Around MUM
More Than a Degree
by Dorothy Dalrymple, Editor-in-chief, The Hawk's Eye Campus News
The Bachelors of Integrative Studies is Miami University’s newest degree program. It is offered at Miami Middletown and Miami Hamilton campuses. BIS Students attend the vast majority of their courses at these regional campuses and Miami University’s Voice of America Learning Center. Students choosing this new Bachelors of Integrative Studies (BIS) degree are challenged to make connections between their life experiences and their educational and career goals.
The Bachelors of Integrative Studies program is unique, because the program starts by asking students to think about the value put on education and make lasting decisions about personal and career goals. As a BIS major, students progressively address the three elements of the degree program; Self, Others, and Product. These three elements are introduced in a seminar format of teaching that opens the door to student input and a collaborative relationship between the professors, the student, and peers. From a glance, the program may appear to be a “General Studies” degree. On the contrary, the BIS program requires its students to concentrate on two areas of their choice, from a list of dynamic concentrations. What's more, BIS students have the option of designing their own concentrations, to zero in on their individual career and educational interests.
I am a BIS major who has self-designed my first concentration in “Community Development and Organizational Studies.” When people ask me what the BIS program at Miami University is all about, I often begin the story of my experience with the joke that in BIS 201 we are being taught to be “self-centered.” I go on to explain that we are learning to be “self-centered” in a healthy way. We learned to be centered on our own goals. We are taught to take ownership of our individual education. Most importantly, we discover the importance of reflecting on ourselves in a way that many of us were never taught before. The Bachelors of Integrative Studies program is a miracle for those who desire more than “course work.” The program offers interconnected learning environments and experiences that will last a lifetime.
Information about the components of the Bachelors of Integrative Studies program was gathered at : http://www.regionals.muohio.edu/bis/index.htm