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

at Shorelight Group - The University of Utah USA

The Health, Society and Policy (HSP) Program addresses the multidimensional characteristics of human health. Health status may be related to factors beyond pathogens or illness: lifestyle, environmental exposures, socioeconomic status, cultural affiliation, poor communication, or access to health services can all contribute to an individual’s health. Students in this program are given the broad, interdisciplinary foundation for understanding health, allowing them to sensitively and effectively address health care issues in multidimensional contexts: for example, the geographic location, literacy, or socioeconomic status of an individual might impact their ability to access or obtain healthcare or eat a healthy diet. HSP students take courses from a variety of fields, including epidemiology, behavioral sciences, research methods and quantitative skills, administration, philosophy, and history. This coursework provides students with a coherent perspective on health care in its various social and administrative contexts. The culminating experience of the program is a capstone, delivered as an interdisciplinary series of seminars on a particular theme related to the major.

The Latin American Studies program provides students with the opportunity to explore interdisciplinary approaches to Latin America. Students will not only have the chance to become literate in one of four Latin American languages— Spanish, Portuguese, Nahuatl, or Quechua—but they will also be able to explore the people, culture, and history of the region. The remainder of the curriculum is comprised of core courses in Latin American civilizations and cultures, with students choosing electives from the Latin American Studies department and other allied fields (such as humanities, anthropology, and linguistics). The culminating experience of the program is a study abroad, internship, independent study, or research course, allowing students to synthesize their knowledge and skills. Cross-cultural understanding and foreign language proficiency are valuable skills for students to have as we move toward an increasingly global economy. Students may use the language and critical thinking skills the Latin American Studies program will give them to pursue a number of diverse career options or as a springboard to attending graduate school.

Environmental and Sustainability Studies (ENVST) is a STEM interdisciplinary program that offers a major with several emphases to focus your study, as well as a minor. The curriculum explores ecological systems and the impact of human-environment interactions from the perspectives of the natural sciences, the social and health sciences, and the humanities. The U’s program strives to foster an understanding the multi-faceted issues of the environment and sustainability and finding solutions through systemic analysis, peer learning, and community engagement, social responsibility, leadership, and having a science-based focus on solutions and integrated problem solving.

Political Science studies the world of politics and government – particularly the manner in which people organize, administer, and seek to improve their governments, the privileges and responsibilities of citizenship, and the use and abuse of power. Students who major in political science are interested in understanding how laws and policies affect peoples’ lives and care deeply about community engagement and social change. Through a critical investigation of the political world, political science students learn how to apply concepts and theories, craft compelling arguments, and analyze complex information while grappling with some of the most pressing challenges facing societies around the globe.

Urban Ecology is an interdisciplinary field concerned with the interrelationships among social, environmental, and economic systems, with the goal of enhancing the vitality and sustainability of places and communities. The University of Utah’s Urban Ecology program is designed to respond to problems and opportunities that exist in cities, suburbs, small towns, and rural places for example, environmental management, fragile landscape protection, recreation and tourism, public lands planning, rapid population growth, regional transportation, energy production, and sprawl. As a student of the Urban Ecology program, you will take classes in urban ecology, planning, field studies, economics, law and social justice; you can also choose from a variety of electives topics, such as green infrastructure, sustainable development, community leadership and cities in literature. In your senior year, you will do an internship and take on a real world problem in the Ecological Planning Workshop.

The field of electrical & computer engineering involves the analysis and design of complex electrical and electronic devices, software, and systems containing hardware and software components. Without electrical & computer engineering, things like computers, car power systems, and cell phones would not exist. The Electrical and Computer Engineering department at the University of Utah covers a broad range of disciplines related to computing, sensing, and communicating. The program will prepare you to join the next generation of engineers, capable of becoming a leader in industry, government or academia. The Electrical & Computer Engineering curriculum is comprised of courses in differential and integral calculus, linear algebra and complex variables, basic sciences, computer science, and engineering sciences. Training in these topics prepares students for the analysis and design challenges associated with electrical and electronic devices, software, and systems containing hardware and software components. All students must complete a senior project capstone, further solidifying electrical and computer engineering concepts and preparing you to enter the workforce or graduate school.

Management skills apply to every organization and in every business discipline. The Management Major is designed to give students the skills they need to lead companies in all phases of development, from startup to maturity, and through challenging situations. Students develop competence in human resource management, quantitative and statistical decision making, production/operations management, and general management. In addition to core business major requirements, management students must complete courses in leadership and business ethics. Students then choose electives from areas such as Organizational Leadership, Sustainable Leadership, Managing Conflict, among others. The Management degree will prepare you for careers in not only business but nearly any field that requires excellent communication, organizational, and management abilities.

Social workers provide mental health services to individuals and communities across the United States. They work in family and child service agencies, hospitals, schools, criminal justice agencies, nursing homes, and other places, providing intervention, evaluation, and counseling services. If you want to enter this challenging but rewarding field, the U’s Social Work (B.S.W.) program will provide you with the theoretical knowledge and practical skills you need to professionally practice social work in a number of settings: a B.S.W. degree prepares students for immediate entry into human service positions across the country. Students in the program complete coursework in the following areas: human behavior and social environment, social work as a profession, social diversity and cultural understanding, research and evaluation, and welfare policy. In preparation for professional practice, students also complete a supervised internship in the field.

The French program at the University of Utah is intended for students wishing to gain a deeper understanding of French and Francophone (French-speaking) cultures through the study of French language, literature, and society.  The program, housed within the Department of World Languages & Cultures, caters to individual student needs and fosters forward thinking and intellectual freedom. This freedom is reflected in program coursework: the program curriculum begins with intensive grammar and progresses through the cultural history of France and the more than 50 French-speaking nations in the world, covering topics such as French film, fashion, romance, art, nationhood, otherness, and identity. The U’s French program provides excellent preparation for pursuing graduate work and entering a variety of professions where critical reading, writing, and thinking skills are paramount.

The field of electrical & computer engineering involves the analysis and design of complex electrical and electronic devices, software, and systems containing hardware and software components. Without electrical & computer engineering, things like computers, car power systems, and cell phones would not exist. The Electrical and Computer Engineering department at the University of Utah covers a broad range of disciplines related to computing, sensing, and communicating. The program will prepare you to join the next generation of engineers, capable of becoming a leader in industry, government or academia. The Electrical & Computer Engineering curriculum is comprised of courses in differential and integral calculus, linear algebra and complex variables, basic sciences, computer science, and engineering sciences. Training in these topics prepares students for the analysis and design challenges associated with electrical and electronic devices, software, and systems containing hardware and software components. All students must complete a senior project capstone, further solidifying electrical and computer engineering concepts and preparing you to enter the workforce or graduate school.