If you transferred into CSUMB as an AA-T-certified student in English, you must complete the following courses for your bachelor’s degree in Humanities & Communication at CSUMB. If you are unsure about your transfer status, please talk to an advisor. All English Subject Matter Preparation students should consult Dr. Jennifer Fletcher or the HCOM Advisor prior to registration.

If you transferred into CSUMB as an AA-T-certified student in Elementary Education, you must complete the following courses for your bachelor’s degree in Liberal Studies at CSUMB. If you are unsure about your transfer status, please talk to a Liberal Studies advisor as soon as possible. You will work with a Liberal Studies advisor to create your Individual Learning Plan (ILP). This ILP maps out how you will achieve each of the major course requirements listed below to earn your degree.

If you transferred into CSUMB as an AS-T-certified student in Early Childhood Education, you must complete the following courses for your bachelor’s degree in Human Development & Family Science. If you are unsure about your transfer status, please talk to an advisor as soon as possible.

The CS Online Degree Completion program from California State University, Monterey Bay offers a unique blend of computer science theory and hands-on information technology practice, with a concentration in software engineering. This combination prepares you to participate in the fast-paced information economy in jobs such as Web Developer, Software Engineer, or Technology Project Manager.

In the CS program, you will learn fundamental computer science concepts while applying your knowledge to solve real-world problems. Collaboration, team work, and communication skills are infused into the learning experiences with heavily project-based courses in a state-of-the-art technological environment.

You’ll begin by taking a set of common core courses to establish a strong foundation in computer science, followed by coursework in one of four concentration areas: Software Engineering, Network and Security, Data Science, or Game Development. The curriculum provides you the opportunity to learn concepts and develop skills in more than one concentration, helping you to become a well rounded computer science professional.

Program Learning Outcomes

✔ MLO 1: Problem Solving & Computational Thinking

Apply analytical, mathematical, and computational methods to solve problems, abstracting essential structure, recognizing sources of uncertainty, and utilizing appropriate tools. More specifically, graduates should be able to:

1. Apply knowledge of mathematics, programming, and computational thinking to solve problems;
2. Analyze a problem, abstract its essential structure, and design, develop, and implement an appropriate solution;
3. Evaluate the correctness and efficiency of a computer-based solution, process, component, or program to meet a desired outcome.

✔ MLO 2: Professional Communication

Demonstrate the ability to analyze, understand, and evaluate information, ideas, and insights from multiple perspectives through written, oral, visual, and electronic means of communication, and explain their significance at an advanced collegiate level. More specifically, graduates should be able to:

1. Receive information, ideas, and arguments through active listening and effective reading skills;
2. Communicate effectively with a range of audiences through college-level writing;
3. Communicate effectively with a range of audiences through well-organized, precise, and effective oral presentations.

✔ MLO 3: Professional Ethos

Demonstrate professionalism through team work, punctuality, integrity, and reliability, as well as a commitment to ethical action based on an ability to rigorously evaluate multiple perspectives. More specifically, graduates should be able to:

1. Function effectively on teams with diverse individuals from diverse backgrounds to accomplish a common goal;
2. Analyze the local and global impact of computing on individuals, organizations, community, society, and the world;
3. Understand and apply their professional, ethical, legal, security, and social responsibilities in the service of their community, society, and world.

✔ MLO 4: CS Core Knowledge and Skills

Apply core computer science knowledge, theories, methods, and practices to address new and complex real-world challenges and opportunities. More specifically, graduates should be able to:

1. Apply mathematical foundations, knowledge, tools, and methods in the modeling and design of computer-based systems in a way that demonstrates understanding of the tradeoffs involved in design choices;
2. Apply systems knowledge, tools, and methods in the modeling and design of computer-based systems in a way that demonstrates comprehension of the tradeoffs involved in design choices;
3. Apply software design, algorithmic knowledge, tools, and methods in the modeling and design of computer-based systems in a way that demonstrates comprehension of the tradeoffs involved in design choices.

MLO 5: CS Specialized Knowledge and Skills

Apply specialized knowledge, theories, methods, and practices from multiple CS disciplines to address new and complex real-world challenges and opportunities. More specifically, graduates should be able to:

1. Apply design and development principles, tools, and methods of specialized knowledge, possibly from multiple specializations, in the construction of computing systems of varying complexity in a way that demonstrates comprehension of the tradeoffs involved in design choices.

The business management economics major provides students who are interested in careers in business or management with a foundation in economics and a selection of applied fields related to business management. This course of study prepares students for entrance into the business world or admission to graduate programs—either the master’s program in applied economics and finance at UCSC or graduate programs in business and management at other universities.

