Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry

at Shorelight Group - Southwestern University USA

We form strong critical thinkers and writers who excel in their careers nationally and internationally thanks to the flexibility and quickness of mind gained from studying language, literature, culture and film.

The German Program also builds diverse perspectives through courses addressing historical contexts, the environment, transnational writing and the European Union. The Capstone experience encourages German majors to go into greater depth and prepare for sophisticated work in many fields. Alumni pursue Master’s and PhD degrees and careers in teaching, business, management, international affairs and public health. 

When you study economics at Southwestern, you become a problem-solver and a decision-maker. You will be equipped to examine complex puzzles, analyze them from multiple perspectives, and develop effective solutions. In economics classes, you will learn about the ways that public policy can affect a country’s economy—and therefore individual lives. You will examine the causes and consequences of poverty, discrimination, and climate change and develop effective solutions to these and other issues.

Although it is a diverse field, sociology is united in (1) its acknowledgment that race, gender and class deeply affect our perceptions and lived experiences, (2) its focus on intergroup comparisons and (3) recognition that the sociological imagination lies at the heart of the discipline. The sociology major is designed to help students critically examine the mutual linkages between daily experiences and larger social structures. Courses address sociological understandings of crime and criminal justice; the centrality of work and issues of inequality in contemporary employment; the ways that race, ethnicity, and gender are constructed along interlocking hierarchies and how they are reproduced and challenged; how social class is reproduced and maintained in the United States; and children’s peer cultures as a site where inequalities are both challenged and reaffirmed. Courses on other topics are often offered.

Students seeking a major in Sociology will complete the requirements for the BA degree. The major in Sociology is built around a cumulative curriculum. SOC34-314 Research Methods, SOC34-344 Sociological Theory, SOC34-394 Qualitative Methods Seminar and SOC34-964 Senior Research Seminar must all be taken at Southwestern to fulfill the degree. Majors considering graduate school or careers in social work or public health are strongly encouraged to register for an academic internship.

The department is accredited by the American Chemical Society (ACS) and offers an option for students to pursue an ACS-certified BS degree in chemistry. For students who wish to enter graduate school in chemistry or a related field upon completion of their degree, the ACS-certified chemistry major offers a strong foundation in all fields within the chemical sciences. 

The flexibility of the chemistry degree program allows students to prepare for a number of career options including graduate or professional school, or obtaining a position in government or industry. Students should consult with their academic advisers to determine the best course choices within their individual degree plan. 

In addition to their regular course work, chemistry majors are strongly encouraged to become involved in laboratory research during their junior and/or senior years. Members of the department’s faculty are available to consult with chemistry students about research programs available at Southwestern and other universities. All chemistry majors are required to complete a capstone experience based on a laboratory research project. In addition, all chemistry majors must participate in a literature seminar course to prepare them for their capstone experience.

We provide students with a solid grounding in the history of western philosophy while also facilitating critical engagement with that history, allowing students to consider the lessons and strategies the study of philosophy offers for engaging contemporary questions and problems. 

Over the past several years, we have undertaken curricular revisions that express our commitment to a program that fosters rigorous and coherent thinking and writing, while also locating such thinking within the power relations and differentials that inform, enable, and restrict it.  This commitment is expressed in the multiple disciplinary, social, and cultural intersections our courses encourage students to explore. 

Our particular strengths include intersections with Latin American Studies, Feminist Studies, Race and Ethnicity Studies, Queer Theory, and Marxist thought, as well as theories of media and political theory, including the key contemporary relationship between “politics” and “economics.”  Of late, the tendency of philosophy to be a discipline dominated by white men has received fairly widespread attention.  Our department works systematically to depart from this tendency, to actively foster forms and directions of inquiry of interest to a wide range of persons.

Studying political science is crucial to understanding one of the most powerful institutions shaping our lives: government. By comparing how different ideologies and forms of government have developed and evolved, analyzing how power and resources are distributed throughout a society and the world, and examining the impact of political events and public policies throughout history and across countries, students of the discipline become more informed, engaged participants within the local, national, and global communities.

