Undergraduate Academic Accelerator Pathway (2-Term) - Bachelor of Arts in English

at Shorelight Group - Cleveland State University USA

The BFA in Film & Media Arts is a professional training degree program to prepare students for careers in film and media arts. FMA majors use creative problem solving to craft narratives with subtext and emotional depth, bolstered by precise industry skills. Tracks of Writing and Directing, Acting and Directing, Writing and Producing, Cinematography, Postproduction, and Interactive Media allow for discipline focus and opportunities for collaborative projects of increasing sophistication.

The Urban and Regional Studies major entails the study of America's cities, metropolitan areas, and their people. Students learn about the cultural, political, and historical aspects of urban living and the influence of these factors on the growth and decline of businesses and neighborhoods. Urban Studies is an interdisciplinary program that includes a foundation in urban geography, urban economic and political systems, and social issues.

Concentrations are offered in:

Urban and Regional Planning
Urban planners use their skills in research, design, and development to effect social goals in cities. The urban and regional planning track helps students use the heritage of urban planning to influence urban and regional development. Planners analyze a range of data regarding an area—the economic base, the needs of the people, the available resources, and the effects of change—and make recommendations for action.

Public Management
Public managers develop budgets, strategic plans, policies, and programs for a variety of public and private organizations. The public management track gives students basic management techniques and analytic skills necessary to manage effectively in an urban environment.

Environmental Policy and Management
This track is designed to give students an understanding of the economic, political, and social changes necessary for improving the quality of the physical environment in cities. Courses focus on domestic environmental policies and programs, environmental design, and issues related to sustainable development.

Geographic Information System
A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a computerized database management system used for the capture, storage, retrieval, analysis, and display of spatial data. GIS is useful to every discipline that utilizes geographic data and is one of the most exciting and rapidly growing computer technologies.

GIS has spread widely into fields such as land use, transportation, utility management, emergency services, natural resource management, environment, demographics, public safety and public health, market and business location, housing, and real estate. With digital representation of spatial entities and their spatial relationships in GIS database, GIS are used to improve services, assist in managing resources, and provide support for better decision-making and policy-planning activities.

Sociologists study human behavior in industrialized societies. Sometimes this behavior involves personal relationships, perhaps among teenagers or the elderly, sometimes the difficulties facing the urban poor or drug addicts, sometimes the development of modern nation-states and political conflict. Sociology open new windows--challenging conventional wisdom, dissolving myths about social reality, illuminating how the world is socially constructed and clarifying our options and choices.

Sociology students at Cleveland State University are taught to analyze modern social problems scientifically. In addition, they are taught how to do research about these issues using statistics, interviews and participant observation. Good research requires a grasp of the "sociological imagination"--the connections between historical, large-scale social forces and biography, the ways in which people live and understand their lives.

Majors in sociology develop the critical thinking and writing skills basic to a sound liberal arts education; they learn research skills and an understanding of the sociological perspective. This prepares them for a wide range of careers: some students use the degree as preparation for graduate work in one of the social sciences or law, others work in human resource management, social service, criminal justice, corporations or schools.

The Studio Art concentration is a diverse and flexible program that allows students to follow their own individual interests while developing their creative and expressive capacities. Studio Art students begin their studies with Foundations courses in Drawing, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, and Sculpture, and continue into advanced electives in these areas along with Illustration, Visual Technology, and Digital Art. In addition to preparing students to be professional artists, the Studio Art program provides students with the skills that employers want in college graduates, including critical thinking, problem solving, and effective oral and written communication.

The Environmental Studies program is designed for students who are interested in working in environmental planning and analysis for business, industry or government. The program also provides an educational foundation for students who want to pursue an advanced degree in law or business.

Students examine major issues dealing with sustainable development, air and water pollution and hazardous substances. Groundwater protection, wetlands, solid waste disposal, pollution prevention, toxic land contamination, and the treatment of wastewater are some of the many topics addressed.

