International Year program (3-Quarter) - Bachelor of Fine Arts in Design

at Study Group - Western Washington University USA

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.

Geography/Social Studies
Geography is the science of place and space. Geographers ask where things are located on the surface of the Earth, why they are located where they are, how places differ from one another, and how people interact with the environment. Geography links the social sciences and natural sciences together, studying the relationships between human activity and natural systems.

The Geography/Social Studies major provides a breadth of knowledge in Geography, Environmental Studies, History, Economics, Anthropology, and Political Science. The major prepares students to explore a wide variety of career paths including planning, education, environmental agencies and NGOs, business, tourism, GIS, government service, transportation, and many more. This major meets Washington State requirements for a teaching endorsement and also prepares students to teach in non-traditional settings with or without the additional certification from Woodring College of Education.

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.

Biology- Secondary Teaching Emphasis
Biology is the study of living organisms. As scientists, biologists have three goals: (1) understanding the structure and function of organisms, (2) generating and disseminating reliable data pertaining to biological systems, and (3) developing a deep understanding of the natural world that can inform solutions for the serious environmental, medical, and social concerns facing humanity.

Our goal as educators is to maintain intensive academic programs designed to stimulate curiosity, creativity and life-long critical thinking in students who pursue a liberal arts education in Biology.  All of the B.S. programs in Biology are designed for students who plan to pursue post-graduate study or professional careers in biology or teaching. We have designed these programs to enable students to develop an integrated conceptual foundation in biology, as well as critical thinking skills, quantitative problem-solving abilities, leadership and team-building skills, and scientific research skills.

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.

Earth Science — Secondary
Earth Science, or geoscience, is a diverse discipline, incorporating aspects of physics, chemistry, biology, and natural history in the attempt to solve earth-related problems. Want to teach Earth science and geoscience to middle or high school students. This degree leads to teaching endorsement in Earth & Space Science.

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.

Anthropology- Elementary
Anthropology is particularly valuable for teachers, because it provides a broad understanding of human behavior, cultural diversity, and learning as a process of social interaction. While the major is tailored for students interested in teaching, graduates can apply their learning to a variety of graduate degrees and careers locally/internationally in both the public and private sectors.

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.

General Science — Middle Level
The Science, Mathematics and Technology Education Program is a visionary and practical program designed to enrich the training and education of K-12 pre-service teachers and, through them, their students. From a collaboration of the disciplines of Chemistry, Geology, Biology, Physics/ Astronomy, Mathematics, and Computer Science, the Science, Mathematics and Technology Education Program (SMATE) offers an opportunity for teachers and future teachers to gain specific skills and broaden talents within their chosen discipline.

This major satisfies the academic major requirement for teacher certification with an endorsement in elementary education and leads to a middle level science endorsement. It must be accompanied by the professional preparation program in elementary education or secondary education.

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.

Spanish with Teaching Endorsement Option
In keeping with the aim of providing the skills needed to learn about a culture in depth, the Department of Modern and Classical Languages trains in two areas: language structure and literary analysis. Language structure is taught both holistically and analytically. Holistic language learning is facilitated by modern methods and multimedia technology, as well as study abroad opportunities. The department supports the analytical instruction of language structure through a full range of language skills courses, as well as a significant number of courses in linguistics. Literary analysis is essential to a student’s understanding of the highest achievements in aesthetic expression of a culture’s values.

The department provides instruction in history and culture, as well as literary theory, with an end to enabling the student to gain access to the intellectual life in the culture. The department imparts skills to future world language teachers so that they may similarly enable high school students to begin the acquisition of world languages.

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.

Politics/Philosophy/Economics
In this major, Politics, Philosophy, and Economics are combined in a multidisciplinary effort to study modern political science, questions of political philosophy, pursue social scientific research, and apply economic analysis in problem solving. The multidisciplinary trio provides a foundation in philosophy, logic, critical thinking, and political processes within the U.S. and in the international system, and the functioning of the economy with attention to economic analysis tools.  Students are given preparation in the foundational materials of each of these fields, and encouraged to explore classes at the intersection of political and economic issues.  Because it draws on three different research disciplines, this combined major strives to provide students with an interdisciplinary set of skills related to critical reasoning and analysis, problem solving and decision making, and social scientific research.  The PPE combined major is not a triple major; rather, it strives to provide a broad exposure to these three fields.

Biochemistry studies the chemical processes of living organisms. Biochemists use chemistry knowledge and techniques to research biological problems. Biochemical research has had a huge impact on biology and medicine in the last few decades. The field has helped us to better understand biological structures like cells, proteins, and DNA.

Biochemistry is an interdisciplinary program established by Western's Biology and Chemistry Departments. The program is specifically designed for students who seek graduate study or employment in biochemistry or molecular biology.

Western's Biochemistry major provides significant lab training, and is designed to meet diverse career goals. There is close student-faculty contact, upper division class sizes are relatively small, and students have direct access to state of the art laboratory equipment and instrumentation.

If you like to read, write, and learn about the experiences of people in different places and times, you should consider the history major. No other major prepares students for as many different careers. History majors’ strong communication skills are valued by all employers, including businesses and government agencies. The research, analytical, and evaluative skills that history majors develop prepare them for graduate study in many humanistic disciplines, public affairs, and library science and for careers as journalists, government officials, and attorneys. A growing number of history majors have made careers in the expanding field of public history. They work in museums, archives, and historical preservation.

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.

Biology - Molecular and Cell Biology
The Biology—Molecular and Cell Emphasis major is part of an interdisciplinary program between the Biology and Chemistry departments. Cell biology is the study of cells at the biochemical or molecular level. Molecular Biology investigates the interactions among DNA, RNA, and protein synthesis to understand how these interactions are regulated using the tools and principles of genetics and bioinformatics—it is among the most rapidly growing fields, and is making strides with recent accomplishments such as the sequencing of the entire human genome.

The B.S. degree in Molecular and Cell Biology places emphasis on the molecular biology and biochemistry that control cell functions. Students take courses in math, physics, and chemistry, along with the core biology curriculum. Once in 400-level biochemistry and molecular biology courses, students get to pursue their specific interests.

The integrated conceptual foundation in biology, the critical thinking skills, quantitative problem-solving abilities, leadership with team-building skills, and scientific research skills that students obtain from lecture and laboratory courses in Western’s Molecular and Cell Biology curriculum are ultimately critical for post-baccalaureate studies and for future job performance.