Bachelor of Arts in Biological Sciences

at University of Delaware USA

The B.A. in Art—one of three undergraduate art and design degrees offered at UD—provides the same foundation in art making through its Core studio courses that B.F.A. students receive along with additional upper level studio courses to further hone the student’s artistic skills. It encourages an interdisciplinary approach with many students earning a minor or second major from departments across the college and university. The B.A. provides an opportunity for students to develop highly personal portfolios that can incorporate art and design with work from other disciplines with very marketable results. The B.A. also reflects developments in Fine Art involving more environmentally and socially engaged art practices, technology or performance-based work, as well as artworks emphasizing academic research.

Health Behavior Science is the study of how individual (e.g., race, age, disability, knowledge), social (e.g., peer-groups), and environmental (e.g., access to parks, worksite wellness programs) factors shape our health and well-being across the lifespan. We work to promote healthy lifestyles and reduce the burden of disease through the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of health promotion programs to change specific health behaviors for individuals and/or target populations. Students are also required to complete a minor in an approved area of expertise or complete the Health and Disability concentration to provide additional focused skills that enhance their job competitiveness. Students pursuing this major are well prepared for careers in health promotion and education, community health, worksite wellness, health coaching, personal training, and advanced graduate programs including health promotion/public health, physical/occupational therapy, physician assistant, and accelerated nursing programs. The program culminates with an internship experience that enhances the school to work transition.

Plato coined the word 'philosopher' to refer to a 'lover of wisdom'. As a discipline, philosophy seeks to understand the world and our relation to it by examining and scrutinizing the foundational assumptions that lie behind our everyday thinking. Philosophy asks big questions: What fundamentally exists? Are there any moral truths? Is free will possible? Can machines think? What is a scientific law? Which forms of government are best? Is there a God? But perhaps more than any specific set of questions or ideas, philosophy is about the love of critical and creative thinking, intelligent discussion and cogent argument. Since these skills are vital in every field, philosophical tools and training can be useful for students of virtually any subject. Students with a special interest in legal careers have the option of selecting the department’s philosophy and law concentration. Philosophy majors tend to score highest on the GRE, MCAT and LSAT exams, and many have gone on to successful careers in a variety of fields.

With the rapid advances in information technologies, the volume of data that are generated has tremendously increased in recent years. The data come from everywhere: online transactions, mobile apps, sensors, video-capturing systems, social media and more, and are arriving at a scale of terabytes (or even petabytes). Businesses gain strategic and managerial insights by gathering, cleaning and analyzing the data.

Program Highlights

The business analytics major teaches you about the theories and methods of analyzing large volumes of data. You will learn how to leverage data to gain competitive advantages and strategic insights in today’s business world. The major focuses on the following critical skill areas:

• Import and pre-process data
• Model and evaluate data
• Visualize and communicate the results

Concentrations
As part of the business analytics major, you will choose a concentration, which focuses on one aspect of business. You will then apply analytics to that concentration. Based on your interests and career goals, choose from:

• Accounting
• Economics
• Finance
• Hospitality
• Management
• Management Information Systems
• Marketing
• Operations Management

As a meteorology and climate science major, you will learn how to answer questions about weather and climate that are increasingly relevant and important to all of us. Will a hurricane change course and make landfall over a coastal city? How much snow will the Northeast get this winter? What do sea surface temperatures tell us about climate change?  

You will receive training in meteorology, the science of the atmosphere, that will help you understand and address events is felt throughout various sectors of society—droughts resulting in water shortages, crop damage and increased wildfire potential, or water surpluses causing flooding. You will also study the climate, which is usually considered to be an average of weather conditions over a long period of time, along with understanding the variability of climate and its extreme events. Your studies in this area will include land-ocean-atmosphere interactions, as well as the role of the sun and astronomical forces. The skills you develop in weather and climate prediction are important skills used in the agricultural, tourism, disaster management, resource management, communication and renewable energy industries.

Landscape Architecture is perfect for any student interested in learning ways to address solutions to environmental, natural resource and sustainability challenges at local, regional and global levels. Landscape architects work in cities and communities to help keep air and water clean, provide habitat for wildlife and build safe, beautiful places for people to enjoy. They work in interdisciplinary firms with other professionals to design outside spaces where people live, work and play. So many of your favorite parks, plazas, golf courses and certainly college campuses resulted directly from the hands-on technical expertise and aesthetic sensibility of landscape architects. If you have been to Central Park in New York City or the Baltimore Inner Harbor, you have visited places designed, planned and managed by landscape architects.

By studying geological sciences, you will study the planet, the processes that change our landscapes, the history of life and the interactions between environment and society. You will gain the practical and in-demand skills to collect scientific data, inform policy decisions and study the environmental impacts of things like fracking, oil and natural gas extraction, renewable resources, climate change, and more.  Geological sciences graduates are in high demand with starting salaries ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 annually.

Comparative literature brings an international and intercultural perspective to bear on the study of literary themes, forms, movements and relations, as well as the interrelations between different national literatures and other disciplines. The Comparative Literature Program provides students the opportunity to design a course of study allowing specialization in two or more literatures.

The Bachelor of Music in Composition emphasizes instruction in musical composition, improvisation and multimedia creative activities. Many students in this major continue on to graduate studies in composition at well-known institutions with the goal of working in higher education or to compose vocationally.

The Composition Studio is a vibrant and highly active group within the University of Delaware’s School of Music. Composition students remain active as performers and are able to participate in all of the school’s ensembles and productions. Diversity in compositional style and philosophy is encouraged, as is interdisciplinary collaboration and experimentation. Close association with the theory and musicology areas, in addition to the performance area, provides for a well-rounded academic education where music composition students can enhance and support their creative work with specialized research and performance.

?The Department of Mathematical Sciences offers a program in Actuarial Science leading to the Bachelor of Science degree. The major, with courses taught by faculty in the Departments of Economics, Finance, and Mathematical Sciences (among others), provides a strong background in actuarial science, including the satisfaction of all three actuarial science VEE requirements. Students graduating with this degree will be well prepared for the first two actuarial examinations, the foundation of an actuarial career.