Bachelor of Arts in Latin

at Shorelight Group - Southwestern University USA

With its wide scope and its status as the foundation for many scientific disciplines, physics enables you to understand all forms of mass and energy and their interrelationships. You will explore how the universe works—from the subatomic and molecular levels to the scale of solar systems and galaxies—through systematic observation, theoretical modeling, and experimentation. And fulfilling Southwestern’s innovative Paideia approach to education, physics gives you the tools to make connections between seemingly unconnected phenomena in technologically innovative and artistically creative ways. How is DNA related to the dust swirling about a star? How does the strumming of a guitar or the darkly dramatic register of a tenor trombone behave like a wave traveling within the depths of the ocean or the tremors of an earthquake? You will develop the intellectual and philosophical curiosity to understand first physical principles—foundational concepts that lead to the scientific discoveries that shape our world and drive the technological advances that help improve our lives.

With specialties in geophysics, atmospheric physics, mathematics, and quantum physics, our award-winning faculty offer a rich array of courses, including earth and climate science, classical mechanics, and quantum physics. If your passion is for engineering, you can explore the field in our three-year, dual-degree Applied Physics Pre-Engineering Pathway. You will also have the remarkable opportunity to use the Fountainwood Observatory for research and coursework. Thanks to a generous gift by Max Allen, a local engineer, builder, and amateur astronomer, our observatory houses a research-quality reflecting telescope complete with a digital CCD camera that enables you to for view and process images on your computer.

The major features courses that present the historical and cultural range of literary production in English, a deliberate encounter with interpretive strategies under the heading of critical theory, and, under “emergent literature,” a set of courses that exceed established, national canons of literature. Special topics courses (10-304) are frequently offered that, where designated, fulfill these requirements.

All of the courses in the Communication Studies major involve a significant amount of writing, research, and creative work. Several courses engage in the teaching of writing, research, and creative methods and are designated as COM Writing Intensive Courses. 

French majors and minors tie their language studies to in-depth analysis of literature, culture and film. Our curriculum integrates speaking, writing and culture into all courses, enhanced by faculty mentoring and interdisciplinary opportunities. French students are strongly encouraged to study abroad. Several graduates have won scholarships to teach in France, through the French Embassy’s Teaching Assistant Program.

The French Program also builds diverse perspectives through course materials tailored to students’ needs.

The Capstone provides majors with training in independent research and prepares them for work in many fields. Alumni pursue Master’s and PhD degrees and careers in art, business, international affairs, law, management, public health, and teaching.

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. 

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.

Majoring or minoring in psychology will help you understand the workings of the brain in its complex control of behavior, emotion, and cognition

You’ll also apply the knowledge you develop in coursework to high-impact learning experiences. For example, our students conduct novel, high-quality scientific research. They engage in internships with local schools, hospitals, police departments, and nonprofits. And based on these experiences, they’ve presented their research at national and international scientific conferences and coauthored scientific publications with faculty on such topics as the neural development of reproductive physiology and behavior, sexuality and relationships, and evolutionary psychology. By majoring or minoring in psychology, you’ll be prepared not only for top-ranked graduate programs but also for a wide range of careers, from medicine and veterinary science to marketing and business.

When you study business 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 business courses, you will gain a systems-level view of how organizations operate: How do entrepreneurs build a business from concept to reality? What are the effects of miscommunication or informal group dynamics in the workplace? How do different types of businesses develop successful financial and marketing strategies?

In business major, you will learn and apply foundational concepts related to the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. But our award-winning faculty are also committed to updating the curriculum to keep pace with innovation, enabling you to think about, for example, the economic costs of pollution, how globalization affects business practices, and how technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain can help businesses obtain a competitive edge. You can also delve into data analysis, learning how to conduct cost–benefit analyses and make decisions about effective resource allocation.

While pursuing your degree, you will have a diverse range of opportunities to participate in relevant transformative experiences that enable you to bridge classroom discussion with real-world applications. Our students have studied abroad with the Southwestern London Program and have interned with the Federal Reserve Bank, Southwest Airlines, the Texas Bowl, Accenture, and the Smithsonian. Undergraduate research enables you  to push your understanding of the field, and our students regularly present at national meetings and publish their research in professional journals. In addition, in our groundbreaking Financial Analyst Program, you can gain invaluable experience in portfolio management by working with a team of students actively investing a portion of the University’s endowment.

The Anthropology major is designed to develop a critical awareness and understanding of the diversity of peoples and cultures, and of the relevance and application of anthropological perspectives and methods to contemporary issues. The program specializes in the Caribbean, Latina/o’s in the U.S. and the U.S-Mexico Borderlands, and is anchored by a faculty member each in Anthropology and Feminist Studies. Courses cover issues central to our contemporary global society: questions of race, class and gender; environmental (in)justice; and the making of religious and spiritual forms and identities. Additionally, contributing courses from Political Science and Religion address politics and social change in Latin American and Caribbean societies, gender in/and religions, spiritual traditions in native America, pilgrimages and more. Anthropology majors acquire solid grounding in both the social and cultural theory employed and generated by anthropologists and the ethnographic methods that define our discipline and conduct and present a paper based upon their own independent research.

Students seeking a major in Anthropology complete the requirements for the BA degree. Students are required to complete a period of in-depth ethnographic research during which they collect data for their capstone. This research period must be completed by end of the fall semester of their senior year and must entail a minimum of four weeks of intensive research or its equivalent. Students are encouraged to conduct this research during a study abroad experience with an appropriate study abroad program (see approved list of study abroad providers). Students may also complete this research through extending a project begun in the Theory and Method course, or otherwise developing a project. 

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.