Bachelor of Arts in Political Science

at Study Group - Western Washington University USA

Computer science is an exciting, growing, challenging field that is critical to many aspects of everyday life. You can make an impact on the advancement of medicine, clean energy, entertainment, communication for the disabled, climate research, and automotive technologies to name a few. For some, the most motivational aspect of being a computer scientist is being involved in creating the next great technology that will help people the world over.

Western's program provides the problem-solving and analytical background that ensures programmers and systems analysts can produce creative programming solutions. The program is composed of core classes organized around the study of design and analysis techniques used to write software in various application domains along with details about the internal workings of computers and networks. Elective classes in areas such as artificial intelligence, mobile device programming, robotics, graphics, web programming, bioinformatics, computer security, and video game programming allow students to explore areas of individual interest.

Geology is a diverse discipline, incorporating aspects of physics, chemistry, biology and natural history in the attempt to solve earth-related problems. Geoscientists provide basic information to society for solving problems and establishing policy for resource management, environmental protection, public health, safety, and welfare. By applying knowledge of forces that shape the Earth, Geoscientists seek to reconstruct the past and anticipate the future.

This degree is for students who want to become professional geologists and plan to enroll in a graduate program or enter industry. The BS is designed to provide students with a broad background in geology.

Western's Chemistry program provides close student-faculty contact and relatively small classes, direct access to modern laboratory equipment and instrumentation, and opportunities for cutting-edge research under the direction of a faculty advisor.

Within the department, faculty are active in many research areas including biofuels, protein engineering, computer modeling, catalysis, nanomaterials, materials for solar cells, electrochemistry, polymers, thin films, protein structural analysis by nuclear magnetic resonance and x-ray crystallography, and organic synthesis.

Communication Studies examines the ways in which humans interact through the use of symbols: verbal, non-verbal, and visual. This examination includes the critical study of communication behavior among humans as well as providing practical experience in the crafting and presentation of messages.

Within our department we offer courses from various areas within the field: Intercultural Communication, Interpersonal Communication, Organizational Communication, Rhetoric, Media Studies, Communication Technology, and other special topics that arise addressing contemporary developments and faculty research.

The Communication Studies program at Western offers a broad approach for students allowing them to explore many facets of the discipline from the applied to the theoretical. The department has a portfolio application process to become a major that ensures students are capable and focused on the content so that the in-class experience is enriched.

The International Year program is specially designed to prepare international students with the solid foundation needed to succeed in an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University.

You will learn in a supportive environment to develop your academic and English language skills, while adjusting to living and learning in the USA. After successfully completing the program with the required grades, you can continue your undergraduate degree with the confidence to engage and succeed.

German /Spanish
German Studies aims to teach students in depth about the cultures of the German-speaking world. Germany is the United States’ biggest European trading partner, and the German language is the second most commonly used business language in the world. Students who become proficient in German can communicate with about 100 million people living in a number of countries in the heart of Europe. The German program integrates instruction in language studies with studies in cultural and literary history, enabling students to gain access to the intellectual life of the German-speaking countries.

German Studies aims to teach students in depth about the cultures of the German-speaking world. The program integrates instruction in language studies with studies in cultural and literary history, enabling students to gain access to the intellectual life of the German-speaking countries.

The department provides students the skills to learn firsthand about major world societies. The department believes that the best way to understand a culture directly is through its language. The modern languages offered in the department are spoken natively by nearly two billion people. The multifaceted programs of the department provide an opening to the world through language, literature, culture and civilization. It is a meeting place for true diversity.

The International Year program is specially designed to prepare international students with the solid foundation needed to succeed in an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University.

You will learn in a supportive environment to develop your academic and English language skills, while adjusting to living and learning in the USA. After successfully completing the program with the required grades, you can continue your undergraduate degree with the confidence to engage and succeed.

Biocultural Anthropology
The Biocultural Anthropology Concentration is the most flexible of the Biology/Anthropology combined majors and allows students to gain a broad interdisciplinary training relevant to many professions confronting the challenges of modern society. Anthropology Department faculty members carry out research in Latin America, North America, Asia, The Pacific, and Eastern Europe, and are dedicated to excellence in teaching. The Department faculty have earned awards for distinguished contributions to undergraduate education and research, have written nationally disseminated textbooks, and developed curriculum designed to provide extensive opportunities for students to engage in hands-on learning experiences working with clients in community social-services agencies, and through participatory research.

Students earning a degree in Anthropology will be able to apply their learning to a variety of jobs locally and internationally in the global economy of today’s world.

The International Year program is specially designed to prepare international students with the solid foundation needed to succeed in an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University.

You will learn in a supportive environment to develop your academic and English language skills, while adjusting to living and learning in the USA. After successfully completing the program with the required grades, you can continue your undergraduate degree with the confidence to engage and succeed.

Dance
Dance majors at WWU are celebrated for their individuality and varied interests within the field of dance and beyond, and are challenged to discover their own artistic voice as performer, choreographer, and scholar.

Dancers at Western engage in a rigorous physical and intellectual understanding of movement art.  Today’s dancers are making and changing history as they reflect on the role of dance in our society through a multi-faceted lens.

WWU Dance majors are contributing to contemporary thinking about dance and art making through in-depth study of dance technique and performance, somatic practices, anatomy and kinesiology, choreography and creative process, dance history, career preparation and entrepreneurial skills, and interdisciplinary study.

The International Year program is specially designed to prepare international students with the solid foundation needed to succeed in an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University.

You will learn in a supportive environment to develop your academic and English language skills, while adjusting to living and learning in the USA. After successfully completing the program with the required grades, you can continue your undergraduate degree with the confidence to engage and succeed.

Secondary Education
The Secondary Education program is designed for students who want to become teachers at the middle or high school level and leads to a recommendation to the State of Washington for a teaching certificate with an endorsement in at least one subject area.

To gain a Teaching Certificate all teacher candidates must complete a teacher preparation program. Woodring offers programs for Elementary, Secondary, and Special Education areas.

An endorsement is the subject area and grade level you are qualified to teach. For example, Earth and Space Science is an endorsement.

Sociologists examine subjects encompassing a vast array of human behavior: crime and punishment, the formation and dissolution of families, bureaucracy in organizations, conflicts between classes, and global inequalities. Sociology focuses on the way individuals’ lives are embedded within multiple social contexts that facilitate and constrain the range of possible actions. These contexts include generation, occupation, gender, religion, sexual orientation, family, health, nation, race, and ethnicity among many others. Students study and examine these phenomena with a variety of scientific tools, including collecting and analyzing statistical data and conducting surveys, focus groups, and in-depth interviews.

A specialization in Sociology/Social Studies provides an excellent base of knowledge for individuals interested in becoming secondary-level social studies teachers. Completion of the Sociology/Social Studies BA leads to a teaching endorsement in social studies.

Archaeology is the "cultural anthropology" of the human past. It uses scientific fieldwork and laboratory techniques to investigate past human societies and the processes and effects of cultural evolution through the study of material remains. Western's Anthropology—Archaeology program is active in regional prehistoric and historic archaeology. Undergraduate participation in fieldwork is encouraged, and necessary if one is to enter the field professionally.

Anthropology Department faculty members carry out research in Latin America, North America, Asia, The Pacific, and Eastern Europe, and are dedicated to excellence in teaching. The department faculty have earned awards for distinguished contributions to undergraduate education and research, have written nationally-disseminated textbooks, and developed curriculum designed to provide extensive opportunities for students to engage in hands-on learning experiences working with clients in community social-services agencies, and through participatory research.