The goal of the Global and Community Health (GCH) B.S. program is to serve the needs of students who aspire to a wide range of careers in healthcare. Students in this program will learn about the biological bases of health and disease and how social, political, economic, and environmental factors interact with the biology to create patterns of disease in communities and societies. Students must complete either of two concentrations in this major. The biomedical concentration is intended for students who are intent on gaining rigorous preparation for professional training in direct patient care (e.g., medical, dentistry, pharmacy school). The public and community health concentration, while still compatible with many professional school programs, is designed for students who wish to receive a broader education that will prepare them to understand both the biological and social determinants of health.

Students in both concentrations take a course in the foundations in global and community health along with introductory courses in biology, general chemistry, organic chemistry, calculus and statistics. In the upper division, all students take courses in biochemistry, epidemiology and environmental health. Students in the biomedical concentration also take advanced courses in genetics, molecular and cell biology, human physiology, and five quarters of Spanish, culminating in a course in medical Spanish. Students in the public and community health concentration take an introductory physiology course, an advanced course in community health, and elective courses in the biological and social contexts of health. Students in both concentrations also take courses in global and community health communication and complete a capstone course in which they participate in interdisciplinary teams to analyze a contemporary problem in global and community health.

Medical and professional school admissions requirements vary; students should verify that their coursework will satisfy the admissions requirements of the programs to which they plan to apply. Check our Health Careers webpage for more information on how you can academically prepare for a career in health care and/or public health. Additional information is available at the UCSC Career Center.

Program Learning Outcomes

Students who successfully complete the global and community health B.S. major will be able to:

✔ Describe the biological and environmental contexts of health;

✔ Describe the social, economic, and cultural contexts of global and community health;

✔ Describe the institutional and policy contexts of global and community health;

✔ Apply methods and skills for biological and population analyses to problems in global and community health; and,

✔ Demonstrate an interdisciplinary understanding of global and community health in practice.D

Global and Community Health (GCH) is an interdisciplinary field of study that is connected both to urgent practical work in the world at large and the core concerns of a liberal arts education. Since GCH topics are embedded in and reflective of wide-ranging social forces, their study is situated at the intersection of diverse traditional disciplines ranging from art, literature, and history, to anthropology, sociology, psychology, politics, economics, and the natural and environmental sciences. Other interdisciplinary fields such as feminist studies and Latin American and Latino studies also intersect in influential ways with GCH, creating exciting opportunities for double majors.

University of California, Santa Cruz, students have many opportunities in the GCH curriculum for practical work in the world beyond the university. Students reflect repeatedly through the major on how their own personal learning can be effectively connected with and communicated to external audiences ranging from community organizations to employers to graduate schools.

More than two hundred courses offered by faculty from all five divisions of UC Santa Cruz contribute to the GCH curriculum. These faculty are committed to the value of interdisciplinary learning, as well as to the possibilities of connecting student research and writing with GCH concerns in the world beyond the university.

No specific courses at the high school level are required for admission to the GCH Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) at UC Santa Cruz. Courses in the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities, whether taken at the high school or college level, are appropriate background and preparation.

The GCH B.A. is appropriate for students interested in careers ranging from medicine, nursing, dentistry and pharmacy to public health and environmental health work in governmental agencies, to global health and community health work with non-governmental organizations, law firms and universities. Many of these careers also require additional post baccalaureate degrees for which the GCH B.A. provides an excellent foundation. There are also jobs open to those with a bachelor's degree in GCH in community health, counseling and educational settings as well as in business sectors such as human resources, administration, hospitality, recreation, food services, farming and construction.

Program Learning Outcomes

Students completing requirements for the B.A. in GCH will develop knowledge and competency in the following five domains:

✔ The biological and environmental contexts of global and community health;

✔ The social and cultural contexts of global and community health;

✔ The institutional and policy contexts of global and community health;

✔ The methods, skills and humanities-informed analysis of global and community health; and,

✔ The interdisciplinary design and implementation of global and community health work.

