University of Houston-Victoria students pursuing a Bachelor of Applied Arts & Sciences will have greater flexibility in choosing their courses thanks to the addition of a new general studies concentration.

Yun Wan

The concentration, which starts this fall, will allow students to pick which upper-division courses they want to take in the UHV schools of Arts & Sciences and Business Administration. The 15 credit hours of courses in the concentration do not have to be in one subject area. For instance, a student can elect to take upper-level psychology, biology and marketing classes.

“By choosing general studies as the concentration, students can work with faculty advisors to customize their learning experience,” said Yun Wan, a UHV associate professor and director of the BAAS program. “This way, students can take the courses they are most interested in, even if they cut across different disciplines.”

Students pursuing the general studies concentration can work with a faculty advisor from the UHV School of Arts & Sciences to come up with a degree plan. They also have the option of a dozen other BAAS concentrations. This list includes biotechnology, biology, communication, computer information systems, digital gaming and simulation, general business, leadership and enterprise studies, legal assistance and administration, networking and security, marketing, psychology, and Web and media.

Jeffrey Di Leo

“While we have many concentration choices, we realize that some students are most interested in learning from several disciplines,” said Jeffrey Di Leo, dean of the UHV School of Arts & Sciences. “BAAS students tend to be career minded. The general studies option allows students to sit down with an advisor and pick the upper-level courses that will most benefit them.”

Students with an associate degree in applied arts and sciences, or at least 24 semester hours of vocational or technical credit from an accredited community or technical college, are eligible to apply to the BAAS program at UHV.

In addition to the vocational/technical background, the bachelor’s degree requires completion of five courses: “Professional Writing,” “Advanced Professional Speaking,” “Intercultural Communication,” “Ethics” and “Information Systems in Organizations.” The rest of the courses are determined by the concentration selected. Students will need a total of 120 credit hours to graduate with a BAAS degree.

Wan said the program had drawn interest from area workers in the oil and gas industry.

“The general studies concentration is another option for those students looking to advance their career with a bachelor’s degree,” he said. “We also are looking into creating concentrations related to the oil and gas industry in the future.”

Wan said there are a variety of career options for graduates of UHV’s BAAS program.

“Most of our BAAS graduates start their careers in the areas of information technology, gaming design, biotechnology, psychology, legal assistance or business,” he said. “Some have gone on to graduate school. It’s a valuable degree that can lead to success in many fields.”

For more information about the BAAS program, call 361-570-4201 or visit www.uhv.edu/arts-and-sciences/.