA

The English major invites students to engage in the study of literature, composition, language, and film. English majors learn how to write well, read critically, develop research skills, and work hands-on in digital environments. The English major allows students to create print, visual, and digital texts across a range of genres including poetry, fiction, and nonfiction.

Through a diverse range of course offerings, the English major develops a student’s abilities to engage with the world while also cultivating a variety skills, including:

• Analytical writing
• Critical interpretation
• Original inquiry and research
• The ability to develop, discuss, and debate complex ideas

Program Highlights

• Choose to explore an area of concentration: Creative Writing, Professional and New Media Writing, or Race, Ethnicity, and Literature.
• Choose to pursue initial teaching licensure in the English Teaching program.
• Work side-by-side with professors and fellow students in small, discussion-based classes on a diverse range of topics.
• Participate in extracurricular activities, ranging from the Sigma Tau Delta Honors Society to the Literary Theory Reading Group.
• Be prepared to enter the workforce, with a one-credit mini-course on “English 457: Careers in English and Preparing for the Job Market.”
• Engage with a dynamic and accomplished faculty. The English Department hosts vibrant events—such as guest speakers, creative writing readings, and contests—that are free and open to the UMass Boston community.
• Participate in The Watermark, a journal of literature and artwork created by UMass Boston students.

The Information Technology major offered through UMass Boston's College of Management is designed to offer pathways to highly-demanded careers in IT for both high school graduates and students of Massachusetts community colleges. Our small classes ensure personalized attention from IT faculty while our ties to the Greater Boston business and technical communities add an extra dimension of learning to our program of business information technology education. The IT major offers an “applications-path” format for students which includes a core of technical knowledge (nine courses), an area of specialization or track within IT (four or five courses, depending on track selection), three professional electives in an application or domain area (preferably outside of IT but within business), and two wrap-up courses (project management and IT capstone), in addition to general education requirements.

The IT major is project-based.  Every exercise assigned throughout the BSIT is designed to be of the kind that a student might encounter in his or her work: collaboration, competence, and outcomes assessment are the hallmark characteristics of the program.  Students will learn how to use IT to solve real-world problems within the context of a field in which they wish to work. Graduates will be familiar with, and be able to apply, the following core information technologies to solve business problems:

• Programming
• Networking
• Databases
• Web technologies

Business Intelligence (BI) is the technology that companies such as Amazon.com and Google use to take advantage of the enormous amount of data they collect and analyze. It is the technology with which Amazon.com knows what book to recommend you every time you login, Google knows how to rank the pages you are searching for, and banks decide whether to approve loan applications almost instantly.

UMass Boston's Sport Leadership and Administration Program is designed to equip students with the skills and knowledge necessary to be effective, transformative, and equity-minded leaders of social change through sport. Students engage in study of the phenomenon of sport from a variety of theoretical lenses based in the liberal arts (historical, anthropological, sociological, psychological/developmental, and economic). This program is designed to provide students with coursework in leadership and management. Students in the Sport Leadership and Administration Program participate in experiential learning opportunities that help them both apply what they have learned through classwork and actualize their leadership potential. Through our multi-pronged approach, we send students out into a variety of sport industry jobs and career paths fully prepared to succeed as leaders.

The biochemistry major at the University of Massachusetts Boston is jointly administered by the departments of biology and chemistry.

The curriculum generally follows the recommendations of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB). This is a rigorous and well-rounded program of study designed to accommodate the needs of a broad spectrum of students seeking a terminal or non-terminal bachelor of science degree in biochemistry.

Students completing a degree in biochemistry will:

• Learn the fundamentals of chemistry and biology with emphasis on organic chemistry, analytical chemistry, physical chemistry, genetics and cell and molecular biology.
• Gain a deep appreciation of the theory and laboratory practices in modern biochemistry and a solid understanding of the interaction among metabolic pathways from a systems biology perspective.
• Learn and apply the principles of scientific ethics with regard to use of sources, generating and reporting of data, and collaboration with colleagues.
• Develop an understanding of environmental responsibility.
• Upon graduation, be prepared to practice as a professional biochemist, whether in further study or in the workforce.

