Bachelor of Science in Psychological Sciences with Emphasis in Neurosciences

at Northern Arizona University - Flagstaff Campus USA

The Bachelor of Science degree in Psychological Sciences enables students to develop an understanding of and knowledge about human behavior from several perspectives in psychological science, the ability to apply and synthesize that knowledge within specific psychological domains, and the research methods skills necessary to become critical evaluators and producers of knowledge of human behavior. The BS in Psychological Sciences is distinct from the BS in Psychology because it provides students with the opportunity for focused study in behavioral science through four emphases and one certificate program, and trains students in the more advanced research skills necessary for scientific inquiry within this discipline and for entry into a Ph.D. program in Psychology, if a student chooses to continue in an academic track. Psychological Sciences majors complete a core sequence of courses including introductory psychology, a set of lower division breadth courses, introduction to statistics, research methods in psychology, a set of upper division depth courses, and a capstone course.  Psychological Sciences majors also receive additional research training through completion of an advanced research methods course and a minimum of 6 units of research experience. Additionally, Psychological Science majors have the opportunity for in depth study in a specific area of psychology through completion of a certificate in human resource management, or an emphasis in social/personality, neuroscience, clinical/health, or developmental psychology.

Developmental Psychology
Students will complete advanced coursework and engage in research on human growth and lifespan changes, including the intersection of physical, cognitive, social, intellectual, perceptual, personality and emotional changes across time and context. Graduating students will be able to:

• Demonstrate depth in their knowledge and application of psychological concepts and frameworks to complex problems in developmental psychology.
• Demonstrate mastery of critical thinking and research skills through completion of a research placement in the area of developmental psychology.
• Produce a research study or other psychological project related to developmental psychology that meets writing standards of the profession, explain scientific results, and present information to a professional audience.

The Bachelor of Arts in Modern Languages provides students with a socio-cultural and historical background as well as linguistic abilities to engage with French, German, Japanese, and Spanish speaking populations from around the world in a variety of social and cultural contexts. Through linguistic, literary and cultural approaches to the study of the French, German, Japanese, and Spanish language, our students develop speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills that allow them to understand and interact effectively with diverse cultures. Throughout this process the students develop cognitive skills in critical thinking and analysis and recognize the importance of being able to function in a global society. With their linguistic abilities in French, German, Japanese, and Spanish, they are better able to compete for career opportunities in the domestic and global job markets and are prepared to become productive, responsible members of the local, national and international communities in which they live and work.

Emphasis in Japanese

• Create with language to express meanings orally on concrete topics relating to work, school, home, and leisure activities using all major time frames (present, past, and future). They can interact with native speakers unaccustomed to dealing with non-natives, and handle complicated or unexpected communicative tasks. (Speaking skills)
• Identify and use main ideas and details from connected aural discourse involving description and narration in different timeframes or aspects, and about a variety of topics beyond immediacy of the situation for communicative purposes. (Listening skills)
• Identify and use main ideas and details from authentic, connected, longer, written texts involving description and narration in different formats about a variety of topics for communicative purposes. (Reading skills)
• Create with language to express meanings in written form about familiar topics using the major timeframes with some control of aspect. (Writing skills)
• Think critically and analytically in response to socio-cultural, historical, and linguistic issues and/or classic and contemporary literary texts related to the culture of the target language. (Critical thinking and analytical skills)
• Understand the cultural, political and artistic diversity of perspectives, practices and products of the target language populations including how racial and ethnic diversity relates to those perspectives, practices and products. (Globalization - Diversity)
• Recognize, investigate, and produce written and oral discourse in the target language communicating findings about historical and contemporary issues important to life in countries of the target language.
• Explore how historical, political, religious and economic forces have shaped the current world system with its power inequalities and efforts to address them with a focus on the culture of the target language. (Globalization – Global Engagement)
• Analyze the structure and use of the language at the sound, word, and sentence level.
• Summarize different linguistic features observed in different dialects in terms of historical change, geographical location and social variables.
• Explore and analyze the role of human interactions with the environment and its relation to the root causes of many global problems focusing on those occurring in the culture of the target language. (Globalization - Environmental Sustainability)

