International Year program (3-Quarter) - Bachelor of Arts in Biocultural Anthropology

at Study Group - Western Washington University USA

The International Year program is specially designed to prepare international students with the solid foundation needed to succeed in an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University.

You will learn in a supportive environment to develop your academic and English language skills, while adjusting to living and learning in the USA. After successfully completing the program with the required grades, you can continue your undergraduate degree with the confidence to engage and succeed.

Environmental Studies/Journalism
Journalists are responsible for gathering information, analyzing and editing it for a mass audience, and dispensing it using some form of media platform. Increasingly the methods of distribution have become more complex, but the basic mission of a journalist remains the same: to serve the public by finding, defining, writing, and editing information.

Environmental Journalism offers the opportunity to explore the intersection between the natural world and politics, science, economics and culture. It combines rigorous research with creative storytelling.

The study of Spanish includes instruction in language, literature, linguistics, and culture. Students of Spanish acquire the skills required to not only speak the language, but also to learn about and appreciate Hispanic societies, cultures, and artistic expressions. The guiding principle of the curriculum is that one of the best ways to understand a culture is directly through its language.

Western’s Modern and Classical Languages Department trains in two areas: language structure and literary analysis. Language structure is taught both holistically and analytically — with multimedia technology, study abroad, language skills courses, and linguistics courses. Literary analysis is an essential component to the curriculum, and the department provides instruction in history and culture, as well as literary theory.

The Spanish program at Western places a strong emphasis on building a solid grammar and vocabulary base, with an equal emphasis on cultural awareness through culture, film, literature, and linguistics courses. 

The International Year program is specially designed to prepare international students with the solid foundation needed to succeed in an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University.

You will learn in a supportive environment to develop your academic and English language skills, while adjusting to living and learning in the USA. After successfully completing the program with the required grades, you can continue your undergraduate degree with the confidence to engage and succeed.

Biology - Marine
Near the shores of the Salish Sea, Western is in an ideal location for undergraduates studying marine sciences. The Biology – Marine Emphasis major provides a thorough introduction to the basic areas of biology and supporting sciences while allowing specialization in marine biology. Students explore the structure and function of marine organisms and their relationship with the environment.

A highlight for most students in this emphasis is the opportunity to enroll in courses taught at Western’s Shannon Point Marine Center located in Anacortes, WA (about an hour from Bellingham). These all-day courses give students the opportunity to delve deeply into marine ecology and algal diversity, and include boat-based research and trips to nearby islands.

The integrated conceptual foundation in biology, the critical thinking skills, quantitative problem-solving abilities, leadership with team-building skills, and scientific research skills students obtain from lecture and laboratory courses in the B.S. Biology curriculum ultimately are critical for post-baccalaureate studies and future job performance.

The International Year program is specially designed to prepare international students with the solid foundation needed to succeed in an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University.

You will learn in a supportive environment to develop your academic and English language skills, while adjusting to living and learning in the USA. After successfully completing the program with the required grades, you can continue your undergraduate degree with the confidence to engage and succeed.

Japanese with Teaching Endorsement Option
The department provides instruction in history and culture, as well as literary theory, with an end to enabling the student to gain access to the intellectual life in the culture. The department imparts skills to future world language teachers so that they may similarly enable high school students to begin the acquisition of world languages.

The department provides students the skills to learn firsthand about major world societies. The department believes that the best way to understand a culture directly is through its language. The modern languages offered in the department are spoken natively by nearly two billion people. The multifaceted programs of the department provide an opening to the world through language, literature, culture and civilization. It is a meeting place for true diversity.

The BA in Japanese leads to a BA degree without teacher certification. In order to receive a recommendation for state of Washington certification students must complete the “teacher certification” program which is offered by the Department of Secondary Education.

Biological (or Physical) Anthropology, offered by Western’s departments of Anthropology and Biology, combines the study of Human Biology and Behavioral Science. It is the study of both present and past human variation as it relates to local ecologies and cultures.

This major is more flexible than the Biology/Anthropology B.S. but is also excellent preparation for the applied health careers and graduate programs in Biological or Physical Anthropology.

