Buena Vista University - View by Major

Home
Academics
Programs & Majors
View by Major

EXPLORE BVU

Apply
Ask a Question
BVU Schools
Contact Us
MyU
Request Info
Virtual Tour
Visit Campus

Search Majors

Design Your Own Major

Not finding exactly what you're looking for? Maybe you have a major in mind that nobody has invented yet. BVU's Distributive Major lets you literally design your own major.

View by
Interest
View by
Major
View by
Minor
View by
School
Pre-Professional
Programs

Accounting

When solving puzzles, do you enjoy working hard to find an exact and accurate answer? With a career in accounting, you could put your skills to work professionally helping businesses, government agencies, and individuals assess their holdings and income.
Read More about Accounting at BVU

Art

Is expression your passion? Do you admire how skillfully creativity can be used to seek truth, depict beauty, conjure fiction, and uncover ugliness? Or are you driven by your own desire to create, to make the next work so unique that we don’t yet have words to describe it?
Read More about Art at BVU

Arts Management

Through a major in arts management, you'll learn to take your passion for self-expression and merge it with enterprise. The major shows you how to synthesize an understanding of theatre, music, or the fine arts with business skills to help art find an audience and thrive commercially.
Read More about Arts Management at BVU

Athletic Training

It's nearing the end of the fourth quarter. The quarterback just went down from a brutal hit. Can he go on? Is he OK? While the crowd holds its breath, the team’s athletic trainers spring into action. From the moment of impact, they assess possible injury through sight and touch.
Read More about Athletic Training at BVU

Bachelor of Applied Studies

If you have an associate’s degree from a community college, the Bachelor of Applied Studies program is a convenient way to earn your bachelor's degree by taking additional upper-level and general education courses.
Read More about Bachelor of Applied Studies at BVU

Biochemistry

Biochemistry, the “chemistry of life”, exists at the nexus of the physical and life sciences. Biochemists study the chemistry of physiology - how living things and their cells work in terms of their chemical components. In the process, they draw from a base of knowledge – and contribute to solving many challenges – in physics, biology, chemistry, mathematics, and computer science.
Read More about Biochemistry at BVU

Biology

Did you know that the largest organism in the world is a set of aspen trees in Utah that share the same root system? Or at least it could be. Depending on how you define what constitutes a single living system, the Great Barrier Reef might be the largest, or it could be a 2,200-acre fungus in Oregon. And that doesn’t even ask the question of how you even define life itself.
Read More about Biology at BVU

Business Economics

Are you curious how companies decide how much to pay their employees? Or how the decisions of farmers, food distributors, and grocery stores determine how much you pay for an ear of corn? As an economist, you’ll apply problem solving, theory and mathematics to better understand how these processes work – and how you might be able to make them work more efficiently.
Read More about Business Economics at BVU

Business Education

What do all great business leaders have in common? A good plan? Vision? The right team? All these, of course! But before any of that, most of them had a good teacher. If your sense for business comes naturally and you love sharing it with others, consider making a career teaching the next generation of business leaders.
Read More about Business Education at BVU

Chemistry

Do you know so much about the periodic table that you’ve memorized it? If you have, that’s great! You certainly have ‘chemistry’ with the subject. Chemistry, however, is more than tables and test tubes. Professional chemists apply their skills to a variety of contemporary challenges. They find ways to improve our health by developing and improving new drugs, healthier food items like salt substitutes, and medical procedures like dialysis. They invent new substances and enhance existing inventions by understanding properties of atoms and how they can be combined to form useful compounds.
Read More about Chemistry at BVU

Communications Studies

The ability to effectively communicate is among the most widely applicable life and career skills you can develop. It can help you land a job and keep it. It can help you advance your career and maintain personal relationships. All that we do conveys important information about ourselves to others. Learning to carefully consider and craft the messages we send is of paramount importance in the information age.
Read More about Communications Studies at BVU

Computer Science

A few decades ago, it would have seemed unbelievable that a day would soon come when computers would be installed in everything from new cars to children’s toys, phones would take pictures and send messages by text, and a social network called Facebook would connect one-twelfth the world’s population. Technology will only continue to grow – and with it will grow the need for people who understand and further technology.
Read More about Computer Science at BVU

Computer Science/Mathematics

A few decades ago, it would have seemed unbelievable that a day would soon come when computers would be installed in everything from new cars to children’s toys, phones would take pictures and send messages by text, and a social network called Facebook would connect one-twelfth the world’s population. It’s even more impressive to realize that with all we’ve seen, we’re only at the beginning of the age of computers. Would you like to help drive the future of technology?
Read More about Computer Science/Mathematics at BVU

Corporate Communication

Communication skills: you use them in the first handshake and when issuing a financial report for shareholders. They are important to closing deals, establishing partnerships, handling crises, and sharing your services with the public. Whatever position you hold, businesses rely on people who can get their points across effectively and accurately.
Read More about Corporate Communication at BVU