Students in the general film and digital media (FDM) major develop an understanding of major movements in world cinema and different aesthetic approaches to the medium while studying the cultural impact of television and the rise of video and digital art in recent decades.

The integrated critical practice concentration is designed for film and digital media majors who have a special aptitude for and interest in combining work in critical studies and production. The concentration provides them with a more rigorous pathway through the major and, in their senior year, allows them to work on a senior project that integrates creative and intellectual work.

Students in all facets of the major acquire skills in media analysis while maintaining a broadly based, liberal arts perspective.

Students enrolled in film and digital media production classes have access to audio, video, and digital production and postproduction equipment. Facilities include a digital media lab; stop-motion animation lab audio recording studio; sound stage with green screen; motion capture facility; digital nonlinear editing rooms; video format conversion rooms; a computerized sound effects library; and student equipment checkout. Additionally, computer laboratories equipped for digital image manipulation, web authoring, and interactive interface design and viewing rooms are available. The critical studies facilities include classrooms equipped for high-end film, video, and data projection. The library holdings in film and video history, theory, and literature are complemented by a large collection of films, videos, laser disks, and DVDs, including a diverse range of international feature films, experimental film and video work, animation, silent films, and documentaries.

Some courses offered by the Film and Digital Media Department are restricted in enrollment; admission is based on the completion of prerequisites and other specific written application requirements.

Upper-division digital media and production studio courses require coursework to be completed on computers. Instruction in and software for production courses utilizes the macOS platform and primarily consists of Apple and Adobe video production software packages. Many University of California, Santa Cruz, students purchase laptop computers. Film and digital media students who are considering purchasing a laptop computer for production work are encouraged to consult with the department’s operations staff. A list of recommended computer configurations and information regarding education pricing on software packages is available on the Film and Digital Media website.

Program Learning Outcomes

Students who earn a B.A. in the film and digital media major will gain the skills, knowledge, and understanding that will enable them to:

✔ Demonstrate their ability to employ research skills, including the use of appropriate print and technology sources in the discipline, to construct effective arguments.

✔ Demonstrate that they understand the pre-production, production, and postproduction digital media and filmmaking process.

✔ Demonstrate the relationship between different types of form and meaning through the creation of film and digital media projects or the critical analysis of them.

✔ Demonstrate their ability to work collaboratively to produce a film or digital media project.

✔ Demonstrate broad knowledge of film and media history internationally.

✔ Demonstrate scholarly writing skills appropriate to the discipline of film and digital media.

✔ Demonstrate an ability to analyze, interpret, and critique films and media from a variety of theoretical perspectives using the critical vocabulary and methodologies of the discipline.

✔ Demonstrate their ability to articulate and defend their research and practice in a critical environment.

Feminist studies is an interdisciplinary field of analysis in the humanities that investigates how relations of gender are embedded in social, political, and cultural formations. The undergraduate program in feminist studies provides students with a unique interdisciplinary and transnational perspective. The department emphasizes theories and practices derived from multiracial and multicultural contexts. Some topics you will find in our curriculum include: Black/Africana studies; colonialism and decolonization; trans, queer, and sexuality studies; media studies; law, politics, and social change; and science and technology studies.

Feminist studies prepares undergraduates for a variety of careers. The Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in Feminist Studies provides excellent grounding for undergraduates who have career aspirations in, for example, law, health, non-governmental organizations, museum curation, politics, media and film, research institutes, journalism, community organizations, and social services.

Students wishing to pursue doctoral work will also find that interdisciplinary training in feminist studies equips them with theoretical and methodological strengths in most disciplines and applied research fields including American studies, ethnic studies, science studies, anthropology, communications, and legal studies. Specialists in feminist studies are employed as consultants in industry, higher education, and human resources. State and federal government agencies employ people who have special training in understanding gender and race relations. Educational institutions need specialists to develop and administer feminist studies programs, women’s centers, and other institutional structures designed specifically to study and assist marginalized peoples, including women.