The program provides a business and management education embedded within a broader economics and liberal arts context and is closely related to the economics and global economics majors and the technology and information management major. The department also offers a series of accounting courses that prepare students interested in certified public accountant (CPA) licensure. Students in the business management economics major have the option of adding an accounting concentration designation on their transcripts, provided they meet the curricular criteria. Electing to complete the accounting course sequence will prepare students for the Uniform Certified Public Accountants' Exam and the credits will count toward exam eligibility. It will assist students in documenting their concrete expertise in accounting and thus help them compete for entry- level accounting positions in industry and public accounting as well as secure internship opportunities. For the concentration the eight (8) required courses include: ECON 110: Managerial Cost Accounting and Control, ECON 111A: Intermediate Accounting I, ECON 111B: Intermediate Accounting II, ECON 111C: Intermediate Accounting III, ECON 112: Audit, ECON 116: Advanced Topics in Accounting and Ethics, ECON 117A: Tax Factors for Individuals, and ECON 117B: Tax Factors for Business. Students electing the accounting concentration may also reduce their computer literacy requirements by one course (from two to one).

This major has several important elements. First, it combines the strong analytic approach of economics with the technical aspects of management. Second, it recognizes that computing is intrinsic to business and is an essential skill for those who wish to enter this field. Students in this major gain knowledge about using computing as a tool of analysis for economic, statistical, and financial data. Third, the major offers field placements (arranged with the economics advisors) which provide an excellent way to apply students’ academic knowledge of economics, business, and management to issues and problems in the real world; they provide marketable skills as well as important job contacts.

Students who are committed to the major early in their academic career should plan to complete ECON 1, ECON 2, ECON 10A, ECON 10B, AM 11A, AM 11B, STAT 17 and STAT 17L and preferably ECON 100A, ECON 100B, and ECON 113 no later than the end of their sophomore year.

Program Learning Outcomes

Program learning outcomes for economics, economics and mathematics, business management economics, and global economics majors:

✔ Critical Thinking Skills: Students are expected to be able to apply economic analysis to everyday problems in real world situations, to understand current events and evaluate specific policy proposals, and to evaluate the role played by assumptions in arguments that reach different conclusions to a specific economic or policy problem.

✔ Quantitative Reasoning Skills: Students are expected to understand how to use empirical evidence to evaluate the validity of an economic argument, use statistical methodology, interpret statistical results, and conduct appropriate statistical analysis of data.

✔ Problem-Solving Skills: Students are expected to be able to solve problems that have clear solutions and to address problems that do not have clear answers and explain conditions under which these solutions may be correct.

✔ Specialized Knowledge and Application of Skills: Students are expected to develop critical and quantitative thinking skills specific to business and accounting.

✔ Communication Skills: Students are expected to be able to communicate effectively in written, oral, and graphical form about specific issues, and to formulate well-organized written arguments that state assumptions and hypotheses supported by evidence.

The Bachelor of Arts in Biotechnology is intended for students who plan to be involved in the biotechnology industry as writers, artists, ethicists, executives, sales force, regulators, lawyers, politicians, and other roles that require an understanding of the technology, but not the intensive training needed for technicians, research scientists, engineers, and bioinformaticians. (For those more technical roles, the biomolecular engineering and bioinformatics major or the molecular, cell, and developmental biology major is recommended.)

The major is deliberately designed to be paired as a double major for students in the humanities, social sciences, or the arts.

Program Learning Outcomes

A biotechnology student completing the program should:

✔ Have familiarity with several different biotechnologies;

✔ Be able to find and use information from a variety of sources, including books, journal articles, and online encyclopedias;

✔ Be able to write programs in Python;

✔ Be able to communicate clearly in writing, orally, and as posters; and

✔ Be able to apply ethical reasoning to make decisions about biotechnology in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context.

Biology has entered into an exciting new era in which phenomena that once seemed insoluble mysteries—such as embryonic development, the functions of the brain, and the dynamics of ecosystems—are now yielding their secrets as the technology to study them becomes more and more sophisticated. From molecular biology, with its potential to revolutionize medicine and agriculture, to ecology, with its lessons for the sustainable management of the environment, biologists are fully engaged in meeting the challenges of the future, helping to improve the quality of human life, and to preserve habitats and biodiversity. Thus, it is no surprise that biology is at the heart of many of today’s most pressing intellectual and social concerns. The Biology B.S. degree program gives students a rigorous education in modern biology, while allowing a student the opportunity to select from a wide array of upper-division elective courses offered by the departments of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. With proper advance planning, a student with virtually any degree can prepare a competitive application for medical school or health care professional school. Check the Health Careers webpage for more information on how you can academically prepare for a career in health care. Additional information is available at the UCSC Career Center.

Program Learning Outcomes

Students who successfully complete the Biology major will be able to:

✔ Demonstrate knowledge of how biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology are used to elucidate both the function of cells and their organization into tissues.

✔ Recognize that biology has a basis in chemistry, physics, and mathematics.