Our goal in offering the B.A.S. degree is to provide you with a general knowledge of management, organizational, and policy issues and to advance your communication, computer, and quantitative skills. This degree also offers you the opportunity to complete a specialization that will broaden your career horizons, promote life-long learning, and enrich your life. Northern Arizona University offers this degree at selected campuses throughout Arizona.

The Northern Arizona University Dental Hygiene Department offers the only Bachelor’s Degree in Dental Hygiene in the State of Arizona. With a national reputation for educating dental hygiene professionals since its inception in 1973, the program offers a high-quality education. Students complete two years of prerequisite didactic instruction in preparatory areas such as human anatomy and physiology, chemistry, microbiology, nutrition, human behavior and statistics and then apply to the program. Once students enter the program, a strong emphasis is placed on gaining extensive clinical experience.  Regular clinic rotations require students to provide dental hygiene care at the NAU Dental Hygiene Clinic, the Hopi Health Care Facility, the Yavapai Apache Dental Clinic, Flagstaff Medical Center, and at North Country Healthcare. Faculty connect these field experiences to coursework, so students actively apply their knowledge of Oral Pathology, Oral Medicine, Pharmacology and Periodontics to their work with patients in the clinic.  In addition to regular clinical rotations, students must complete a minimum two-week summer externship in a dental public health facility serving American Indian, military, or underserved populations throughout Arizona, in selected sites outside Arizona,  or Internationally. Graduates are prepared to practice in diverse settings with special emphasis on rural communities and other underserved populations through a curriculum centered in public health. Their capstone project requires the origination of a public health project that requires exhaustive assessment and planning. Projects are then implemented and outcomes are evaluated in a final written report.  This public health emphasis specifically prepares graduates to write grant proposals and serve in public health administrative roles. The future of dentistry is moving towards the development of a dental therapist; a new Masters prepared dental midlevel provider. Students graduating from NAU’s Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene are optimally poised to enter advanced dental therapy programs, work in independent practice, and/or work in affiliated practice.

The accelerated MBA program is focused on students with a core business education seeking graduate studies in management theory and practice and those seeking accounting certification. Our primary goal is to prepare students to make valuable contributions to their chosen profession and their communities. Our secondary goal is to provide high-quality, business-related training, education, consulting, and information to the Arizona community.

In pursuit of these goals we commit to the following:

• Foster a sense of community and promote diversity among our students, staff, faculty, and alumni,
• Offer a rigorous, current, AACSB-accredited curriculum,
• Integrate advanced technologies into the curriculum,
• Support and encourage our faculty in their creative and personalized delivery of our curriculum and their counseling of our students,
• Maintain and nurture an ongoing faculty commitment to a broad array of intellectual contributions that includes pedagogical research, contributions to practice, and discipline-based scholarship.

Accounting Concentration

The Accounting Concentration prepares you to take portions of the CPA exam.  The applied management concentration focuses on developing consulting skills.

You might work with businesses to provide real solutions to problems that actually make an impact. In the past our students have worked with the Hopi Tribe on an economic development plan, with a hard apple cider company, and with a beverage company

The mission of Northern Arizona University Social Work Program, grounded in the history, purpose, and values of the profession, is to educate competent generalist social workers for practice with diverse populations and multi-level social systems in local, regional and global contexts.

The generalist practice for which we educate is based on social work knowledge, values, and skills; geared to practice with rural and Indigenous populations of the Southwest; and, focused on addressing poverty, structural racism, and oppression; providing leadership in promoting human rights and social and economic justice; and service with vulnerable and underserved populations locally, regionally, and globally.

