Examples of Program Mission Statements at BSC

Anthropology, Aviation, Biology, Business, Chemistry, Communication Studies, Counselor Education, Computer Science, Criminal Justice, Foreign Languages, Geography, History, Mathematics, Music, Philosophy, Political Science, Physics, Psychology, Social Work, Sociology, Theatre Arts

Anthropology
The anthropological perspective trains students to think critically and globally, and teaches our students to embrace a world view which they can apply to any profession. The Public Archaeology concentration provides students with both theoretical and practical expertise in cultural resource management, preparing students for future careers in archaeological consulting or with regulatory agencies, as well as museum and academic positions in archaeology. The Cultural Anthropology concentration guides students through a comprehensive liberal arts/social science curriculum, preparing students for future careers in business, social services, government agencies, teaching, or graduate school in anthropology, law or other specialized fields.

Aviation
The aviation management concentration is designed to prepare graduates for managerial and supervisory positions throughout the air transportation industry.
The flight training concentration combines academic studies and flight training, in order to prepare graduates for a wide variety of positions within the air transportation industry, including general, airline and military aviation. The flight program allows the student to obtain private pilot, commercial pilot, instrument pilot, and flight instructor certificates. The curriculum provides the flight training necessary to operate in the high-density environment of modern airspace.

Biology
The mission of the Biology Program is to provide students with a broad background in the biological sciences allowing for flexibility in making career choices. The Bachelor of Science program is designed to provide the skills and knowledge necessary for employment in the biotechnology, environmental, health-related, and teaching areas, as well as providing a sound foundation for graduate or professional school. The Bachelor of Arts permits the student to explore personal interests in biology while developing the background needed to use biological knowledge in association with a field such as sales, illustration, or elementary education. The overall goal of our program is to expose students to the scientific process and to promote a student’s ability to think critically. Ultimately, the aim is to transform the student into a more analytical thinker and to improve his/her confidence, both academically and professionally. It is our mission to graduate students who are competent in application of the scientific method and able to think independently as they embark on their graduate or professional careers.

Business
Preparing students for a dynamic, global, and diverse business environment
The School of Business at Bridgewater State College offers learning experiences that prepare students to contribute in a dynamic, global, and diverse business environment. We work in partnership with local organizations to support economic growth in the region.

Chemistry
The Department of Chemical Sciences strives to educate students in the basic factual knowledge of chemistry and to provide students with the critical thinking and communication skills needed to succeed as a beginning scientist.

Communication Studies
The Department of Communication Studies provides students with a solid liberal arts grounding in the history, structure, process, and functions of human communication, and with competencies required for effective communication.

The Department of Communication Studies fosters the student's ability to integrate critical, theoretical, and ethical perspectives in the field of communication and apply them to their professional, personal, and civic lives.

Our students are trained in analytical and critical thought, in oral exposition and argument, in the literature of communication, and in the research that supports it.

By providing both theoretical perspectives and practical experience, the programs in the Department provide rich opportunities and preparation for careers in communication and media, for work in other fields for which communication is pivotal for success, and for advanced study in the communication field.

The Department strives to prepare students who are intellectually open and aware, and who embrace an evolving, diverse, and globalized world.

Counselor Education
The Bridgewater State College graduate Department of Counselor Education prepares professionals to provide counseling, consultation, and preventive services to individuals, families, groups, and communities in mental health, higher education, and preK-12 educational settings. The department is particularly suited to the needs of adult learners and non-traditional students who are seeking career advancement or a change in career. Students typically are part-time and are balancing graduate studies with multiple roles and responsibilities. Using a constructivist framework, the faculty build on students’ prior knowledge, background, and experience. The counseling faculty is diverse with regard to background, experience, and counseling orientation, and prepare counselors to help clients effectively respond to developmental, educational, career, mental health and other lifespan challenges. Professional ethics, legal standards, technology, and multicultural competencies are also infused throughout the curriculum and experiential opportunities. Graduate students in the Department of Counselor Education are educated to think critically, communicate effectively, and responsibly utilize innovative strategies to enhance the practice of counseling in the 21st century. The faculty facilitates the ability of students to translate theoretical and philosophical principles into practical application to promote wellness throughout the lifespan. Students graduate prepared to pursue licensure in their respective area of counseling.

Computer Science
The undergraduate program in computer science provides a broad background to students with interests in computer science. It prepares them for entry into computer-related professions or into graduate programs in the computing discipline.

Criminal Justice
The criminal justice major offers students a focused interdisciplinary exposure to all aspects of crime and criminal justice. Courses in the program deal with crime and delinquency and the responses to these problems by police, courts, corrections and other organizations. The examination of institutional responses to crime entails an engagement with contemporary criminal justice issues, ethical concerns and research. Students are introduced to a variety of theoretical perspectives and competing viewpoints throughout the curriculum and are equipped with the analytical and research tools for understanding and exploring issues in crime and justice. The program is designed to provide students majoring in criminal justice with excellent preparation for further study in graduate or professional schools as well as for careers in criminal justice.

Foreign Languages
The department is committed to developing students' understanding and appreciation of, as well as active engagement with, foreign languages, literatures, and cultures. The department prepares students to be citizens of the global world and enables them to enlist foreign language skills and an understanding of globalization in order to excel in a variety of careers and intellectual disciplines.