Program Learning Outcomes

Students who complete the feminist studies major should demonstrate the following skills upon graduation:

Outcome 1: Application of Feminist Approaches to Critical Interpretation

Students should be able to:

✔ Discuss a diversity of feminist approaches to understanding social, political, cultural, and scientific phenomena

✔ Connect feminist inquiry to a variety of other social phenomena including but not limited to race, nation, class, and sexuality

✔ Distinguish and evaluate assumptions underlying data and claims

✔ Place divergent interpretive frameworks in dialogue

✔ Perform close reading of texts and/or other objects

Outcome 2: Original Research

Students should be able to:

✔ Develop specific and detailed research questions

✔ Identify appropriate primary sources for feminist research projects

✔ Collect, evaluate, and analyze source material using appropriate theoretical framework(s)

✔ Identify key findings and draw conclusions for research and/or application

Outcome 3: Argumentative Communication

Students should be able to:

✔ Effectively formulate written arguments to frame research questions and analyze source material

✔ Present appropriate evidence to substantiate claims

✔ Logically organize arguments over the course of a research paper

✔ Use appropriate mechanics/grammar

This major provides students with the basic tools of economic analysis and an understanding of the mechanics of resource production, conservation, and use, in both ecological and economic terms.

This combined major in environmental studies (ENVS) and economics (ECON) does not offer any concentrations.

Program Learning Outcomes

✔ Students graduating with a B.A. degree in environmental studies/economics combined will be able to:

✔ Identify the societal (social, political, economic and ethical) agents and structures that contribute to environmental change. (social science competency)

✔ Describe the structure and functioning of major physical and ecological components of the earth’s systems. (natural science competency)

✔ Access and analyze a complex literature addressing specific topics in environmental studies, and evaluate the usefulness and limitations of individual sources of information. (analytic thinking)

✔ Demonstrate effective oral and written communication skills. (communication skills).

This course of study provides students with the basic tools of biological science and sufficient understanding of resource conservation, conservation biology, and concerns about environmental sustainability to apply these tools to environmental problems.

Program Learning Outcomes

Students graduating with a B.A. degree in environmental studies/biology combined will be able to:

✔ Identify the societal (social, political, economic and ethical) agents and structures that contribute to environmental change. (social science competency)

✔ Describe the structure and functioning of major physical and ecological components of the earth’s systems. (natural science competency)

✔ Access and analyze a complex literature addressing specific topics in environmental studies (ENVS), and evaluate the usefulness and limitations of individual sources of information. (analytic thinking)

✔ Demonstrate effective oral and written communication skills. (communication skills).

The environmental studies major provides an interdisciplinary approach to learning how to move toward a more sustainable future for human and ecological systems. Courses in environmental studies provide training not only in the physical, biological, and social sciences, but also in writing, critical thinking, quantitative analysis, project and team management, and more. Most students extend their learning outside the classroom through the departmental internship program.

The major is available either without a concentration or in conjunction with one of three more specialized concentrations that provide depth in particular areas of expertise. See the Undergraduate Program page for a description of each of the concentrations offered.

Program Learning Outcomes

Students graduating with a B.A. degree in environmental studies will be able to:

✔ Identify the societal (social, political, economic and ethical) agents and structures that contribute to environmental change. (social science competency)

✔ Describe the structure and functioning of major physical and ecological components of the earth’s systems. (natural science competency)

✔ Access and analyze a complex literature addressing specific topics in environmental studies, and evaluate the usefulness and limitations of individual sources of information. (analytic thinking)

✔ Demonstrate effective oral and written communication skills. (communication skills).

The University of California, Santa Cruz environmental sciences (ESCI) major is an interdepartmental, undergraduate-only program. The purpose of the ESCI major is to educate students interested in environmental science problems and issues, with a focus on issues within the physical sciences (as opposed to focusing on biological sciences).

The major specializes primarily on the following areas:

- Hydrosphere: water resources, water quality, aquatic chemistry, physical oceanography, chemical oceanography, glaciology

- Pollution and transport: environmental toxicology, environmental transport/fluid mechanics, environmental monitoring

- Global scale environment: climate, climate dynamics, global cycles of water, carbon and nutrients, remote sensing of the environment

- Atmosphere: meteorology, air quality, atmospheric chemistry

The core faculty of the major are primarily from two departments, Earth and Planetary Sciences and Ocean Sciences. Faculty from other departments such as Microbiology and Environmental Toxicology and Environmental Studies may also be involved.

