An agreement made in the spring will allow students interested in a Bachelor of Integrated Studies make an easy, cost-free transition from Sinclair Community College to Miami University starting this fall.
Students who make the decision to pursue the BIS at Sinclair will automatically be accepted into Miami and have their application and transfer fees waived if they finish the program requirements, according to George Sehi, executive dean of Sinclair’s Courseview campus.
“Basically starting this fall we have an agreement in place in which students can be admitted to Miami University and Sinclair Community college at the same time and pursue a degree in BIS. It is a new program,” Sehi said. “It is similar to getting a degree in liberal arts except you, after two years of being in the program, identify a focus. That focus becomes your minor.”
The BIS degree, exclusively designed by Miami regional campuses, allows students to choose two out of 10 concentrations offered or design their own program that fits their academic and employment needs, according to Rob Schorman, associate dean of academic affairs at Miami’s Middletown campus.
Concentrations available are applied sociology, contemporary American experience, environmental studies, families, gender and society, geographic information science, information technology strategy for organizations, organizational leadership, understanding media and visual culture, cross cultural leadership, and programming active lifestyles.
The program requires students to take three integrative seminars, BIS 201, 301 and 401, that are designed to cultivate self-awareness, incorporate service learning in the community and participate in a capstone project that demonstrates the full scope of their learning, Schorman said.
“We really try to teach integrative thinking as an academic skill but also something that’s going to be valuable in whatever you do with your personal life,” Schorman said. “These seminars are really designed to cultivate this kind of integrative thinking.”
The program allows students to take classes at any one of Sinclair’s or Miami’s campuses, although 32 credit hours are required at one of Miami’s regional campuses in Hamilton, Middletown or Voice of America campus in Westchester.
For more information on the BIS program visit www.regionals.muohio.edu/bis.