Criminology/Criminal Justice

Criminology is a science that seeks to understand crime, its causes, effects and its prevention. Criminal justice concerns methods of law enforcement and judicial action. Studying both in combination provides you with a thorough view of theory and the criminal justice system, making you professionally and theoretically prepared to stand up for what’s right.
Read More about Criminology/Criminal Justice at BVU

Design Your Own Major

If your academic interests aren’t bound within a single program or discipline, the interdisciplinary major offers a flexible alternative for you to design your own course of study.
Read More about Design Your Own Major at BVU

Digital Media

Contemporary life is a whirlwind of information. You can tune in, log on, switch to, or pick up ideas and art and designs just about anywhere. Media is culture – and it’s everywhere. As you read, watch and listen, take note: it could be you reporting live, taking the next important picture, writing an award-winning article (or blog), or editing the next great viral video sensation.
Read More about Digital Media at BVU

Education

Think of the best teachers you’ve known. What was it about the way they taught that inspired you? Was it how well they knew their subjects? Their passion for education? How they reached out to their students? You could be just as inspiring in classrooms of your own.
Read More about Education at BVU

English

Who wrote your favorite book? What was compelling about the writer's ability to describe a situation or bring a personality to life? Perhaps you feel driven to write yourself, capturing your thoughts and the world around you in words and phrases, written and spoken. As an English major, you’ll learn how to increase the effectiveness of your self-expression as you develop composition skills for professional success and a literary background for personal fulfillment.
Read More about English at BVU

Environmental Science

How do you save the world? This isn't a rhetorical question. It's being asked with increasing urgency by scientists, governments, businesses, and concerned individuals. When they need an informed perspective on how to work towards its answer, they listen to environmental scientists.
Read More about Environmental Science at BVU

Exercise Science - Human Performance

Before a big game, some athletes think it's best to carbo-load by eating large pasta dinners. A runner can tear a ligament in her knee and not be aware of the full extent of the damage until years later. Video games like Brain Boost are advertised as improving memory and hand-eye coordination. These seemingly unrelated examples address the human mind and body, its abilities, and its limits – topics explainable through the science of human performance.
Read More about Exercise Science - Human Performance at BVU

Exercise Science - Physical Education and Coaching

All athletes – from Little Leaguers to Olympians – don’t do it on their own. No matter how skillful, graceful, and powerful, they need great coaches and teachers to recognize their talents, challenge their weaknesses, and inspire them as they improve their games.
Read More about Exercise Science - Physical Education and Coaching at BVU

Finance and Banking

You may have experienced the thrill of watching your investments pay off – the time and energy you’ve put into your education, for one. But how do you grow a financial fortune? As a financier, you can be a working expert in answering that question, crunching the numbers to help businesses and individuals grow more money by leveraging their existing assets.
Read More about Finance and Banking at BVU

General Science

If you would love to teach science but don’t want to limit yourself to one specific discipline, the general science program can provide you with a broad background in biology, chemistry, math and physics. You'll stretch your knowledge across several areas and learn how different branches of science are interconnected.
Read More about General Science at BVU

Graphic Design & Visual Communication

To be a successful visual designer, talent and passion are musts, but they aren’t all you’ll need. As a graphic design & visual communication major, you’ll develop your artistic abilities alongside your skills in corporate communication and media studies. You’ll learn both how to produce graphic art and apply it to a career.
Read More about Graphic Design & Visual Communication at BVU

History

What is history? More than memorizing dates and names, it’s a method of tracing who we are in today’s world by understanding who we were.
Read More about History at BVU

International Business

Is the idea of packing a suitcase, boarding a plane, and getting paid while you traverse the globe exciting? The business world is ever-flattening, and needs cross-culturally skilled professionals who both know how to use technology to communicate with the other side of the world, and how to travel there to accomplish things in person.
Read More about International Business at BVU

Management

Excellent managers leverage their company’s resources and the talents of those around them to encourage the best possible outcomes. They have to thoroughly understand the goals of their business, their own abilities, and others’ skills to achieve their goals.
Read More about Management at BVU

Management Information Systems (MIS)

Businesses need professionals to network computers together, build databases to track information, and analyze data. To do these things, they call upon experts in a field called management information systems (MIS). Combining business expertise with computer skills, MIS professionals use software and systems to help employees efficiently complete their work, learn what products are selling best (and why), and use technology to enable operations to run as smoothly as possible.
Read More about Management Information Systems (MIS) at BVU

Marketing

How does something become all the rage...the iPad everyone must have, the Wii that outsells its more technologically powerful competitors, the next big toy that dominates the holiday season and has customers flocking to the stores at 5 a.m. just for a chance to buy one? A lot of it is due to the marketing team, people who understand what customers want and what just might make a product irresistible.
Read More about Marketing at BVU