The mission of our social work program to educate competent generalist social workers is expressed in the following goals:

• To prepare competent generalist social workers with the knowledge, values, and skills for engaging in individual, family, group, organization, and community planned change processes with diverse rural, vulnerable, and underserved populations locally, regionally, and globally;
• To promote identification with the profession, continued professional development, and enhancement of knowledge, values, and skills for generalist social work practice; and
• To provide service to the community and promote social and economic justice.

Chemistry is a diverse discipline that encompasses living processes, inorganic interactions, and analytical methods. Chemistry deals with the basic laws of the physical world and the composition and properties of matter. Students trained in chemistry enter careers in academia, research, pharmacy, forensics, medicine, the environment, space exploration, and national defense. Students can select an emphasis that best prepares them for their chosen career path.

The breadth of the field of chemistry requires a wide range of knowledge and skills. The goal of the NAU chemistry degree program is to ensure that our graduates:

• Are well versed in the fundamental principles of chemistry: the atomic theory of matter, the quantum nature of the atom, and the principle laws of thermodynamics;
• Are knowledgeable about frequently encountered elements, compounds, and reactions;
• Understand biosynthetic pathways and modes of action of biomolecules;
• Understand factors controlling the mechanisms of chemical reactions;
• Are knowledgeable about synthesis strategies and can successfully conduct synthetic sequences in the laboratory;
• Understand the principles of chemical analysis and are proficient at using modern instrumentation to carry out analysis;
• Are adept at solving problems independently and contributing to a team effort;
• Able to communicate their scientific results orally and in writing.

The study of Theatre Arts is an integral part of a liberal arts education. As such, Northern Arizona University Department of Theatre seeks to give the undergraduate theatre student the broadest possible understanding of the art and craft of theatre through the creative, critical, and applied practice of theatre, and provide opportunity through performance and production for the student to learn their art by doing their art in a learner centered environment. The program seeks to prepare students for the global society by creating an awareness of the “other”, practicing empathetical thinking, and sustainability with a global perspective.

Theatre: Emphasis in Theatre Studies

• Evaluate, analyze and apply a depth and breadth of knowledge about the global impact of Theatre history, literature, and practices to the scholarship and practice of Theatre.
  • Demonstrate a depth and breadth of knowledge about the numerous facets of Theatre by successfully participating in various positions in the process of making Theatre.
  • Successfully complete coursework from a wide variety of Theatrical sub-fields
  • Apply knowledge of select Theatrical positions in theory and practice.
  • Recognize the literary, theoretical, and historical practices of global Theatre by taking courses in Script Analysis, Modern Drama, and Theatre History.
  • Synthesize knowledge acquired through the study of Theatrical history, theory and criticism in order to articulate their own stances on the global stage of Theatre.
• Value and apply an understanding of and experience with Theatre as a collaborative art to the scholarship and practice of Theatre.
  • Practice effective communication within a collaborative environment through the hands-on process of Theatre-making.
  • Value and understand professional and ethical boundaries within the collaborative Theatrical process.
  • Apply active listening skills.
  • Evaluate and apply an appreciation of various areas of Theatre to effectively work in a specific area.
• Apply knowledge of theory to practical work in Theatre.
  • Identify and engage in the professional practices of the Theatre through successful completion of courses in either Stage Management or Theatre Management.
  • Recognize, characterize and implement an understanding of the human body and its relationship to narrative and expression through successful completion of performance courses.
  • Identify, implement, and critique the technology and processes used in the professional Theatre, both historically and contemporarily, through the successful completion of courses in Technical Theatre and Design.
• Articulate an understanding of sustainability in Theatre, in all its manifestations.
  • Identify and discuss current professional Theatrical practices aimed at increasing sustainability.
  • Recognize, discuss, and analyze the sustainability of storytelling as an art form that is socially, culturally, and historically contextualized.
• Effectively communicate the theory and practice of Theatre in the following modes: digital, literary, verbal, and non-verbal.
  • Engage in effective digital communication practices through successful completion of course work and practical work in the making of Theatre.
  • Demonstrate understanding and practice of effective written communication and research skills in the literary, theoretical, and historical practices of global Theatre by successfully completing courses in Script Analysis, Modern Drama, and Theatre History.
  • Practice effective verbal and non-verbal communication skills through successful completion of performance courses as well as practical application on stage.
  • Implement effective visual communication skills through the successful completion of courses in Technical Theatre and Design.
• Apply effective problem solving through creative and critical thinking.
  • Articulate the creative process through the successful completion of a Capstone defense.
  • Demonstrate the facility to synthesize and apply their liberal studies to the practice of Theatre.
  • Recognize and analyze Western and non-Western Theatrical practices through coursework and practical application.
  • Apply culturally-aware comparative critical analysis of diverse practices and theories.
  • Synthesize knowledge acquired throughout their academic experiences on and off of the stage.
  • Articulate personal positions on the global state of Theatre.
• Demonstrate the facility to synthesize and apply their liberal studies to the practice of Theatre.
  • Apply awareness and comprehension of the scope of university coursework taken in order to critically analyze historical and contemporary texts and practices.
  • Integrate university course work into analysis and discussion of historical, social, aesthetic, and political contexts for Theatrical practices and texts.
  • Aarticulate arguments about and analysis of the diversity of stories found in the Liberal studies curriculum.
  • Synthesize and apply their knowledge of all areas of Theatre and the liberal arts to effectively complete a capstone project.
• Practice an effective system of preparation and working habits.
  • Implement effective classroom strategies such as active discussion participation, engagement with course materials, and asking relevant questions.
  • Practice effective and efficient writing techniques, including outlining, peer reviewing, and revision.
  • Collaborate within groups to prepare and present course material.