Students who are formally admitted to Cleveland State University may declare social work as their major at any time. Faculty members are available to provide advising for students in the area of academic achievement, professional development, and careers in social work.

Cleveland State University social work courses are offered during the three academic semesters (Fall, Spring, and Summer) with sections during the day, evening and online.

More than 300 social service agencies serving diverse populations in the Greater Cleveland area provide internship opportunities to CSU social work students.

Studying marketing provides students with the basis to understand the art of developing, communicating, and delivering an offering that consumers find attractive. The goal of marketing is to persuade, earn, and keep customers, clients and partners through carefully articulating the value of your product or service. Studying marketing develops creativity, strategic problem solving, and a deep understanding of consumer behavior and motivation.

Special tracks within the Marketing Major include: consumer marketing, business-to-business marketing, international marketing, database marketing and digital marketing.

• Spanish is the world's third most spoken language, after Mandarin Chinese and English, and ranks second in terms of native speakers.
• At the end of the 19th century, 60 million people spoke Spanish. Today, almost 500 million people worldwide speak Spanish!
• Spanish is the mother tongue of approximately 350 million people in 21 countries (Mexico: 98 million, Spain: 39 million, USA: 39 million, Argentina: 35 million, Colombia: 36 million, Venezuela: 22 million, Peru: 20 million…) It is also widely spoken in many more where it is not an official language.
• Hispanic consumers are the fastest-growing market segment in North America. Their population in the USA has grown by 60% in just one decade and their buying power is expected to exceed $926 million by 2007.
• Spanish is the second most used language in international communication, and an official language of the UN and its organisations.
• 29 million US residents above the age of 5 speak Spanish at home. That's approximately 1 of every 10 US residents, an enormous consumer and business-to-business market.
• "The world is rapidly becoming multilingual and Arabic and Spanish are both key languages of the future" said language researcher David Graddol, commenting on a recent report presented to the British Council.
• No one aware of the changing tides of business could fail to notice that we increasingly operate in global markets. Foreign language fluency is a significant asset for job seekers, as more and more companies trade internationally.
• The US Census Bureau reports that the nation's Hispanic population is expected to jump to 49.3 million from 38.2 million by 2015. The 39 million Hispanics currently living in the USA make up 12.5% of the total population. This population growth has increased demand for Spanish language media: radio, television, newspapers, magazines...
• Latin American countries are experiencing strong economic growth and becoming important global commercial partners. Newly created MERCOSUR and the existing free trade agreements between Hispanic countries and North America (ALADI, the Andean Community, CACM, NAFTA, G3), are expected to bring further growth to Latin American economies.
• Latin culture continues to have a global influence on architecture, art and literature. Who isn't familiar with Cervantes 'Don Quijote de la Mancha, the second most translated book after the Bible, which marked its 400th anniversary in 2005 with worldwide celebrations? Who hasn't heard that the most expensive painting ever sold is a Picasso?
• Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava continues to make his mark worldwide, with recent and current projects in Sweden, Ireland, Germany, the Olympic campus in Athens and the site of the world trade centre in New York, among others.
• Spanish language authors like Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Isabel Allende continue to lead global best seller lists and win international critical acclaim.

Environmental science focuses on ecosystem management, the effects of pollutants on ecosystems, ways to restore polluted environments to their natural state, and effective strategies toward minimizing pollution (preventative management). The Environmental Science major at Cleveland State University provides education in the fundamentals of all the major areas of modern Environmental Science, training in current laboratory skills, as well as environmental policy.

The Nonprofit Administration major is designed for students aspiring to enter the fields of nonprofit management and human services and for those currently employed in these areas. It provides management skills and training directed toward mobilizing community assets and capacity building.

The Nonprofit Administration Major is designed to:

• Develop leadership skills necessary to create positive social change.
• Prepare students to engage and manage volunteers and professionals.
• Teach strategies for the analysis of complex issues affecting nonprofit organizations.