Mathematics

Mathematics is perhaps the most fundamental tool we have to describe the universe. Numbers, formulas, and algorithms help us understand the rules that govern the natural world by explaining everything from the massive scale of planetary motion down to the behavior of subatomic particles. They help us to predict how businesses will develop, allowing us to make stock market predictions. They quantify human behavior through the social sciences. They advance technology through their roles in computing and programming.
Read More about Mathematics at BVU

Mathematics - Corporate

Mathematics is essential to business, from the algorithms of financial software to sales projections to statistical analysis. Corporations depend on math and the people who understand it to inform crucial decisions. If you enjoy analytical work, like math, and want to work in business, the mathematics - corporate major is a way to combine your interests with a practical career focus.
Read More about Mathematics - Corporate at BVU

Music

For some people, music is their joy and passion. For others, it’s their livelihood. Whether conducting an orchestra, playing in a band, leading a classroom or selecting an iPod playlist, there are many ways in which music forms an important part of life’s rhythms. Studying it in-depth at BVU allows you to hone your talents as part of a supportive community of talented students and professors.
Read More about Music at BVU

Music Production and Technology

You don’t just listen to music, you stream it. You beam it to your car by satellite, shuffle it on your iPod, and maybe even spin it on classic vinyl. To call it just ‘music’ seems limiting: audio today includes remixes, podcasts, and compositions made entirely with – and sometimes even written by – computers. That’s good news if you want to make music your career: you can do on a home computer today what decades ago would have required signing with a label. It’s never been easier to make quality music and help it find an audience.
Read More about Music Production and Technology at BVU

Philosophy and Religion

Some questions are meant to be answered while others are meant to be pondered. The disciplines of philosophy and religion explore and debate concepts that are often not definitively knowable. Though supported by evidence, they depend on faith and reasoned argument. These questions, ideas, and belief hold profound influence on society. On a personal level, they may be highly meaningful to you – even the basis for how you live your life. Studying them in-depth can encourage you in your own understanding of the world and beyond.
Read More about Philosophy and Religion at BVU

Physics

Physicists study how the natural world behaves at basic levels: the motion of matter and the forces that govern it. Even though these properties may seem simple, they can be used to address many challenging, contemporary questions: How do we decrease our carbon footprint? Where are we going to get energy for the next 50 years? Why is gravity so weak? How can we stretch computers to the physical limits to increase their processing power?
Read More about Physics at BVU

Political Science

Even though members of a society hold different opinions and values, they must agree on certain rules and procedures in order to get things accomplished. In a nation, the government is the ultimate body that sets the framework for how we live together, from national environmental policy to economic regulations that affect the pizza place down the street. No matter if your personal politics skew liberal or conservative, a political science degree can help you learn how to better participate in and analyze the important decisions affecting your nation and community.
Read More about Political Science at BVU

Political Science / Public Administration

Public administrators think big. They look for solutions to problems like gang violence, poverty, and crime. Working in the public and private sectors, they implement policies legislated by governments and bring together large groups of people with very different agendas and get them to move in the same direction. Are you up to the task?
Read More about Political Science / Public Administration at BVU

Psychology

What is it about people that causes them to act the way they do? Understanding the human mind can show you how to best encourage people through difficult times, help businesses get the most from their workers, allow advertisers to make informed choices about what will appeal to a particular market, and increase the chances of diffusing dangerous situations peacefully. As a psychology major, you’ll learn about behavior and mental processes – both the normal and the aberrant – as you seek to understand why people are the way they are and the human possibilities for change.
Read More about Psychology at BVU

Social Science (Teaching Licensure)

Why do people live how they live? And what can be done to address their problems? The disciplines of the social sciences seek to understand questions the address human order and disorder, and the possibilities of change for the better. Though the social science major, you’ll take courses from economics, history, political science, psychology, and sociology, learning how to teach their basic concepts to the next generation.
Read More about Social Science (Teaching Licensure) at BVU

Social Work

Some of us volunteer our weekends and evenings to help causes we care about. Social workers spend their careers working full-time for the well-being of others. They work with individuals one-on-one, coordinate support groups, and advocate for the best possible environments to allow people to live safely with ample opportunities for a quality life. Moreover, they see firsthand the differences they encourage in individuals, communities, and government, watching and participating as they help change to develop.
Read More about Social Work at BVU

Spanish

Spanish has more native speakers worldwide than any other language except Mandarin, including nearly 35 million in the United States. Being able to communicate with it can help your business reach out to growing segments of the population and enable you to better connect with the community around you.
Read More about Spanish at BVU

Theatre

The lights go down. A crowd falls silent. For a moment, you can hear everyone breathe in. Not just the audience in their seats but the actors backstage waiting to enter stage left; the crew on the catwalks high above the proscenium; and the light and sound techs in the booths at the back of the house. It’s the excitement of a performance about to begin. What part would you like to play in creating that feeling?
Read More about Theatre at BVU

PRINT & SHARE