Interdisciplinary Studies Areas of Emphasis
The Interdisciplinary Studies major is built upon a student's choice of one or two areas of emphasis. These are Arts, Business, Health, Humanities, Organizational Leadership, Public Safety, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Technology, Applied Educational Studies (non-licensure), and Applied Entrepreneurship (AAS or AOT degree required). Students are generally drawn to a particular area as it matches their personal interests, current or future occupation, and/or graduate/professional school plans. In close consultation with their academic advisor, students develop a program of study containing courses offered by multiple departments that clearly relate to the selected area and also expose them to important applied, general, or closely related specialized topics of study. For example, a student may be very much interested in opening a fine arts studio that focuses on teaching art and music to developmentally disabled adults. Such a student will benefit from our degree program as a practical alternative to the traditional art and music degree because they would be free to take necessary classes in art and music while also taking valuable courses in physical education, behavioral sciences, and business. Likewise, a student who is interested in pursuing a law degree would benefit from taking classes related to political science and English, along with courses related to the type of law they would like to practice. There are numerous ways a student may customize a program of study to meet their needs.
Below is a description of each area of emphasis. Please reach out to Ms. Heather Stancil to schedule a phone, online, or in person consultation to discuss your interests and the options available to you in the Interdisciplinary Studies major.
*The option to choose two emphases is pending approval by the Alabama Council of Higher Education and the Southern Association of Colleges and School Commission of Colleges (SACSCOC).
The emphasis in arts allows students to benefit from an array of courses chosen from related fields within graphic design and visual and performing arts. In doing so, students develop creative and critical thinking skills.
With an art emphasis, students may choose courses from the following subjects:
Art (AR), Cinematic Arts and Theatre (CAT), Culinary Arts Management (CAM), Fashion (FASH), Interior Architecture and Design (IAD), and Music (MU).
With an emphasis in business, students will obtain knowledge from traditional business courses and may apply it to professions one may find in higher education, the non-profit sector, social and human service agencies, or government (e.g., emergency management, criminal justice, business development, or tourism).
With a business emphasis, students may choose courses from the following subjects:
Management (MG), Marketing (MK), Accounting (AC), Business Law (BL), Data Analytics (DA), Economics (EC), and Finance (FI). Select courses from Entertainment Industry (ENT), Hospitality Event Management (HEM), and Sports Recreation Management (SRM) may also be included with advisor approval.
In the health emphasis, students will investigate health-related issues involving topics in healthcare, public health, and factors related to physical and emotional well-being. This emphasis is not designed to prepare students for any specialized or licensed health profession, but may provide an attractive route to prepare for further scholarship in health professions such as health care administration, public health education, physician assistantships, or other graduate studies.
With the health emphasis, students may choose courses from the following subjects:
Applied Health Science (AHS), Biology (BI), Chemistry (CH), Culinary/Nutrition/Hospitality (CNH), Health, Physical Ed (HPE), Nursing (NU), Occupational Health Science (OHS), Physics (PH), Psychology (PY), and Sports Recreation Management (SRM).
The Humanities emphasis provides students the opportunity to draw from several disciplines that study the human condition through literature, history, philosophy, religion, language, and the arts. The emphasis can satisfy personal interests, prepare one for graduate studies, or provide skill sets for careers built on a liberal arts base.
With an emphasis in humanities, students may choose courses from the following subjects:
English (EN), History (HI), Philosophy (PHL), Foreign Languages (FL, GE, KO, LT, JP, SP), Black Studies (BKS), Intercultural Experience (IE), Religion (RE), Study Abroad (SA), Women's Studies (WS), and select courses related to journalism in Communication (COM).
The organizational leadership emphasis will progress students through a curriculum that integrates knowledge from multiple academic departments to build skills in leadership, interpersonal relations, data management, and globalization.
With the organizational leadership emphasis, students will be required to incorporate the following in their program:
- 9 hours of Management coursework including MG 331, MG 330, & MG 382W
- 3-6 hours of Computer Information Systems coursework such as CIS 236 and CIS 446
- 6-9 hours of Social and Behavioral Science classes within the fields of Sociology (SO), Psychology (PY), Political Science (PS), or Communication (COM).
Students may also use Military Science (MS) classes or the complete Military Science Minor to satisfy this emphasis as it includes a heavy focus on leadership and communication.
The public safety emphasis is built around skill sets related to the study of justice, law, politics, terrorism, disaster mitigation, and disaster recovery. This emphasis can prepare students to serve in a variety of law enforcement, homeland security, and public administration roles. This emphasis may be particularly attractive to those who may already have a 2-year degree or background in fire safety, emergency medical services, and public safety.
With the public safety emphasis, students may choose courses from the following subjects:
Criminal Justice (CJ), Political Science (PS), and Security & Emergency Management (SEM).
*This emphasis is pending approval by the Alabama Council of Higher Education and the Southern Association of Colleges and School Commission of Colleges (SACSCOC).
The social and behavioral sciences emphasis allows students to design their program to gain exposure to multiple disciplines and bases of knowledge common to human and social service occupations as well as knowledge related to legal studies, public policy, and counseling.
With a social and behavioral sciences emphasis, students may choose courses from the following subjects:
Communication (COM), Criminal Justice (CJ), Family Studies (FS), Geography (GE), Political Science (PS), Psychology (PY), Sociology (SO), and Social Work (SW).
Using a technology emphasis, students will receive training in a diverse range of related fields with technological applications to prepare for roles in cyber security, urban planning and development, or graduate studies within various programs such as forensics.
With an emphasis in technology, students may choose courses from the following subjects:
Computer Information Systems (CIS), Computer Science (CS), Engineering (EG), Engineering Technology (ET), Geography (GE), and Information Technology (ITE).
The applied educational studies (non-licensure) emphasis is designed for students who already have a pre-existing education academic background. Credits earned can be helpful to prepare students for work within preschools, daycares, afterschool programs, social agencies, instructional design, community development programs, or other non-licensure programs. The emphasis can also serve as a bridge to a master of education program to obtain licensure. New coursework in the Educational Studies minor may be included if the student has already been accepted in the Teacher Education Program (TEP).
With the applied educational studies emphasis, students may choose courses from the following subjects:
Early Childhood Education (ECE), Education (ED), Elementary Education (EED), Education of Exceptional (EEX), and Instructional Technology and Design (ITD).
*This emphasis is pending approval by the Alabama Council of Higher Education and the Southern Association of Colleges and School Commission of Colleges (SACSCOC).
The applied entrepreneurship emphasis is designed for students who have graduated from a community college with an Associate of Applied Science or Occupational Technology degree. It allows students to transfer their general education academic credits plus up to 30 hours of technical course credit towards their bachelor’s degree. Up to 12 hours of technical coursework can be applied to the area of emphasis, and 18 hours may be applied to electives. For the remaining hours within the area of emphasis, students may select courses to build a variety of business skill sets.
With the applied entrepreneurship emphasis, students may choose courses from the following subjects:
Management (MG), Marketing (MK), Accounting (AC), Business Law (BL), Data Analytics (DA), Economics (EC), and Finance (FI). Select courses from Entertainment Industry (ENT), Hospitality Event Management (HEM), and Sports Recreation Management (SRM) may also be included with advisor approval.