In addition to providing comprehensive preparation in the basic physical sciences, and particular breadth and depth in environmental sciences, the curriculum is structured to prepare students for the competitive graduate school and career marketplace. The core of the major includes calculus, physics, chemistry, and core foundational upper-division environmental sciences courses.

Graduates of the ESCI major are expected to continue on to a variety of careers, such as:

- Business and industry

- Environmental consulting

- Governmental agencies at the federal, state, and local level

- Non-profit organizations

- Research at universities, governmental research institutions, or other scientific agencies

- Graduate/professional school in areas such as science, engineering, teaching, law, public health, business

For more information about the affiliated faculty and staff for the major, including areas of interest and facilities, contact e-mails and phone numbers, and how to declare this major, please see our website.

Program Learning Outcomes

The ESCI major has three broad program learning outcomes, each with three specific learning outcomes:

PLO 1: Disciplinary Knowledge Goals

✔ Reservoirs: Understand and describe the properties of the various environmental “reservoirs”, which represent different, interacting physical regimes. For example, a global model might have the atmosphere, oceans, plants and soils as four primary interacting reservoirs.

✔ Processes: Understand and describe the processes governing the properties and evolution of Earth’s physical environment, i.e., the properties and evolution of reservoirs and their interactions.

✔ Application: Apply the knowledge of reservoirs and processes to explain, analyze and predict phenomena within the environmental sciences.

PLO 2: Quantitative Reasoning Goals

✔ Calculation: Utilize mathematical tools (e.g. algebra, calculus) to address questions in the environmental sciences.

✔ Visualization: Interpret and produce visual representations of data in the environmental sciences (e.g. graphs and charts) that conform to disciplinary standards.

✔ Analysis: Use quantitative analysis as the basis for drawing insights and conclusions, while expressing the appropriate assumptions and qualifications.

PLO 3: Written Communication Goals

✔ Mechanics: Write sentences with correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

✔ Conventions: Accurately utilize the formatting, stylistic, citation and bibliographic conventions of environmental sciences in the written document.

✔ Organization: Construct paragraphs, sections and an overall document that flows logically and persuasively argues a thesis.

The electrical engineering curriculum provides a balance of engineering science and design and allows students to specialize in both the traditional topics and the latest subjects in electrical engineering. Students may concentrate their electives in the areas of electronics and optics or communications, signals, systems, and controls. The major is designed to attract motivated students who, upon graduation, will be sought by employers in the high-tech industry. The electrical engineering program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET.

The electrical engineering B.S. program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, https://www.abet.org.

Students can pursue either of two concentrations, Electronics/Optics or Communications, Signals and Systems.

Program Learning Outcomes

Program Educational Objectives:

Program Educational Objectives (PEOs) are based on the needs of the Electrical Engineering program constituents. They describe what graduates are expected to attain within a few years after graduation.

The PEOs for the Electrical Engineering program at the University of California, Santa Cruz, are as follows:

✔ Advanced Learning and Professional Development: Achieve a high quality, professional approach to engineering through a desire for advanced education, lifelong learning and participation in the professional engineering community.
✔ Adaptation to Technological Change: Enjoy a successful professional career in a world with rapid technological change by having a sound foundation in the fundamental electrical engineering theory, design and basic science upon which future technology will be based.
✔ Skills for Initial and Continued Employment Success: Demonstrate job-relevant electrical engineering skills through theoretical and practical competence in hardware, software, and programming aspects of electrical engineering, as well as independence in thought and action.
✔ Leadership, Teamwork and Entrepreneurial Skills: Achieve a high level of individual creativity for personal achievement as well as the interpersonal, communications and responsibility skills for creating an effective team project environment, including an ability to apply engineering competence in both research and product oriented settings.
✔ Ethics and Societal Issues: Practice a high standard of professional ethics and have a positive impact on the social and environmental aspects of engineering design and implementation.