✔ Describe how scientific method is used to explain natural phenomena.

✔ Use effective oral and written language skills to communicate scientific data and ideas.

✔ Understand safe laboratory practices and perform basic molecular biology techniques.

✔ Generate hypotheses, evaluate data, and design experiments to investigate a scientific problem.

✔ Present broad knowledge in biochemistry, genetics, evolutionary biology, cell biology, developmental biology, physiology, and ecology.

The general biology bachelor of arts major permits flexibility, but demands careful attention to a student’s own interests and plans. Each student should select courses on the basis of up-to-date information in consultation with an Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) Department advisor or faculty advisor whose interests reflect the student’s interests. A hallmark of the major is the many field courses that introduce students to a diversity of ecosystems and the skills to conduct field research. See the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology undergraduate webpage for more information on these courses.

Program Learning Outcomes

The undergraduate curriculum offered by the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) is designed to ensure that all students declared in any EEB sponsored major will achieve the following seven program learning outcomes.

✔ Students will demonstrate broad-based knowledge of the fundamentals of ecology, behavior, evolution and physiology and the relationships among these disciplines.

✔ Students will demonstrate skills in the observation and experimental study of organisms, using both field-based and laboratory-based approaches.

✔ Students will demonstrate skills in identifying, accessing, comprehending and synthesizing scientific information, including interpretation of the primary scientific literature. This includes understanding key questions and hypotheses, interpreting results and conclusions, and evaluating quality through critique.

✔ Students will demonstrate the ability to conceive and execute independent scientific research, including developing their own questions and hypotheses, designing an appropriate theoretical or empirical/experimental approach, executing that approach, and analyzing and interpreting data.

✔ Students will demonstrate an ability to understand and apply fundamental quantitative skills, including models and statistical analyses, so as to properly interpret published research and apply such skills in their own research.

✔ Students will demonstrate the ability to communicate scientific work, such as a scientific paper, proposal, essay, or notebook, in written, oral or poster format.

✔ Students will exhibit strong teamwork and problem-solving skills. They will demonstrate the ability to make arguments from evidence and work together to find optimal solutions.

Research at the macromolecular, molecular, and atomic levels is revolutionizing our understanding of the fundamental processes of life. Students interested in joining this search are best prepared by undertaking coursework in biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, and computer science. The undergraduate major in biochemistry and molecular biology (BMB) is offered by faculty who are actively engaged in research on biological systems.

Students who declare the BMB major earn a bachelor of science (B.S.) degree. The BMB major constitutes an integrated curriculum of basic instruction in biology, chemistry, mathematics, and physics, followed by the opportunity to pursue advanced study in specialized areas of interest. In modern, well-equipped laboratories, distinguished faculty are engaged in frontline research at UCSC. The Chemistry and Biochemistry Department and the Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology Department each host a very active seminar series in which internationally-recognized scientists present their current research findings. Advanced BMB undergraduates are encouraged to attend.

The BMB program features close faculty-student interaction, stimulating learning environments, and opportunities for independent research and study. Students majoring in BMB are encouraged to become involved in research under the guidance of a faculty sponsor. Many students participating in this aspect of the program have made important contributions to the scientific literature.

The BMB major has a broad scope and is interdisciplinary in nature. All prospective majors should see the BMB academic advisor for additional information.

Note: A student cannot double major/minor in BMB and any other major/minor offered by the departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology. No BMB minor is offered.

Program Learning Outcomes

Learning outcomes summarize the most important knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes that students are expected to develop over the course of their studies.

Students graduating with a B.S. in biochemistry and molecular biology should be able to:

✔ Demonstrate mastery of a broad set of chemical and biological knowledge concerning the fundamentals in the basic areas of the discipline (organic, inorganic, analytical, physical, biochemistry, and molecular biology).

✔ Solve area-specific problems by identifying the essential parts of a problem, formulating a strategy for solving the problem, applying appropriate techniques to arrive at a solution, testing the correctness of the solution, and interpreting their results.

✔ Use modern cloud search tools (such as SciFinder, PubMed, Google Scholar, or Web of Science) to locate and retrieve scientific information about topics relating to chemistry and biology.

✔ Know and follow the proper procedures and regulations for safe handling and use of chemicals, biohazardous materials, and common laboratory instruments.

✔ Understand the objective of their chemical and biological experiments, properly carry out the experiments, and appropriately record and analyze the results.

✔ Use computers in data acquisition and processing, and use available software as a tool in data analysis; use standard laboratory equipment, modern instrumentation, and classical techniques to carry out experiments.

✔ Communicate the concepts and results of their laboratory experiments through effective writing and/or oral communication using the discipline standards for reporting and citation.

✔ Collaborate effectively as part of a team to solve problems, debate different points of view, and interact productively with a diverse group of team members.