Apr 18, 2024  
2022-2023 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
2022-2023 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Big Ideas: Transformative Culture and Professions Certificate


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Below are the 4 guided pathways through the Big Ideas certificate.

Big Ideas: Law and Government


Central Concept: Social Organization How does a just society function?

All societies have rules that determine what is and is not acceptable, who does and does not belong, and what steps to take when these determinations are transgressed. The migration of people across the globe, change and diversity among populations within a nation, and contact with different cultures puts pressure on these rules and how they are enforced, requiring informed citizens to examine what their society does, how it does it, whether or not it is desirable, and why. The Law and Government concentration explores a wide range of historical, social, and cultural contexts, preparing students to ask questions about power, politics, ethics, and communal membership as they become leaders shaping the societies of tomorrow.

  • No more than 2 classes per department may be counted towards the certificate.
  • Only 1 class from a student’s major may be counted towards the certificate.
  • One 1 100-level course may be counted towards the certificate.
  • Substitution of courses may be approved by the director.

Students will select 3 courses from the following:


Big Ideas: Mind, Body, and Health


Central Concept: Health

What does it mean for a person to be healthy?

The health sciences increasingly recognize the necessity of considering the whole person, mind and body, when it comes to helping people become and stay healthy. This requires moving beyond the quantifiable body into dimensions of emotions, imagination, history, cultural practices and the various subtleties that impact and influence human life. The Mind, Body, and Health concentration brings together courses from a variety of disciplines outside of the sciences to help students think beyond the scientific emphasis of health and medicine and reinforce the important connection of social and cultural contexts to enhance the quality healthcare.

  • No more than 2 classes per department may be counted towards the certificate.
  • Only 1 class from a student’s major may be counted towards the certificate.
  • One 1 100-level course may be counted towards the certificate.
  • Substitution of courses may be approved by the director.

Students will select 3 courses from the following:


Big Ideas: Management, Information, and Organization


Central Concept: Information

What does useful information look like?
Management, information, organization all rely on the recognition and effective communication of information. To be successful and lead in rapidly changing industries requires an understanding of the textures of the information we possess, the rich potential of the diverse people we manage, and the contextual factors that contribute to how people see information: how they identify, assimilate, interpret it, as well as how vital ideas and impactful details can be miscommunicated or overlooked. The Management, Information, and Organization concentration illuminates factors that limit and misconstrue information, as well as those that can create a culture of innovation, communication, and trust by exploring the cultural histories and practices that inform how people develop and exchange information and how to maximize its values across different projects and populations.

  • No more than 2 classes per department may be counted towards the certificate.
  • Only 1 class from a student’s major may be counted towards the certificate.
  • One 1 100-level course may be counted towards the certificate.
  • Substitution of courses may be approved by the director.

Students will select 3 courses from the following:


Big Ideas: Science and the Environment


Central Concept: Discovery

How does the world work?

From the dark riddles of black holes to the perplexities of sub-atomic particles, the physical world holds an untellable number of mysteries, and we turn to science to get answers to our questions about the nature of our environment. Scientific theories and practices do not emerge from the straightforward accumulation of facts, but from a set of changing intellectual conditions of possibility that are entirely human, and therefore, what we can discover is only as limited as our ability to discover new ways of asking questions. The Science and Environment concentration brings together disciplinary methods outside of the sciences to explore the factors that limit the questions we ask, how they are asked, and who is invited to ask them while integrating methods of inquiry from the humanities and arts, emboldening students to ask unexpected and innovative questions about their world that will give the answers they need to face the challenges of the future.

  • No more than 2 classes per department may be counted towards the certificate.
  • Only 1 class from a student’s major may be counted towards the certificate.
  • One 1 100-level course may be counted towards the certificate.
  • Substitution of courses may be approved by the director.

Total Certificate Requirements


(1)  Students must complete both ARHU 122  and ARHU 123 . ENGL 121 ; ENGL 122 ; FNLG 121 ; and MUHI 102  may not be substituted for ARHU 122  or ARHU 123 .

(2)  Either SOC 151  OR SOC 161  may fulfill a certificate component. Students may NOT receive certificate credit for both SOC 151  and SOC 161 .

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