At Southwestern, majoring or minoring in political science will broaden your understanding of a range of fascinating topics:

• Campaigns and elections
• Domestic and foreign policy
• International politics
• Civil discourse
• The relationship between media and politics
• The relationship between politics and gender
• Models of political leadership
• Theories of revolution, conflict, and peace
• Ideologies and political philosophies

You’ll cultivate the analytical tools, creative thinking, and communication skills that will prepare you for effective critical engagement with many different kinds of power structures. Those skills will also help you develop a sound foundation for future study in  a wide variety of professions as well as graduate programs. Recent Southwestern political science alumni are currently pursuing careers in law, government, K–12 and higher education, nonprofits, urban planning, business, and international affairs.

The Computer Science Department provides an integrated approach to solving complex, open-ended problems—a skill necessary for succeeding in the digital age and beyond. When you major in computer science, you will be empowered to make a positive impact on the world. More than just learning how to code, you will theorize about systems while developing algorithms and gaining hands-on experiences with database management, taking advantage of the power of the cloud.

Beyond taking dynamic courses such as Artificial Intelligence and Operations Research, you can combine your interest in computer science with community engagement or your passion for the arts. Our recent students have

• Created computer systems that “breed” artistic animations
• Improved video game play using the generative adversarial network (GAN) machine learning model
• Partnered with Upward Bound and GirlStart to improve their websites and databases
• Analyzed users’ sincerity when using meeting scheduling apps, such as Doodle Poll

In addition to designing independent research with faculty, you will have the opportunity to present your work at regional, national, and international conferences and publish coauthored articles in peer-reviewed journals. You will also get support as you participate in national competitions, such as the Association for Computing Machinery’s International Collegiate Programming Contest. By graduation, you will be prepared to succeed in top-tier graduate programs as well as fulfilling careers, from network and test engineering to front- and back-end development.

Education courses are designed to provide both a philosophical and theoretical basis for teaching and other education careers. We expose Education students to teaching methodology that is based on the latest research and emphasize developmental characteristics of the learner, learning theories, diverse learners, and assessment. Our professors teach and model analytic, creative and evaluative thinking skills in order to develop lifelong learners who are skilled in the problem solving necessary for the modern classroom. Strong, early field experiences and a closely supervised student teaching placement are integral components of the program.

After graduation, during the critical first year of teaching, the Education Department provides assistance through the Semester of Support (S.O.S.) program. Graduates return to campus to exchange ideas, receive technical assistance from the Department faculty, and engage in evaluation of the Teacher Certification Program. S.O.S. also provides on-site technical support to graduates during their first year of teaching.

Although Education Degrees are awarded by Southwestern University, certification is awarded by the State of Texas. In completing the requirements for their respective degree programs, students must meet the requirements necessary for Texas teacher certification as well as the requirements of Southwestern. 

Students majoring in Latin are encouraged to study for a semester or year at the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies or at College Year at Athens.

The Capstone consists of a semester-long research project, which encompasses a wide range within the area of Latin studies. The project culminates with a formal paper and an oral presentation to an interdepartmental committee, chosen by the student and the faculty project advisor.

Students who major in Latin, and who place out of the foreign language requirement as entering first-year students, may take a Latin exam for credit. Students may earn up to six semester hours of lower level credit upon successful completion of the exam.

In addition to Latin courses, Latin majors are strongly urged to take interdisciplinary courses on ancient civilization, philosophy, literature, mythology, and art and archaeology.

The studio art curriculum offers art, design, and architecture courses as expressive media: the primary art media are ceramics, painting, and sculpture, combined with courses in drawing, printmaking, and digital arts (photography, 3D modeling and cybersculpture). The art major is inherently interdisciplinary, so studio art is offered as a pre-professional program within a liberal arts context. It intends that each student should produce artworks with technical proficiency in a principal medium, supported by knowledge of a variety of media processes, as well as liberal arts breadth in critical thinking and verbal skills. In advanced classes, students focus on a body of personally selected creative works, locating their ideas and artworks within a contemporary cultural and theoretical context.

There are two studio art degree options: the Bachelor of Arts, and the Bachelor of Fine Arts. The B.A. encourages a broad based education across the curriculum and the B.F.A. is more focused within studio art.  The latter requires departmental admittance into the program.

The major is preparation both for students intending to apply to Master of Fine Arts programs and work as professional artists; and for students who wish to acquire a liberal arts degree which can lead to work in a wide variety of fields in graduate school both inside and outside the world of art (such as art history, architecture, digital arts, commercial art, design, arts administration, teaching art in elementary and secondary schools, etc.).