Bachelor of Arts, Major in Committee Interdisciplinary with Concentration in Comparative Ethnic Studies

at University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee USA

Students in UWM's international studies program take courses in history, political science, economics, anthropology, comparative literature, and foreign languages to build a program around their own specialized interests in international relations, politics, economics, development, or culture and langauge. The International Studies (IS) major offers a number of special options designed to help students deepen their knowledge of international affairs.

Understanding the nuances of globalization in our personal and professional lives, speaking the languages of others, and appreciating cultural diversity are essential skills for living and working in the world today. UWM's International Studies program is based on the principles of the liberal arts with an emphasis in broad knowledge of people, places, and institutions, coupled with the skills to be an adaptable professional in a global marketplace. International studies majors have the ability to interact across cultures, converse in more than one language, analyze problems across cultural or national boundaries, adapt to new situations, appreciate differences in people and processes, and problem solve across different areas and formats.

The Master of Science in Information Science and Technology (MSIST) is a professional graduate degree program for those who seek advanced training to meet the ever increasing need for information technology (IT) professionals. The degree will be composed of 36 credit hours and will supplement our Bachelor of Science in Information Science and Technology.

The MSIST degree will provide specific transcript designated Tracks to further enhance essential skills and knowledge in the following areas:

• Data science: Provides students with advanced knowledge and skills to manage data sets generated by applications.
• Information security: Focuses on techniques ensuring the security of all data captured, stored and analyzed through applications.

This concentration is designed primarily for the student with an undergraduate degree in music education or performance who wishes to pursue advanced training in Conducting: Instrumental plus related studies in music performance and allied areas. A student must successfully pass an audition that demonstrates an advanced level of conducting skill to qualify for admission to the program.  Students may also have to pass other audition(s) in performance area(s), depending on their focus.

The Urban Planning program at UWM is a professional, skills-oriented, master’s program designed to train students to perform a variety of planning-related jobs in either the public or private sector.

The program focuses on planning as a process for improving collective decisions in the public and private sectors. The planning process includes analyzing problems, designing alternative solutions and evaluating their consequences, developing strategies for action and participating in their implementation. This process is used in both government and business in developing policy for future action, so that today’s solutions do not become tomorrow’s problems.

Real Estate Development
A concentration in real estate development provides a focused course of study for Master of Architecture and/or Master of Urban Planning students who wish to pursue careers in real estate development in combination with professional architectural practice or work with a private or public developer.

The College of Nursing offers an interdisciplinary professional graduate degree program leading to a Master of Sustainable Peacebuilding (MSP). The MSP is designed to prepare students for careers in peacebuilding—e.g. international development, conflict resolution, resource stewardship. The MSP curriculum is designed to develop student expertise in systems thinking, social-ecological interactions, and the application of such concepts to peacebuilding and development fields. In addition to fulfilling all Graduate School master’s degree requirements, MSP students are required to take 44 credits over the course of six semesters—two full calendar years. Only full-time students will be accepted to the program.

Students completing the MSP will:

• Classify the various components of complex social-ecological systems and identify appropriate intervention strategies.
• Recognize patterns of human-environment interaction, including drivers of change resulting in conflict, development, and peacebuilding.
• Acquire critical knowledge across at least four distinct disciplines relevant to development and peacebuilding and relate and translate knowledge among the disciplines.
• Facilitate effective group problem-solving processes, which includes communicating confidently and effectively to diverse audiences.
• Assess systemic outcomes of peacebuilding programs and policies and recommend adaptive modifications for improvement.

The Nutritional Sciences Program is a 120-credit interdisciplinary undergraduate major administered jointly by the Biomedical Sciences and Kinesiology Departments in the College of Health Sciences. The Nutritional Sciences program is designed to provide students with a strong foundation in biological, physical, and social sciences, in order to understand the relationships among food, nutrients, eating behavior, and human health.

