Degree Programs

Degree Programs silvaa

The following are the official program descriptions for the University of Washington Tacoma's degree programs. Most academic departments and colleges maintain their own websites with additional information.

All announcements in the General Catalog are subject to change without notice and do not constitute an agreement between the University of Washington Tacoma and the student. Students should assume the responsibility of consulting the appropriate academic unit or advisor for more current or specific information.

For UW Tacoma course descriptions, click here.

Graduate Programs

Doctor of Education (Educational Leadership) (EdD)

Doctor of Philosophy (Computer Science & Systems) (PhD)

Education Specialist (School Psychology) (EdS)

Graduate Certificate in Software Development Engineering

Master of Arts in Community Planning (MACP)

Master of Business Administration (MBA)

Master of Cybersecurity and Leadership (MCL)

Master of Education (MEd)

Master of Nursing (MN)

Master of Science in Accounting (MSAcc)

Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA)

Master of Science in Computer Science and Systems (MSCSS)

Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering (MSECE)

Master of Science in Information Technology

Master of Social Work (MSW)

Undergraduate Majors & Options

Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree with a major in

Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration (BABA)

Bachelor of Science (BS) degree with a major in

Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering degree (BSCE)

Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (BSEE)

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (BSME)

Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN)

*A formal option is a University-approved concentration within a major that appears on a student’s transcript. Program information is populated from UW Curriculum Management system.

**Informal options, tracks, concentrations or pathways do not appear on a student transcript. Program information can be found on school's website.

Minors

American Indian Studies

American Popular Culture Studies

Applied Computing

Asian Studies

Business Administration

Business Data Analytics

Criminal Justice

Ecological Restoration

Economics

Education and Community Engagement

Environmental Studies

Gender and Sexuality Studies

Global Engagement

Health and Society

History

Human Rights

Innovation & Design

Latino Studies

Law and Policy

Mathematics

Politics

Religious Studies

Social Science Research Methods

Sociology

Spanish Language and Cultures

Sports Enterprise Management

Sustainability

Sustainable Urban Development

Teaching, Learning and Justice

Technical Communication

Urban Studies

Certificate Programs

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Global Honors Certificate Pathways

Restoration Ecology

Endorsements

Endorsement Offerings for Practicing Educators

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Institute for Innovation and Global Engagement

Institute for Innovation and Global Engagement silvaa

The Institute for Innovation & Global Engagement (IIGE) promotes a globally engaged university through collaborations and partnerships that connect the classroom to the world. It advances the University of Washington's imperative to be boundless, and adds momentum to UW Tacoma's strategic goal to advance global learning. The IIGE offers three transcripted pathways for students: Global Honors, the Minor in Global Engagement and the Minor in Innovation and Design. The IIGE Signature focuses on: global framework, solutions orientation, inclusive innovation and community engagement.

Undergraduate Programs

Certificate Program

Global Honors Certificate Pathways

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Milgard School of Business

Milgard School of Business silvaa

Milgard School of Business cultivates business leaders through cutting edge and personally accessible education, diverse scholarly exploration, and innovative community engagement while promoting social responsibility. We inspire students to become lifelong learners.

Undergraduate Programs

Major: Business Administration

Minor: Business Administration

Minor: Business Data Analytics

Minor: Sports Enterprise Management

Graduate Programs

Master Of Business Administration

Master Of Science In Accounting

Master Of Science In Business Analytics

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Office of Undergraduate Education

Office of Undergraduate Education silvaa

The Office of Undergraduate Education offers undergraduate students the opportunity to discover their intellectual, creative and professional passions by introducing them to many interconnected areas of knowledge.  Through the services we offer and/or coordinate such as student testing services, freshmen core, spring into the sophomore year, Student Showcases, Summer Bridge, Undergraduate Majors Fair and TUNIV 250, our office strives to support all undergraduates as they participate in a comprehensive undergraduate experience.

