College of Graduate and Professional Studies Catalog

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Department of Professional Studies

Mission Statement

The Department of Professional Studies is committed to providing robust and rigorous academic programs in an online format to University of Jamestown students regardless of location. Focusing on the education of post-traditional students, the department seeks to blend sound professional preparation with the ideals of the liberal arts to develop wholeness and continual growth in our students.

Degrees

The Department of Professional Studies offers Bachelors degrees in Behavioral Health, Business Studies, Business Studies: Banking, Business Studies: Industrial Management, and Communication Studies. The department also offers minors in Business Studies and Communication Studies.

Requirements for the Degree

In order to earn the degree of Bachelor of Arts in the College of Graduate and Professional Studies, a student must do the following:

  1. Successfully complete a minimum of 124 semester credit hours, including.
  2. Earn at least 45 credits at the upper-division (300-400) level.
  3. Transfer in a maximum of 64 semester credit hours from a junior college.
  4. Complete the University’s residency requirement by earning at least 35 semester credit hours from the University of Jamestown.
  5. Maintain an overall GPA of 2.00 or higher.
  6. Successfully complete the coursework prescribed in the general education requirements.
  7. Successfully complete all of requirements for a major field of study offered in the college with a C- or better in all major courses.
  8. Complete a graduation application.

Residency Requirement

To fulfill the residency requirement, a minimum of 35 semester credits must be earned at the University of Jamestown. These credits may be earned entirely online, on campus, or in any combination thereof.

All students enrolled at the University of Jamestown who wish to complete courses at other academic institutions and to transfer those courses for credit to the University of Jamestown must have those courses pre-approved through the Registrar’s Office. Whether a course corresponds in content and quality to a University of Jamestown course will be determined by the registrar in conversation with the relevant department chair, program chair, and/or the Dean. A minimal expectation is that the course in question comes from an institution that is accredited by a CHEA approved regional accrediting association of schools and colleges that offers either associate’s or bachelor’s degrees.

General Education Requirement

The general education requirements at the University of Jamestown’s College of Graduate and Professional Studies represent the faculty’s best judgment regarding the knowledge and skills that any person educated at the bachelor’s level should have. We believe that a broad general education program including exposure to diverse academic disciplines helps students in many ways. For example, such a program:

  1. provides students with information that assists them in choosing a major or minor area of study
  2. encourages students to interact with faculty members and students outside their own disciplines
  3. stimulates students to think about issues and ideas of which they were previously unaware
  4. enables students to make cross- disciplinary connections
  5. prepares students to better understand written and oral discussions in which they will participate.

In addition to supporting these wider goals, however, our general education program is designed to help students meet eleven more specific outcomes that we deem important for college-educated people:

  1. Aesthetic Awareness: Graduates will recognize the role of aesthetic expression in daily life.
  2. Christian Literacy: Graduates will describe the basic tenets of the historic Christian faith and can explain the implications of those tenets for ethical living.
  3. Cultural and Social Literacy: Graduates will demonstrate a basic level of knowledge of the social sciences and humanities.
  4. Ethical Literacy: Graduates will describe and compare several major ethical theories and concepts to explain how these theories apply to particular issues, contexts, and communities.
  5. Global Awareness: Graduates will develop a broad world view and demonstrate knowledge of global issues and other nations and cultures.
  6. Information Literacy: Graduates will identify, evaluate, and apply information resources to specific tasks and use the appropriate citation method for their discipline.
  7. Quantitative Literacy: Graduates will perform mathematical computations and identify and draw inferences from relevant quantitative information.
  8. Scientific Literacy: Graduates will apply fundamental scientific principles and methods of inquiry and recognize the impact of scientific research and technology on individuals and the world.
  9. Oral communication: Graduates will communicate effectively orally.
  10. Written Communication: Graduates will communicate effectively in writing.
  11. Critical Thinking: Graduates will be able to logically evaluate evidence, analyze and synthesize information from multiple sources, and reflect on varied perspectives.

Bachelor of Arts General Education Requirements

Communication Skills Credit Hours
Composition & Communication 6
English Composition 3
Cultural & Social Heritage
Art, Music, or Theatre 3
Leadership 3
Psychology, Sociology, or Political Science 3
Religion 3
Moral & Civic Education
American Government or History 3
Ethics 3
Global Perspectives 3
Natural Science & Quantitative Reasoning
Natural Science (with lab) 4
Computer Science 3
Mathematics 3
Total Semester Credit Hours: 40