Undergraduate Extended Accelerator Pathway (3-Term) - Bachelor of Science in Biology

at Shorelight Group - American University USA

The American University School of Communication Bachelor of Arts in Film and Media Arts provides you with a professional skill set in photography, film, video, and digital media.

Our undergraduates take advantage of the broad opportunities that Washington, DC offers with internships at national media organizations including USA Today, National Geographic Television, and PBS.

You'll be positioned on the forefront of social purpose filmmaking at nonprofits, NGOs, and government agencies such as the World Wildlife Fund, Smithsonian Institution, and the National Park Service. Graduates of our program go on to have successful careers in the media industry.

Global pandemics, environmental degradation—public health professionals have never been more essential to addressing the challenges the world faces. Focused on health equity, our BA prepares students for a career in the social and community aspects of public health. It provides opportunities to participate in original research, work with expert faculty, and take part in internships and service activities.

The Global Inequality and Development Thematic Area directly addresses issues concerning the theory and practice of achieving equitable and sustainable human development. Courses will encompass a broad examination of issues related to poverty and inequality as they intersect with urban and rural geographies, the built and natural environment, food systems, conflict, education, gender, youth and development, and possibilities for bilateral and multilateral cooperation. This area will include historical analysis of the field of development studies from colonialism through the present with a focus on understanding and analyzing conflicts, shared goals, and normative values embedded in development objectives. Students will become equipped to understand and analyze the multiple causes and consequences of development and inequality, and will become better equipped to understand the mechanisms of governance best able to respond to these challenges.

Carve your path as an artist and scholar as you explore the history, theory, and performance traditions across diverse musical genres and forms. Our students perform internationally with our ensembles and intern with the most prestigious arts organizations of the nation’s capital, gaining world-class professional opportunities and contacts. Many of our private instructors are nationally recognized performers. 

Combine business and STEM courses to develop an analytical skill set for the modern business world. Learn from top-credentialed faculty interested in your success. Specialize in accounting, analytics, entrepreneurship, finance, information systems and technology, international business, management, or marketing. Gain real-world experience by solving problems for local businesses or interning at DC’s many financial institutions, consulting firms, and policy institutes.

Our MA in political science will help build your expertise in campaign management and public affairs advocacy. You’ll have opportunities to research how America’s political system influences public policy, and gain hands-on experience interning on Capitol Hill and on the K Street lobbyist corridor. You’ll network with and learn from guest speakers well known in American politics.

The MA in Art History provides advanced historical study in European and American art from the early Renaissance through the present, as well as Asian and other non-Western art, to prepare you for a doctoral program, curatorial position, or one of many other museum-related careers. You will develop an understanding of art historical methods and research practices while building skills in critical thinking, visual analysis, research, and written and verbal communication about art. Our program exposes students to innovative approaches to art history to foster a broad understanding of the discipline and its wide-ranging applications.

The Master's in Computer Science (MS) will give you an edge in this dynamic, growing field. You will build a solid foundation in computer science with our core curriculum, and can customize your degree to fit your career goals by choosing one of three tracks of specialization: applied computer science, game and computational media, or data science. Students can further personalize their degrees by choosing to pursue research and a traditional master’s thesis, or a combination of research and an internship.

Issues of identity, whether avowed or ascribed and socially constructed or naturally derived, fundamentally shape people's lives and society. In particular, race, gender, class, religion, sexual orientation, and nationality are determinate identities for many, though in reality, everyone holds multiple identities at the same time. Although these identities often appear to be static and fixed from the outside, they are dynamic and ever-changing, driven by the broader cultural and social influences in which they arise and exist. Courses in this Thematic Area examine the nature of these identities in a world in transition. Our courses, embodying both theoretical and grounded approaches, explore each of these identities in their own right, as well as in a historical and an intersectional manner that explores the relationship between them.

Delve into the art and science of music technology with a bachelor’s in audio technology. Through our program, you'll gain practical experience through courses in sound synthesis, audio production, digital audio workstations, electronics, and physics. You’ll master industry technologies in our recording studio designed by one of the premier studio design firms in the country.