Geography
The primary objectives of the BSC Geography program include the following:
1. To provide students with a modern academic background in geography appropriate for employment as a professional geographer or admission to graduate school within the broad realm of the discipline. (B.A. or B.S. in Geography with a concentration in Environmental Geography, Geotechnology, or Regional and Economic Planning)
2. To provide elementary, early childhood, and special education majors at BSC with an academic program that is a useful and employable double major, and that will give them the ability to confidently expose the youngest students to basic geographic principles and skills. (B.A. in Geography with General Geography concentration)

History
The current mission statement commits the department to a series of objectives, which may be briefly summarized:
1. supporting the College’s general education program, and that program’s goal of a liberal education that emphasizes critical thinking, effective communication, and responsible and ethical action;
2. providing a broadly-based curriculum that inculcates appreciation of cultural diversity in the past and present;
3. offering undergraduate and graduate degrees that prepare students for work in teaching and analogous fields;
4. offering a history minor that complements other major programs;
5. supporting the College’s mission to be an educational resource to the regional community; and
6. affirming the College’s commitment to teaching and nurturing individual development.

Mathematics
The mission of the mathematics program is:
to introduce students to mathematics as an important area of human thought;
to help students appreciate the beauty and scope of mathematics;
to give students the mathematical knowledge necessary to teach mathematics at the secondary or elementary level;
to prepare students for careers in business, government and industry;
to provide a foundation to students for graduate study in mathematics and related fields;
to prepare students for the study of computer science;
to serve the needs of students in fields which rely on mathematics.

Music
The Music Department serves all students by promoting excellence in both musical performance and musical understanding. With a broad-based curriculum including music history, music theory, music education, and performance, we prepare music majors to pursue a variety of academic and professional interests…The Department nurtures life-long learning and enriches the local and regional community through on- and off-campus performances of stylistically and ethnically diverse music, as well as through workshops, lecture-recitals, and concert tours.

Philosophy
The basic aim of education in philosophy is not primarily to impart information but rather to help students to identify and understand various kinds of intellectual problems (with their own normative, descriptive, and conceptual components); to learn to interpret texts (in the broadest sense to include speech) regarding these problems; to critically analyze the arguments found in these texts; and to express themselves in ways that clarify and advance reflection upon and discussion of these problems.

Political Science
In the context of a comprehensive public college in Southeastern Massachusetts, the Department of Political Science at BSC provides rigorous undergraduate and graduate public education that not only prepares students for leadership roles in public and nonprofit sectors, and the profession of governance, but also provides a strong liberal arts background for those undergraduate students who enter such fields as journalism, business, social welfare, teaching, law, and information technology.

Physics
Provide students with the skills and knowledge to pursue careers in research, teaching, graduate and professional study, industry, engineering, etc. Each student can plan their own program to meet specific needs. Offer students opportunities for research and internships.

Psychology
Provide for non-majors familiarity with methods and theories of psychology and human behavior.
Provide foundation for students going to graduate school or careers.
Provide broad base of knowledge for education students.
Provide professional training at the graduate level iin clinical psych.

Social Work (Graduate)
The mission of the MSW program at Bridgewater State College is to prepare advanced professional practitioners to address regional needs, promote social justice, and enhance the strengths and resilience of communities, families, and individuals. The program will prepare advanced professionals who are grounded in resilience theory and a strengths-based approach for intergenerational practice. This approach will work with client systems by building and reinforcing what is going right for people, and by using the client’s strengths and resources to address areas of concerns. Attention is given to the intergenerational system, to identify what can be done to effect change and strengthen relationships among individuals, groups, and community components in order to promote greater self-sufficiency and constructive functioning.

Sociology
The primary objectives of the BSC Sociology Program include the following:
To provide a strong liberal arts curriculum aimed at developing well-rounded, informed citizens with strong critical thinking abilities. The department prepares students for a wide range of professions and career options including education, research, industry, state and federal agencies, and the non-profit sector.

Theatre Arts
The Program Area of Theatre Arts is committed to educating students in two significant art forms. Upon completing a program in theatre or dance, students are prepared to engage theatre and dance art throughout their lives, to pursue advanced study in the art forms, or to begin a career in theatre or dance.

The Theater Program emphasizes a comprehensive theatre education within a liberal arts context. Students pursue a systematic course of academic study that considers theatre performance, production, management, history, literature, and criticism. These studies are enhanced by opportunities in performance and production within a balanced theatre season offered to the general public. The Theater Education Program combines the content of the Theater Program with additional learning to support Standard I requirements for licensure to teach theater in public schools in Massachusetts.

The Dance Program offers a wide variety of dance technique training and a solid theoretical and practical foundation for performance and choreography. In addition, the program offers an emphasis on dance pedagogy in the private sector or in public education. The program fulfills Standard I requirements for licensure for dance in the public schools of Massachusetts.

The Programs of Theater and Dance provide classes for all Bridgewater State College students to develop an appreciation of theater and dance through the general education program. Through presentation of theater and dance activities that are open to participation by any BSC student, the programs encourage and support the creative engagement of the campus community.

Last Modified: April 6, 2009