The MA in Language, Literature, and Translation (MALLT) is an interdisciplinary MA degree program focused on global languages, literatures and translation. With over 50 faculty from five different departments, MALLT offers a flexible program of study tailored to your professional goals. Three departments—French, Italian and Comparative Literature, Foreign Languages and Literature and Translation & Interpreting Studies cooperate in offering this interdepartmental, interdisciplinary master’s program designed for the student who wishes to focus on language, literature, and translation on a cross-cultural basis.

Being bilingual is not enough to be a successful translator. Professional translators must be experts in both source and target cultures, skilled readers of the source language and superb writers of the target language. In addition, they need expertise in an area of specialization and a solid grasp of the language-services industry.

Our Translation & Interpreting Studies programs are housed in an accredited, Tier 1 Research institution and offer professional translator and interpreter training in a dynamic environment. Students collaborate with faculty and classmates from around the world to develop the skills they need to succeed in a thriving international market. Learn how to translate and/or interpret, and how to be a language professional through using leading industry computer-assisted translation tools and completing internships that often lead to employment. Our program can prepare you to:

• Be an in-house translator
• Be a freelancer
• Be a translation company owner
• Specialize in your area of interest
• Pursue doctoral studies
• Develop your professional skills without pursuing a degree

Many students are already familiar with Geosciences through what is commonly called "earth science" in high school. Geosciences covers our Planet Earth - its soil, minerals, climate change, magnetic fields, earthquakes, water, plants, fossils, volcanoes and more.

The BA degree in Geosciences requires fewer math, physics, and chemistry prerequisites and upper-level courses than the BS degree. It is designed for students who expect to use the earth sciences in preparation for a career in law, business, government, primary or secondary schools, or natural resources, or for those who start the Geosciences program later in their college careers. The BA degree in Geosciences is more easily combined with complementary majors for students to pursue a double or a triple major.

Geosciences majors at UWM can organize their electives around a particular area of interest if they wish:

• Hard Rock - the study of structural geology, mineralogy, petrology, volcanology and tectonics
• Hydrogeology - the study of water resources
• Paleontology - the study of evolutionary patterns in history
• Sedimentary Geology - the study of rocks, fossils, and landforms in the context of the biological and chemical make-up

Geosciences touches on all aspects of the other natural sciences including chemistry, biology, mathematics and physics, so the ideal student for Geosciences loves all types of science and is curious about how they interrelate. Most Geosciences students also love the outdoors and traveling off of the beaten path.

Our program emphasizes a conceptual fine art practice through the production of darkroom, digital, and hybrid work. Courses integrate socially situated projects with an understanding of both contemporary and historical visual culture by developing a vocabulary for effective communication within the photographic medium.

The Department of Geography offers both master’s and doctoral programs of study across a range of systematic, regional, and technical fields, with innovative energy in the doctoral program for studying urban environments. The department’s overall strengths are aligned along a theme of “Changing Environments,” with three major axes, each responsive to areas with strong demand for new professionals:

• Urban Environments: This area emphasizes the spatial interactions of economic systems as well as political, social, cultural, environmental, technological, and other forces that influence the people, identities, landscape, development, and dynamics of urban areas. With the world’s population becoming increasingly urbanized and globalized, courses examine the continuing challenges of urban growth and change, race, ethnicity, and gender in the city, immigration and identity politics, and spatial aspects of urban planning processes and political decision-making.
• Physical Geography and Environmental Studies: This area addresses the interactions among natural forms and processes on the earth’s surface, the impact and implications of global climate change, and human connections with those natural phenomena. Courses discuss and analyze the distribution and processes of earth surface landforms (geomorphology), soils (pedology), plants and animals (biogeography), water (hydrology), and long-term atmospheric conditions (climatology). Overlapping emphases include phenology, water resources, conservation, natural hazards, natural resource scarcity, and the mounting challenges of global environmental change.
• Geographic Information Science (GIS): This area emphasizes using geospatial technology to further understanding of spatial interactions among natural and social forces at multiple scales across the Earth’s surface, and exploring the impacts of using such technology on social and cultural interactions. Courses examine geographic information collection (including remote sensing), data analysis and geocomputation (spatial analysis), information presentation (cartography), and societal implications. Our program emphasizes applications of GIS in urban, regional, and environmental planning, policy making, and public health.