Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies

at University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee USA

The Department of Geography offers both master’s and doctoral programs of study across a range of systematic, regional, and technical fields, with innovative energy in the doctoral program for studying urban environments. The department’s overall strengths are aligned along a theme of “Changing Environments,” with three major axes, each responsive to areas with strong demand for new professionals:

• Urban Environments: This area emphasizes the spatial interactions of economic systems as well as political, social, cultural, environmental, technological, and other forces that influence the people, identities, landscape, development, and dynamics of urban areas. With the world’s population becoming increasingly urbanized and globalized, courses examine the continuing challenges of urban growth and change, race, ethnicity, and gender in the city, immigration and identity politics, and spatial aspects of urban planning processes and political decision-making.
• Physical Geography and Environmental Studies: This area addresses the interactions among natural forms and processes on the earth’s surface, the impact and implications of global climate change, and human connections with those natural phenomena. Courses discuss and analyze the distribution and processes of earth surface landforms (geomorphology), soils (pedology), plants and animals (biogeography), water (hydrology), and long-term atmospheric conditions (climatology). Overlapping emphases include phenology, water resources, conservation, natural hazards, natural resource scarcity, and the mounting challenges of global environmental change.
• Geographic Information Science (GIS): This area emphasizes using geospatial technology to further understanding of spatial interactions among natural and social forces at multiple scales across the Earth’s surface, and exploring the impacts of using such technology on social and cultural interactions. Courses examine geographic information collection (including remote sensing), data analysis and geocomputation (spatial analysis), information presentation (cartography), and societal implications. Our program emphasizes applications of GIS in urban, regional, and environmental planning, policy making, and public health.

Information science, on which the Information Science and Technology program is based, is the study of the organization, storage, retrieval, dissemination, and use of information. Information technology (IT) is the collection of tools that make it possible to access and use information. Some graduates will go directly into jobs in business and industry sectors that rely heavily on information as a raw material or as a product. Other graduates may go on to graduate study in library and information science, information management, computer science, or telecommunications.

The UWM Atmospheric Science Program, housed within the Department of Mathematical Sciences, is a group of scholars who engage in a wide array of distinguished, societally-relevant research currently supported by over $3 million in external funding. Their specializations include climate variability, cloud physics and numerical modeling, atmospheric dynamics, mesoscale and synoptic meteorology, air pollution meteorology, and data analytics. The Atmospheric Science graduate programs are focused on student-led research under the direction of one or more faculty advisors.

Over its twenty-plus years of existence, the program has a history of innovation in both education and research, with the Innovative Weather program and first-of-its-kind “Air Pollution and Ancient Cultures” faculty-led study abroad course being two representative examples of innovative educational opportunities. Students graduating from the program have a long history of acquiring gainful employment with top-tier public and private sector institutions in Wisconsin and beyond.

The MA in Language, Literature, and Translation (MALLT) is an interdisciplinary MA degree program focused on global languages, literatures and translation. With over 50 faculty from five different departments, MALLT offers a flexible program of study tailored to your professional goals. Three departments—French, Italian and Comparative Literature, Foreign Languages and Literature and Translation & Interpreting Studies cooperate in offering this interdepartmental, interdisciplinary master’s program designed for the student who wishes to focus on language, literature, and translation on a cross-cultural basis.

The Department of History offers MA and PhD programs that prepare students for careers in teaching, in historical research, and in archives, historical agencies, museums, libraries and government. The Department offers a wide array of geographically, chronologically and thematically defined courses.

The School of Freshwater Sciences offers a graduate program of studies providing students with advanced training and education in four areas:

• Freshwater System Dynamics
• Human and Ecosystem Health
• Freshwater Technology
• Freshwater Policy and Economics

Each of these focus areas is interrelated with the others, and includes biologic, physical, technologic and policy aspects of freshwater.

The Department of Rehabilitation Sciences and Technology offers a Master of Science in Occupational Therapy that prepares students to become occupational therapists. During the program, students engage in graduate-level instruction embedded in the theory, research, and clinical underpinnings required to become evidence-based occupational therapy practitioners. Students may select a thesis option or project option in pursuing this degree. Students who are interested can choose to combine elective courses from the OT program with other courses on campus to receive the transcript-designated concentration in assistive technology and accessible design and/or ergonomics.

The Master of Science in Engineering program is a flexible program designed to meet the needs of a wide variety of students. The program can be a stepping-stone on the way to further studies and the pursuit of advanced research, such as can be obtained by pursuing the PhD. Or the program can provide a pathway to professional advancement through greater technical knowledge and intellectual maturity. The student, with the help and approval of a major advisor, can choose from a wide range of courses from throughout the College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS), and where appropriate, from other schools and colleges.

The Department of Educational Policy and Community Studies offers a master’s program for educators, community leaders, and those working in community-based organizations. Students deepen their knowledge about urban education and the contexts of urban communities. The program enhances participants’ ability to critically analyze education and processes of community change, and courses focus on the causes of inequality and oppression and explore approaches for fostering change.

The finance major provides the needed tools to work in investment management, corporate financial management, and banking. Position titles for finance majors include loan officers, mortgage review officers, stockbrokers, bond and security analysts, and ultimately, chief financial officers. Finance majors are increasingly taking and passing the Chartered Financial Analysts (CFA) examination. Thorough training in finance and related fields provides the practical and theoretical background needed to succeed in the fast-paced and fascinating world of domestic and international finance.