Bachelor of Arts in General Studies

at Kaplan Group - Arizona State University - Downtown Phoenix Campus USA

With your commitment to reshaping your community, your passion for change and your aspirations for an influential career, you can prepare to be an agile, results-driven leader. Through this program's electives and four concentrations, you can align your degree with your goals while unlocking opportunities across diverse communities.

The MS in community resources and development is offered by the School of Community Resources and Development.

The master's degree program prepares students to analyze and understand critical topics and issues pertinent to the fields of tourism, parks and recreation management, nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations, and sustainable communities.

Students choose between two academic options: the thesis or the practicum professional option.

The MS program in science of health care delivery focuses on the study and design of systems, processes, leadership and management approaches used to optimize health care delivery and health for all. This degree program is for individuals interested in a career in the health care industry. It provides students with the knowledge and competencies they will need for contributing in a patient-centered, safe and cost-effective health care system.

The curriculum is centered on achieving high-value care through leadership, population health, informatics, systems engineering, health care management, and health economics and policy. Students learn Lean Six Sigma principles and apply them to health care delivery issues.

The program challenges students to work on innovative solutions to improve the U.S. health care system by simultaneously improving the health of the population, enhancing the patient experience and reducing per capita cost of care. Students apply concepts through case studies and team-based projects to facilitate integration of knowledge and competencies. Participating students work in a cohort through the program and are able to complete the degree in nine months (one academic year). Students are paired with leading health care delivery organizations to complete an applied capstone project during the program.

A BS in kinesiology provides students with a deep understanding of how the human body works. The program prepares students for graduate study in physical or occupational therapy, physician assistant programs, medicine and other health-related professional programs.

In kinesiology, all aspects of human function are studied from the perspective of human movement. The rigorous curriculum provides a scientifically inclusive approach to human movement, studying mechanical, anatomical, neural, developmental, physiological and psychological mechanisms. This gives students in the program a well-rounded understanding of all aspects of human function as it pertains to movement and exercise.

Students in the program have opportunities to work one-on-one with faculty.

Social services delivery is a fundamental building block of government affairs. Through this concentration, students explore the foundation and practices of social services and how social services can be designed, delivered and evaluated at local, state and federal levels.

Psychology is the scientific study of human behavior. This diverse field includes mental health and counseling as well as child development, neuroscience and brain function, memory and decision-making, behavior analysis, statistics and crosses into other disciplines such as medicine, law, business and economics.

Emphasizing critical thinking and reasoning, and quantitative research methods and writing, this BS program in psychology goes beyond the classroom with practical experiences through internships, service-learning and faculty-supervised research. (Some opportunities are not available to students enrolled in the degree offered through ASU Online.)

The Bachelor of Science degree differs from the Bachelor of Arts degree in that it requires two additional lab courses and advanced statistical training, providing a greater depth of knowledge in the biological and neuroscientific aspects of psychology that are increasingly important both for research and for clinical practice. The advanced statistical training further prepares students for careers and graduate training involving psychological research, clinical research and legal policy research.

Through the BS degree program in nonprofit leadership and management, students are empowered to become successful professionals who work to advance the quality of life in communities.

The nonprofit sector in the United States is unique in form and function. This sector includes institutions and individuals situated between government, public, business and commerce sectors. With more than 1.6 million organizations in the U.S., the sector employs more people than the finance, insurance and real estate industries combined. Philanthropy (voluntary action for the public good) is a hallmark of the nonprofit sector as individuals give their time, money and know-how to causes about which they care.

The BA in fashion at ASU is a transdisciplinary program that provides students with a foundation that enables them to work across many segments in the fashion industry.

The fashion program at ASU combines history, business practices and hands-on studio experience to prepare students for a variety of roles in this global industry. Gaining a proficiency in illustration skills, fluency with materials, traditional techniques and digital technologies, students are prepared for interdisciplinary collaborations through coursework across marketing and merchandising, wearable technology, sustainability, management and leadership, international experience, and fashion and culture. In the capstone experience, students develop a substantial project within an area of focus. Opportunities for internships and study abroad further advance students' professional goals.

Understanding the intersections between business and politics is more important than ever for managers and executives in the private, nonprofit and public sectors. The World Economic Forum's latest Future of Jobs Report and McKinsey Global Institute's Jobs of the Future report both have suggested that transdisciplinary, virtual collaboration and cross-cultural competence are extremely important job skills for the near future. Thunderbird's MGM program with a concentration in global affairs equips students with the knowledge base and hard skills needed to thrive in the growing job markets at the nexus of global business and international politics.

This concentration is designed for students who aspire to take on management and executive positions in government agencies such as the U.S. Department of Commerce, the State Department and the Treasury Department or similar roles in the government of a student's home country. The global affairs concentration also positions graduates for leadership roles in international organizations such as the World Bank or World Trade Organization and in major companies that require analysts to monitor policy trends, managers to oversee global supply chains and representatives to advance global business interests to governments, both domestic and foreign.

The BA program in general studies offers students a flexible, innovative path to degree completion. Graduates of the program are informed and effective members of society who are well prepared for a changing global marketplace with its diverse cultures.

The theme of this degree is society and the individual. Students explore the tensions between individualism and collectivism, the public and private selves, domestic and global, and the interplay of culture and identity constructions.

The public policy concentration program is designed for students who would like to work in cross-sector roles within public and nonprofit institutions around the world. Other students may use this program as a springboard into jobs in the private sector that have significant overlap with public agencies. In short, graduates are prepared in both global management and public policy in order to meet the demands of an increasingly interwoven economy.

The Master of Global Management program with a concentration in public policy prepares students for careers as policy analysts and leaders in public service. Graduates are involved in the formulation, approval, implementation and evaluation of public policy at all levels of government and in the private and nonprofit sectors. Offered in collaboration with the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions graduates are able to apply analytical techniques and conceptual frameworks to understand policy issues as well as to identify potential solutions to real-world challenges.