Student Outcomes:

Upon graduation, students completing the Electrical Engineering B.S. program shall have an ability to:

✔ Identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics;

✔ Apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors;

✔ Communicate effectively with a range of audiences;

The Education, Democracy and Justice major (EDJ; pronounced as "Edge") will provide opportunities to examine critical questions, theories, practices, and research in the field of education considered broadly and not only in relation to formal schooling. Courses in the major will provide the conceptual knowledge for students to engage in critical thinking about social and policy contexts as well as everyday practices affecting inequitable structures in schooling, society, and culture that have enduring impacts on the quality of our democracy and communities. The major’s course of study will explore the history and politics of education and public schooling and their relation to the formation of just and democratic societies; theories of cognition, learning, and pedagogy; and issues of equity and cultural and linguistic diversity in education and in public school policies and practices. The major will not focus on education in international contexts but will address the effects of immigration and globalization on U.S. education.

The department faculty and the program’s social justice orientations bridge theory and practice, drawing on a variety of fields and areas of study in the humanities and social sciences—including sociology, psychology, anthropology, history, philosophy—as well as critical interdisciplinary theories and the learning sciences. Core required courses and elective field experiences will incorporate history and insights from action and participatory forms of research and community organizing to highlight the relationship between education and democratic politics. These studies and field experiences will ground students in an understanding of the transformative power of the linguistic, cultural, epistemic, and social resources that individuals, families, social groups, and communities bring to bear on their circumstances, and how these resources provide the foundations for personal and social change to address historic and enduring inequities that have been barriers to education as a democratic project. The aim of the EDJ major is to provide students with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to become leaders in their communities who can impact a wide array of educational and social institutions, including schools, and put their combination of coursework, research, and fieldwork experiences to work in improving the lives of the least advantaged to advance the welfare of all.

The Education, Democracy, and Justice (EDJ) major does not provide a professional education degree or teaching credential. However, for students interested in a future career as an elementary school teacher, it will provide a strong background for applying to a master's (M.A. or M.Ed.) or multiple subject teaching credential program. Students interested in 6-8 or 9-12 levels of teaching might wish to double-major in education to provide a strong educational context to support their major in a subject area (e.g. literature, history, science, math) if they intend to apply to a graduate program in teacher education. Students cannot teach in 9-12 grades in California schools with a single major in education. Students who complete the major with at least a 3.0 GPA along with other advised coursework and experiences will be given priority for admission into UCSC’s Master of Arts and Credential program in K-5 (multiple subjects) on the recommendation of the faculty.

The Education, Democracy, and Justice (EDJ) major’s sociocultural perspective emphasizes equity and social justice related education in and out of school, with a particular focus on how cognition, language, and knowledge production, circulation, and mobilization are related to social, cultural, and other identities and their processes of formation. Students will examine critical, transformative pedagogies that focus on meeting the needs of low-income, ethnically, racially, and linguistically non-dominant students and their families, and how these pedagogies support the development of more healthy and flourishing children and youth and a more just and democratic society.

Program Learning Outcomes

✔ Students will demonstrate an understanding of the key theoretical perspectives and existing research on innovative teaching and learning approaches that value and promote historically disadvantaged and under-served communities and their cultural and linguistic resources.

✔ Students will apply critical perspectives in reflecting on and/or conducting research and/or fieldwork, and present their findings in multi-modal forms.

✔ Students will demonstrate knowledge of broad historical, social, and political contexts that impact equal opportunity to learn and contribute to society, and the role that education and schooling can play in expanding opportunity.

✔ Students will demonstrate basic knowledge of transformative teaching and learning principles that can be applied in a wide range of learning environments and youth serving educational organizations.

✔ Students will demonstrate oral and written communication skills through individual and group presentations and assignments in their courses.

✔ Students will demonstrate basic knowledge of transformative teaching and learning principles that can be applied in a wide range of learning environments and youth serving educational organizations.

✔ Students will demonstrate oral and written communication skills through individual and group presentations and assignments in their courses.