Bachelor of Science in Biology

at Shorelight Group - University of Massachusetts - Boston USA

UMass Boston's Department of Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures (MLLC) offers a diverse and engaging curriculum, with courses focusing on language, literary, cultural, and film studies. Our well-rounded faculty, made up of prolific scholars and dedicated teachers, is committed to creating a strong community of language learners, critical thinkers, and responsible global citizens, who are well prepared for the professional demands of today’s global markets. The department offers language courses in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, and Vietnamese as well as a wide variety of courses exploring the cultures of the Arabic-, Chinese-, French-, German-, Italian- and Japanese-speaking world taught in English.

The English major invites students to engage in the study of literature, composition, language, and film. English majors learn how to write well, read critically, develop research skills, and work hands-on in digital environments. The English major allows students to create print, visual, and digital texts across a range of genres including poetry, fiction, and nonfiction.

Through a diverse range of course offerings, the English major develops a student’s abilities to engage with the world while also cultivating a variety skills, including:

• Analytical writing
• Critical interpretation
• Original inquiry and research
• The ability to develop, discuss, and debate complex ideas

Program Highlights

• Choose to explore an area of concentration: Creative Writing, Professional and New Media Writing, or Race, Ethnicity, and Literature.
• Choose to pursue initial teaching licensure in the English Teaching program.
• Work side-by-side with professors and fellow students in small, discussion-based classes on a diverse range of topics.
• Participate in extracurricular activities, ranging from the Sigma Tau Delta Honors Society to the Literary Theory Reading Group.
• Be prepared to enter the workforce, with a one-credit mini-course on “English 457: Careers in English and Preparing for the Job Market.”
• Engage with a dynamic and accomplished faculty. The English Department hosts vibrant events—such as guest speakers, creative writing readings, and contests—that are free and open to the UMass Boston community.
• Participate in The Watermark, a journal of literature and artwork created by UMass Boston students.

The MS in accounting at UMass Boston is designed to prepare students for rewarding careers in the rapidly growing and changing field of accounting. Upon completion of the MSA, students will qualify for the Uniform Certified Public Accounting (CPA) Exam. The curriculum has been designed by the College of Management Accounting and Finance (AF) faculty in consultation with the AF Department’s Advisory Board.

A BS in physics will prepare you for demanding scientific research in any of the following areas of inquiry: non-linear optics and photonics, which can relate to laser eye protection; biomedical imaging; quantum dynamics; semiconductors; and even biological applications such as the acoustics of whale sonar.

Community development is a multi-disciplinary field based in the social sciences. In UMass Boston's Community Development program students can customize their focus of study drawing on a breadth of disciplines to focus on issues at the intersection of the environment and economic development, community health, and planning.After completing your requirements in the BA in community development you will have a firm grounding in the multiple fields that contribute to empowering communities through environmentally sound and sustainable economic development and programming that ensures community health and prosperity. You will have the critical thinking skills necessary to develop and manage community programs and the analytical skills required to advance new strategies and actions in support of a sustainable and just future.

The School for the Environment's nationally recognized Environmental Studies and Sustainability program emphasizes solutions integrating the humanities and social sciences with economics and business. As environmental and sustainability advocates, students customize their course of study, drawing from such diverse fields as anthropology, law, history, management, economics, and the sciences. In addition to coursework, this hands-on degree incorporates internships, research, cooperative education, and capstone course experiences in which students work as members of a multi-disciplinary team partnered with agencies and organizations throughout the Boston metropolitan area.

• Students will understand key sustainability concepts and become practiced at applying these principles to real world problems.
• Students will be able to use interdisciplinary and collaborative decision-making processes to devise practical solutions for managing environmental problems.
• Students will be able to analyze and critique sustainability issues balancing multiple disciplinary perspectives and research approaches (e.g., social, ecological, ethical, philosophical, political, and economic).
• Students will demonstrate analytical proficiencies, both quantitative and qualitative, to support data-driven decisions.
• Students will understand the system interactions and feedbacks between human activities and social institutions and the natural environment.
• Students will be experienced in communicating their learnings both in writing, visually, and orally, and for specific and general audiences.

The psychology major is a 12-course major. The requirements of these 12 courses provide students with a foundation in each of five core areas of the discipline of psychology, upper-level coursework in one or more areas, and basic information about the research practices used in the field. The Psychology Department offers students the opportunity to earn either a BA or a BS for their undergraduate degree. While the basic structure of the major remains the same for either degree, earning a BS requires that students complete more science courses outside of the major and specifies two of the course choices within the 12 required courses for the major.

The Information Technology major offered through UMass Boston's College of Management is designed to offer pathways to highly-demanded careers in IT for both high school graduates and students of Massachusetts community colleges. Our small classes ensure personalized attention from IT faculty while our ties to the Greater Boston business and technical communities add an extra dimension of learning to our program of business information technology education. The IT major offers an “applications-path” format for students which includes a core of technical knowledge (nine courses), an area of specialization or track within IT (four or five courses, depending on track selection), three professional electives in an application or domain area (preferably outside of IT but within business), and two wrap-up courses (project management and IT capstone), in addition to general education requirements.

The IT major is project based.  Every exercise assigned throughout the BSIT is designed to be of the kind that a student might encounter in his or her work: collaboration, competence, and outcomes assessment are the hallmark characteristics of the program.  Students will learn how to use IT to solve real-world problems within the context of a field in which they wish to work. Graduates will be familiar with, and be able to apply, the following core information technologies to solve business problems:

• Programming
• Networking
• Databases
• Web technologies

In addition, the BSIT program offers four specialization tracks: business intelligence1, computer forensics1, information architecture1 and systems administration.

Information Architecture Track
The Information Technology (IT) major is a jointly offered program between the College of Management (CM) and the College of Science and Mathematics (CSM) at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The BSIT consists of a common core of ten courses, a track of four to six courses in a particular area of specialization (the information architecture track requires four courses), a common capstone course, and three professional electives.

The Philosophy and Public Policy major (PPP) is designed for students interested in the application of philosophical ideas and tools to the analysis of public policy issues. Its interdisciplinary approach combines a solid preparation in political philosophy with study of public policy issues in philosophy and other departments. This major prepares students for eventual careers in government, politics, or the law.

Preparing environmental policy and management professionals, our nationally-recognized BA in Environmental Science program integrates policy, management, and law with the natural sciences. Students gain practical experiences at the intersection of science and policy through coursework and real-world problem solving in our senior capstone course, internships, research, and cooperative education programs. Majors may focus their studies on policy and management (Policy and Management Track), policy-earth systems (Earth and Hydrologic Science Track), and policy-marine systems (Marine Science Track).

• Students will be able to apply the scientific method and design appropriate experiments to answer environmental science questions.  
• Students will understand the contributions of laboratory, field, and survey data collection and analysis for approaching environmental science problems.
• Students will be able to analyze and critique environmental questions across multiple natural and social science perspectives and research approaches.
• Students will demonstrate analytical and quantitative proficiencies to analyze environmental and/or social science data.
• Students will understand the system interactions and feedbacks between human activities and social institutions and the natural environment.
• Students will be experienced in communicating their learnings both in writing, visually, and orally, and for specific and general audiences.