Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies

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

Biomedical informatics is a multidisciplinary field that involves the generation, acquisition, management and analysis of biomedical and health data and its translation into information and knowledge for improving individual and population health.

The BS program in biomedical informatics curriculum includes biomedical informatics, computer science, biology, chemistry, mathematics and statistics. Students learn approaches to acquiring data, data management and knowledge representation, modeling and machine learning and using these capabilities to address problems in the biomedical and health domains. Students have the opportunity to do research alongside faculty who are experts in bioinformatics, imaging informatics, clinical informatics and population health informatics.

The MPS program in community development practice trains existing and future practitioners in approaches to developing healthy, sustainable and resilient communities. The program provides students with historical and theoretical foundations, applied research skills and core competencies centered around community building, development practices and the facilitation of democratic and cross-sector collaboration toward social innovation and community solutions. This program allows students to establish an emphasis on topics like housing and economic development, education, social and environmental justice, health, and sustainability, drawing from the extensive expertise of ASU faculty.

Become a global innovator with a higher purpose. Customize the world's No. 1-ranked Master of Global Management degree (Times Higher Education/Wall Street Journal, 2019) with skills and experience that empower you to integrate economic, cultural and political variables in solving societal development issues such as raising standards of living.

Recent research reveals that graduate programs in international development are in high demand. In fact, Devex found that the master's in international development was No. 3 in their survey of most demanded degrees (Devex, 2016). In a study of international development graduates in Canada, researchers found that over 86% of graduates were employed (Tiessen and Cameron, 2017). To meet this surging demand, Thunderbird School of Global Management created the development and innovation concentration within the MGM degree program.

Offered in collaboration with the School for the Future of Innovation in Society (https://sfis.asu.edu/school-future-innovation-society), the Master of Global Management in global development and innovation prepares global leaders to leverage innovation strategies to tackle development and planetary challenges. The ability to access the tremendous resources available throughout ASU for a truly customizable and transdisciplinary education sets this degree program apart.

Tailored to each student's ambitions and interests, this unique academic concentration is relevant to development practitioners who seek to complement their skills and experience and to those interested in pursuing careers in international development agencies within and beyond government as well as in nongovernmental organizations and community organizations at local, national and international levels.

Graduates are equipped with the analytical and practical skills and experience needed to engage critically as leaders in issues around innovation and development and to work across the intersections of innovation, development policy and global management. They are prepared to make a positive impacts in leadership roles alongside the school's global alumni network of professionals who are making a difference. Graduates have opportunities around the world to tackle some of humanity's most difficult and urgent challenges. They are on the frontline working as agents of change, advancing a shared vision of a world with inclusive and sustainable prosperity.

Thunderbird School of Global Management has produced unique leaders for more than 70 years, leaders in every sector capable of tackling the world's greatest challenges. The alumni network comprises 45,000 graduates and 170 chapters around the globe.

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.

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.

Students are offered the opportunity to learn best practices from a broad array of industry experts (providers, regulatory agencies, government payers, and others) within the medical industry, giving graduates options from which to channel their career in health care compliance.

This program is ideal for anyone interested in the ethical, regulatory and business sides of the health care industry. Program areas of emphasis include:

• Industry standards for accreditation and auditing
• Data privacy, security, and analysis concepts
• Revenue cycles, including current billing and coding procedures
• Local and federal compliance policies, laws and regulations

Thunderbird designed the STEM-designated* global digital transformation concentration within the MGM degree program for students interested in augmenting their digital skills in the areas of management consulting, marketing, design and product development. Students can tailor this cutting-edge academic concentration to fit their specific learning goals. Through collaborative courses offered in partnership with other ASU colleges, students may combine the global management skills gained in the Master of Global Management with digital expertise to create a dual specialization that will continue to be in high demand throughout the global economy.

Digital transformation leadership is a highly sought after expertise. However, technical skills need to be supplemented with a strong repertoire of management and collaboration skills. The Master of Global Management program with a concentration in global digital transformation expands students' choices of electives and fuses technological skills with managerial skills. In this concentration, students combine the global management skills of the Master of Global Management with digital expertise by specializing in the various pathways of global digital transformation through program coursework and applied learning projects guided by our faculty experts.

The MS in community resources and development with a concentration in parks and recreation management is a research-oriented master's degree program. Students learn 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.

The program prepares competent, entry-level recreational therapists with the requisite knowledge, skills and abilities needed to improve functional outcomes and increase participation in life activities for individuals experiencing health conditions. It is designed for students who want to learn to conduct assessments, develop service plans, implement therapeutic interventions, and evaluate and document outcomes of care. They gain skills to effectively provide comprehensive therapeutic recreation services that include program design and evaluation, individual and group service provision, and advocacy. The required fieldwork component of the program facilitates the development of competencies to provide quality recreational therapy services.

Students who choose this degree program are committed to improving people's lives and contributing to their communities. This degree program is one of two such programs in Arizona, both offered by the School of Community Resources and Development. This program has a heavier emphasis on healthcare settings such as hospitals and human service agencies while the Bachelor of Science in parks and recreation with a concentration in therapeutic recreation prepares students to provide recreational therapy services in community settings such as youth programs, adaptive sports, or parks and recreation.

The BA program in community advocacy and social policy focuses on advocacy strategies through an in-depth exploration, analysis and comparison of social service systems and policies from an empowerment perspective.

The program's emphasis is on examining the needs of historically under-served individuals, families and communities. Policy analysis and social change are critical themes in developing an advocacy knowledge base as are the equally important themes of prevention and social well-being. Students complete courses in two core areas: diversity and oppressed populations and social issues and interventions.

While the Bachelor of Arts in community advocacy and social policy program is fully accredited regionally under the North Central Regional Higher Education Association, it is not accredited through the Council of Social Work Education because this degree is not a BSW degree. Therefore, the Bachelor of Arts in community advocacy and social policy degree would not fulfill a professional licensing requirement that requires a Bachelor of Social Work degree from a CSWE-accredited Bachelor of Social Work program.