Bachelor of Arts in Strings and Harp

at Shorelight Group - University of Kansas USA

Does learning about the past fascinate you ? Do you want to know more about different cultures around the globe ? Pursuing a History major or minor will help you gain a better understanding of yourself and the world around you by exploring the past, comprehending the present and building a successful future.

Why History?

• Useful: The research, writing, analytical and communications skills you will gain with a history major will carry over to many future career options. 
• Welcoming: We draw no boundaries between what you may and may not study, from labor, literature and art to war and rebellion. History shares students from a wide range of disciplines such as Environmental Studies, African and African American Studies and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
• Flexible: Because few courses have sequential prerequisites, History is easy to take as a minor or as a second major.
• Worldly: History is excellent preparation for travel and work abroad, and around thirty majors yearly participate in KU’s Study Abroad program. 
• Intimate: Courses in the department are usually small, and the larger courses always include trained Graduate Teaching Assistants to give individual attention and feedback.

Chinese
In a few short weeks, CHIN 104: Elementary Chinese language students know their four tones and can speak beautifully about basic topics of daily life. Learning characters, the challenging but fun aspect of Chinese, starts slowly the first year, then accelerates the second and third years of study. Advanced-level students from KU can read newspapers and contemporary fiction by the time they graduate; graduating majors are fluent in Chinese.

Japanese
Often considered the "Gateway to the East," Japan is a center for commerce, trade, education, and culture in East Asia. KU alums with Japanese language skills have followed career paths such as acting for Japanese television, banking in Tokyo, and working as a legal expert for Microsoft, as well as many who pursued graduate work in Japanese culture and history. Beyond the practical advantages, studying Japanese possesses its own intrinsic rewards: learning one of the world's most complex languages exercises the mind in unique ways. Japanese language students are never bored!

Korean
Although Korean has been a spoken language for several thousand years, the development of its phonetic alphabet in 1446, hangul, made it the easiest East Asian language to master. Today Korean is the 11th most spoken language in the world. More than half of Korean's vocabulary can be traced to Chinese, and the structure and grammar are similar to Japanese. KU is the only institution in Kansas that teaches intermediate and advanced Korean language courses.

The overall program mission for the B.S. degree in chemical or petroleum engineering is to provide a modern chemical or petroleum engineering education with proper balance between theory and practice. Graduates are prepared for professional practice in industry or government and for post-undergraduate training in chemical or petroleum engineering, medicine, etc. In addition to scientific and engineering training, students receive training in educational skills and in the humanities and social sciences.

Petroleum engineering is the branch of engineering concerned with the drilling, recovery, production, and distribution of petroleum and natural gas. It includes knowledge of the properties of fluids and rocks in surface and subsurface environments as well as methods of exploiting the economic production of oil and gas from petroleum reservoirs. A major subdivision at KU is reservoir engineering, or the development of processes to improve production from oil and gas reservoirs. Reservoir engineers use sophisticated mathematical techniques and computer technology to obtain optimum production. Through such techniques, petroleum engineers continue to extract oil and gas from reservoirs that only a few years ago would have been considered uneconomical. This branch of engineering is somewhat different from the other in that production is far removed from physical observation.

The Mathematics Department offers two undergraduate degrees: the B.A. in Mathematics and the B.S. in Mathematics. The B.A. has fewer mathematics course requirements and more general education requirements. The B.S. requires more mathematics courses, an applied mathematics concentration, and fewer general education courses.

Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) in Theatre Design is intended as general preparation for the professional designer of scenery, costumes or lighting working in theatre and/or film or as preparation for graduate studies. Students learn through small-class studio courses, laboratories, and involvement in productions in the University Theatre. Students in the B.F.A. Theatre Design program take 69 hours in the Departments of Theatre & Dance, Visual Art, and Art History in addition to the KU Core and electives.

The Bachelor of Science in Information Technology is offered by KU’s School of Professional Studies at the KU Edwards Campus in Overland Park with some courses online. The IT bachelor's degree options combine technical expertise with problem-solving and communication skills to plan, configure, implement, integrate and maintain computing and information technology solutions for an organization's computing infrastructure. It is distinctly different from computer science, which focuses on abstraction, algorithm development, scientific programming and compilers.

The BSIT program is designed for recent community college graduates and working professionals who seek to upgrade their technical knowledge. It also prepares students for graduate study in information technology at the Edwards Campus.

This concentration is designed for students interested in studying the cultural and social underpinnings of theatre and performance along with courses in acting, directing and design and with participation in University Theatre production. The TCS concentration provides the critical, analytical, and historical education that is the foundation of a liberal arts degree. Both the B.A. and B.G.S. in Theatre, Culture & Society require 40 hours in the major. In addition to KU Core requirement, the B.A. requires foreign language, math, and laboratory experience. 

The Department of Architecture emphasizes design education through diverse experiences which include learning through making, collaborative research, and community engagement. Our mission is to provide our graduates with an educational foundation for exemplary professional practice and personal career fulfillment; to prepare them to be critical thinkers and problem solvers who will serve, enrich, and sustain their professions and communities.

In philosophy we ask big, important questions. While asking such questions is easy, answering them is difficult. Because these questions are often abstract and vague, it is necessary to use precise reasoning and analysis to clarify what exactly it is we are asking. Only then can we attempt to develop answers. For example:

• What is the morally right thing to do?
• What is the nature of the mind?
• When can we know something, rather than merely believing it?
• Do the sciences exhaust what can be known about the natural world?
• What is justice?
• What assumptions do we make when we try to answer questions like these?
• Plus many, many others...

In studying philosophy, you will learn what others have thought about life's big questions. You will also learn to challenge those views, and to develop your own thoughts in a precise, logical manner. Philosophy will help you develop critical thinking skills, enabling you to analyze the underlying logic and assumptions in arguments about a variety of topics. This is a skill that generalizes to virtually every area of life.

The bachelor's degree in physical education (PE) plus at the University of Kansas prepares individuals to become PE teachers at the pre-kindergarten through the 12th grade levels. The PE plus program also prepares graduates to pursue a licensure endorsement (by KSDE examination) in a variety of areas, or earn a minor in business or sport management.