Bachelor of Arts in General Studies

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

The Thunderbird MGM program with a concentration in sustainability solutions prepares students for the professions of the future. In this concentration, students earn a degree that benefits their career and the planet. There is an accelerating demand for leaders with a global mindset who possess expertise in sustainability, understand how to apply its principles and technology in approaching problems, and know how to work with and draw from different disciplines to develop practical solutions to the world's most urgent sustainability challenges.

The World Economic Forum reports that empathy and collaboration are two critical abilities for global manager success. These are equally critical for those seeking careers in sustainability solutions. These abilities rely on the development of social capital. This program is designed to develop a student's social capital through field-based action learning, team-based projects and stretch assignments. Students have the ability to build sustainable trusting relationships --- the basis of social capital ---with others from diverse parts of the world by learning techniques and methods of developing intercultural empathy, the ability to have interpersonal impact, and to act with diplomacy when influencing others. This concentration is offered in collaboration with ASU's School of Sustainability.

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 more. It also crosses over into other disciplines such as medicine, law, business and economics.

This BA program in psychology --- emphasizing critical thinking and reasoning, quantitative research methods and writing --- goes beyond the classroom, adding 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.)

Graduates are prepared for graduate programs in psychology or other areas as well as for professional employment.

Learn to understand complex public problems and develop and implement innovative policy solutions. Through coursework and real-world projects, you can gain the analytic skills required for addressing society's most challenging problems.

The MPP program equips students with the analytical tools they need in order to understand and address public policy issues. Students also develop skills in managing the process of policy development, approval, implementation and evaluation, as well as gain policy-specific knowledge on issues such as poverty, education, the environment and public safety.

Lead the field of human performance with your knowledge of strength and conditioning theory and application and the art and science of coaching athletes. Use programming, recovery and injury prevention to help others achieve their goals.

The MS program in strength and conditioning focuses on specialized knowledge of human physiology and movement mechanics to optimize the physical abilities of active groups, including athletic and tactical populations, and to prevent injury-related problems.

Required courses address advances in health and performance monitoring, how to design successful exercise and recovery programs for maximum physical performance, and coaching strategies that motivate increased individual effort in sport or work. Students gain practical experience that hones their coaching skills and refines their abilities to motivate individuals to achieve the increased workloads that are necessary for performance improvement.

This program prepares students to sit for certification examinations offered through the National Strength and Conditioning Association to become certified strength and conditioning specialists, tactical strength and conditioning facilitators or certified performance sports scientists.

The MS in criminology and criminal justice is a research degree program designed to provide students with a high level of theoretical and empirical knowledge about crime and criminal justice.

The program provides students with the advanced research skills, training in program planning and management, and policy and statistical analysis needed for careers as criminal justice researchers, leadership roles in criminal justice and related agencies and organizations, and for continued study in doctoral programs in criminology and criminal justice.

Sports journalism is the fastest-growing sector of the news media industry, with continued growth on all platforms --- multimedia outlets, broadcast and cable channels and networks, radio and podcasting, and team, league and conference websites and social media platforms.

The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication's MA program in sports journalism is a 36 credit hour, three-semester program providing students with unparalleled preparation for careers in sports media and communications.

Students begin with an intensive multimedia skills-based course, which teaches them to produce sports and news coverage across broadcast, digital and print platforms. From there, students choose advanced classes in sports reporting, videography, podcast production, live sports production, play-by-play, narrative writing, documentary video and participate in sports bureaus located in Phoenix and Los Angeles. Students learn the values and principles embodied by Walter Cronkite in classes that focus on sports journalism ethics and the challenges faced by the industry.

This program provides professional preparation in population-based approaches to improve health outcomes, including school and community health education. Students pursuing a bachelor's degree in health education and health promotion gain foundational knowledge in health promotion program planning, implementation, evaluation, health education and health advocacy. These skills can be applied to society's most pressing health challenges, including improving the food and built environments to promote health, providing sexual health education, and preventing substance abuse, violence, injuries and infectious diseases.

The School of Public Affairs offers a concentration in health policy as part of the BS program in public service and public policy. This program allows students to build a course of study that focuses on the health care industry. This sector continues to be a major part of the U.S. and world economy.

The concentration in health policy provides students who have an interest in policy to focus on health-related issues and their policy implications. The courses in the concentration are offered by the College of Health Solutions and the School of Human Evolution and Social Change.

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.

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.