The Economics department has approximately 400 declared undergraduate economics majors and serves students from many other departments and programs in the College of Liberal Arts, as well as students from other colleges of the university.  Currently 8% of declared undergraduate majors in the College of Liberal Arts have chosen Economics as their major. Their interests include Economic Development, Economic History, Environmental Issues, Health Economics, Industrial Organization, Immigration, International Economics, Labor Economics, Macroeconomics, Marxism, Monetary Theory, Political Economy of Race and Gender, Public Policy, Public Sector Economics, Social Welfare, Statistics and Econometrics, and Urban Economics. In addition to teaching, faculty members are engaged in research, writing, consulting, and other professional activities in their areas of interest.

The Information Technology major offered through UMass Boston's College of Management is designed to offer pathways to highly-demanded careers in IT for both high school graduates and students of Massachusetts community colleges. Our small classes ensure personalized attention from IT faculty while our ties to the Greater Boston business and technical communities add an extra dimension of learning to our program of business information technology education. The IT major offers an “applications-path” format for students which includes a core of technical knowledge (nine courses), an area of specialization or track within IT (four or five courses, depending on track selection), three professional electives in an application or domain area (preferably outside of IT but within business), and two wrap-up courses (project management and IT capstone), in addition to general education requirements.

The IT major is project based.  Every exercise assigned throughout the BSIT is designed to be of the kind that a student might encounter in his or her work: collaboration, competence, and outcomes assessment are the hallmark characteristics of the program.  Students will learn how to use IT to solve real-world problems within the context of a field in which they wish to work. Graduates will be familiar with, and be able to apply, the following core information technologies to solve business problems:

• Programming
• Networking
• Databases
• Web technologies

In addition, the BSIT program offers four specialization tracks: business intelligence1, computer forensics1, information architecture1 and systems administration.

Information Architecture Track
The Information Technology (IT) major is a jointly offered program between the College of Management (CM) and the College of Science and Mathematics (CSM) at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The BSIT consists of a common core of ten courses, a track of four to six courses in a particular area of specialization (the information architecture track requires four courses), a common capstone course, and three professional electives.

UMass Boston's MBA is a streamlined 12-course, AACSB-accredited, immersive business program. focused on equipping you with the knowledge and skills you need to succeed as a business leader. The program is designed for professionals who want to gain a deeper understanding of the ever-changing business world to advance their career, change careers, or start their own business. Explore foundational business theories, gain experience with emerging technologies, and develop your analytical skills.

UMass Boston's MBA is a streamlined 12-course, AACSB-accredited, immersive business program. focused on equipping you with the knowledge and skills you need to succeed as a business leader. The program is designed for professionals who want to gain a deeper understanding of the ever-changing business world to advance their career, change careers, or start their own business. Explore foundational business theories, gain experience with emerging technologies, and develop your analytical skills.

Our BS program in Computer Science is accredited by the Computing Accreditation Commission of ABET. ABET assures quality for degree programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology. The program provides a rigorous education in theory and practice of Computer Science in addition to outside science courses. A BS degree can be used as a basis for many jobs in industry or for graduate work in Computer Science and other fields. We have an Honors Program for students who complete an Honors Thesis.

We offer a curriculum stressing software development. It provides training appropriate for students with interests in areas such as cybersecurity, data mining, artificial intelligence, database management, and software engineering. An aptitude for logical reasoning and mathematics is needed to complete the major successfully, partly because designing programs to solve problems requires good problem-solving skills and partly because some of the requirements are relatively advanced theoretical Computer Science and mathematics courses.

A full range of business courses and concentrations is offered through the Management major, which prepares students for specific management responsibilities, and results in a bachelor of science degree from the College of Management (CM) at UMass Boston. The program is built on a solid foundation in the arts and humanities achieved by completing CM's general education requirements while also being immersed into business theory and practice.

Learning Goals
As part of its program to maintain accreditation with the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the College of Management faculty has formally adopted learning goals for each of its degree programs and periodically conducts assessments for each learning objective to identify opportunities for curriculum improvement.

The learning goals for the bachelor of science in management (BSM) program are for students to:

• Demonstrate proficiency in oral and written communication skills.
• Develop critical thinking and quantitative reasoning skills.
• Demonstrate sound ethical reasoning skills.
• Integrate understanding of issues concerning diversity and globalization in business.

Information Systems and Business Analytics Concentration
Information and data analytics technologies are transforming all aspects of business. Students who concentrate in Information Systems and Business Analytics (ISBA) can acquire the knowledge and skills needed to take a leading role in these innovative fields. The curriculum of the ISBA concentration covers the topics in business analytics and its information systems foundation.