Composition Emphasis

• Students develop composition skills preparing them for careers as composers or for further study at the doctoral level.
• Refine music research and writing skills, including the ability to locate, assess, and synthesize a wide range of research materials related to music; create a bibliography; and write effective expository prose on music and related topics.
• Acquire advanced skills for analyzing traditional tonal music, including the ability to create Schenkerian graphs of musical excerpts and pieces.
• Learn advanced methodologies for analyzing post-tonal music, including pitch-class set theory and twelve-tone theory.
• Acquire detailed knowledge of post-World War II music.
• Increase compositional skills, leading to the production of a large-scale musical work as well as a full-length master’s recital featuring the live performances of several original compositions
• Acquire knowledge of music theory pedagogy, including diverse techniques and strategies for teaching musical fundamentals, tonal harmony, and ear training at the high school and college levels.

The Bachelor of Science in Multidisciplinary Engineering provides students learning opportunities in multiple engineering disciplines and complemented by other disciplines across campus. The program supports a customizable curriculum that includes a capstone experience focused on multi- and inter-disciplinary teamwork. Specific combinations of coursework are formulated in several named emphases that provide unique opportunities and inspires students to build their own unique engineering pathways.

The core of the program is a design sequence with loose commonality across most of NAU’s engineering programs.  All students, regardless of emphasis, engage in contextualized engineering design and project management courses. This core is supported by foundational math, computer science, and physics coursework.  The design sequence also becomes the scaffolding for integrating and synthesizing coursework across several disciplines and content areas.

Students who do not select an emphasis area may work with either an advisor or a faculty mentor to select course work in the plan that supports their own personal engineering aspirations and interests. Students who get an MDE degree have many general engineering career opportunities.  This includes areas such as engineering sales, engineering management, engineering communication, or an engineering technician.

Students who select the Energy Engineering emphasis take specialized coursework in EE, ME, and ECO, which allows them to engage in engineering design problems related to energy capture and storage as well as energy policy and critical thinking.  This emphasis is intended to support students who are interested in working in the energy sector and especially at the intersection of mechanical and electrical engineering practice in this area.