Biological anthropologists specialize in:

• Human or Primate Anatomy
• Genetics
• Disease Ecology
• Growth and Development
• Forensic Anthropology and Osteology
• Medical Anthropology
• Primate Behavior and Primatology

The International Year program is specially designed to prepare international students with the solid foundation needed to succeed in an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University.

You will learn in a supportive environment to develop your academic and English language skills, while adjusting to living and learning in the USA. After successfully completing the program with the required grades, you can continue your undergraduate degree with the confidence to engage and succeed.

Linguistics
Linguistics, the science of language, is an interdisciplinary field that relates to the diversity of the cultures and languages of the world. It is an integral part of most serious pursuits dealing with aspects of language study and analysis. As the boundaries of the world change, an understanding of individual languages and cultures becomes increasingly important. Communication in this complex society requires knowledge of the workings of languages, as well as their interrelationship with their respective cultures.

The International Year program is specially designed to prepare international students with the solid foundation needed to succeed in an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University.

You will learn in a supportive environment to develop your academic and English language skills, while adjusting to living and learning in the USA. After successfully completing the program with the required grades, you can continue your undergraduate degree with the confidence to engage and succeed.

Human Services
The Human Services curriculum aligns with national standards in human services education as outlined by the Council for Standards in Human Services Education (www.cshse.org). The Human Services major prepares students to work in a variety of settings as case managers, advocates, grant writers, youth workers, volunteer coordinators, or advocacy specialists.

The program has a social justice orientation, engaging students in critical analysis and reflection as they examine social issues at the individual, group, organization, community, and global level. The program emphasizes community engagement and requires 240 hours of field experience that allows students to integrate theory, knowledge, and skills through work in human services organizations.

The International Year program is specially designed to prepare international students with the solid foundation needed to succeed in an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University.

You will learn in a supportive environment to develop your academic and English language skills, while adjusting to living and learning in the USA. After successfully completing the program with the required grades, you can continue your undergraduate degree with the confidence to engage and succeed.

Spanish
The study of Spanish includes instruction in language, literature, linguistics, and culture. Students of Spanish acquire the skills required to not only speak the language, but also to learn about and appreciate Hispanic societies, cultures, and artistic expressions. The guiding principle of the curriculum is that one of the best ways to understand a culture is directly through its language.

Western’s Modern and Classical Languages Department trains in two areas: language structure and literary analysis. Language structure is taught both holistically and analytically — with multimedia technology, study abroad, language skills courses, and linguistics courses. Literary analysis is an essential component to the curriculum, and the department provides instruction in history and culture, as well as literary theory.

The Spanish program at Western places a strong emphasis on building a solid grammar and vocabulary base, with an equal emphasis on cultural awareness through culture, film, literature, and linguistics courses.

The International Year program is specially designed to prepare international students with the solid foundation needed to succeed in an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University.

You will learn in a supportive environment to develop your academic and English language skills, while adjusting to living and learning in the USA. After successfully completing the program with the required grades, you can continue your undergraduate degree with the confidence to engage and succeed.

Art Studio
Art Studio, a professional undergraduate art degree, provides Western students with opportunities to create, interpret, analyze, and make informed judgments about art, studio concepts, and practices. Classes are designed to familiarize students with the principles that shape and inform visual literacy and expression through a variety of practices in art making.

The program includes ceramics, drawing, fiber/fabrics, inter and mixed-media, painting, photography, printmaking, and sculpture. Students in the program investigate the function of art and the relationships between art, culture, artist, and audience.

The International Year program is specially designed to prepare international students with the solid foundation needed to succeed in an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University.

You will learn in a supportive environment to develop your academic and English language skills, while adjusting to living and learning in the USA. After successfully completing the program with the required grades, you can continue your undergraduate degree with the confidence to engage and succeed.

Environmental Science
Environmental Science draws on basic knowledge of the physical, chemical, biological, and quantitative aspects of natural systems. The knowledge of how natural systems work is applied to solving problems largely created by human activities. Often these problems are represented by disturbances in the functioning of natural systems as humans alter their own life-support systems — the air, the water and soil. The scale of disturbance ranges between molecular and cellular to individuals, populations, ecosystems, and regional and global levels.

Are you excited by how natural systems work? Do you want to solve the problems of the natural environment caused by human activities? Do you love to work outdoors? Do you love the sciences and scientific inquiry? Then Environmental Science is for you.