 

Undergraduate Education Initiatives

Core Learning Community

The Core Learning Community introduces first-year students to the excitement and challenges of post-secondary education through a series of theme-based courses organized around the Core "Areas of Inquiry."

Throughout their Core experience, students will work collaboratively with their peers and UW Tacoma faculty while gaining familiarity with the skills required to succeed across the curriculum. In pursuit of this goal, all Core courses are designed to cultivate and refine our campus-wide learning goals, which include communication and self-expression; civic engagement; critical inquiry; global understanding; cultural competence; and problem solving.

Summer Bridge Program

Summer Bridge provides incoming freshmen with tools for success as they navigate a new academic environment and face the personal and intellectual challenges of being a first-year student.

Undergraduate Student Showcase

Each quarter, OUE sponsors a student showcases that provides undergraduate students an opportunity to present their quarterly projects to the UW Tacoma campus community. It also provides an open forum for students to discuss their work and connect with faculty and peers from across the curriculum.

Testing

The Office of Undergraduate Education provides Math placement, Spanish Proficiency testing and makeup tests for individual students upon faculty requests.

Undergraduate Education Academic Council

The Undergraduate Education Academic Council (UEAC) oversees curriculum issues pertaining to undergraduate education and plays an important role in elevating the profile and quality of the undergraduate academic experience at UW Tacoma.

Learning Community

Core courses are designed to prepare first-year students for success both in college and beyond. The challenges we face today are complex, and they require educated citizens capable of understanding issues from multiple perspectives. Consequently, many Core courses adopt an interdisciplinary approach to their particular field of study.

In their first year, Core students meet many of their general education graduation requirements in classes with a student-to-faculty ratio of 25 to 1. Discussion, lectures, reading, writing, and project assignments are designed to broaden students' perspectives--not only about what they are studying, but also about how what they are learning resonates within the world in which they live.

Having sampled the scope of UW Tacoma's curricular offerings through their Core experience, first-year students are better prepared to select courses each quarter from a range of electives that will allow them to explore and prepare for potential majors.

Learning Objectives

While the faculty that teach Core curriculum courses come from a variety of academic programs on campus, they teach to a common set of student learning objectives with a developmental approach that emphasizes the foundational skills necessary to succeed in college courses. Faculty collaborate in the Core Learning Community to design and teach classes that build on these objectives while introducing students to academic writing, the sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities.

As the foundation of a student’s academic career at UW Tacoma, Core strives to foster the following learning objectives:

Inquiry and Critical Thinking
  • Inquiry and problem solving: collect, evaluate, and analyze information and resources to solve problems or answer questions.
  • Research methods & application: approach complex issues by taking a large question and breaking it down into manageable pieces.
  • Synthesis & context: make meaningful connections among assignments and readings in order to develop a sense of the ‘big picture.’
Communication/Self-Expression
  • Argumentation: formulate an original thesis-driven argument and sustain it in both written and verbal communication.
  • Analysis: identify, analyze, and summarize/represent the key elements of a text.
  • Disciplinary awareness: enter/place themselves into an existing dialogue (intellectual, political, etc.).
  • Expression of ideas: express ideas clearly in writing and speaking in order to synthesize and evaluate information before presenting it.

 

Global Perspective/Diversity/Civic Engagement
  • Disciplinary perspective: understand events and processes as ‘disciplinarily’ situated.
  • Global perspective: interact with concepts, ideas, and processes related to the interdependences between personal, local, and global relationships.
  • Diversity: think outside of cultural norms and values, including their own perspectives, to critically engage the larger world.
  • Civic engagement: interact with concepts, ideas, and processes related to civic engagement.

 

Quantitative Literacy
  • Use quantitative evidence (including statistics, graphs, etc.) in support of an argument.
  • Analyze and evaluate a chart or graph and interpret it (through discussion, a written assignment, etc.).
  • Find quantitative data to support an argument.

 

Sample Course Descriptions

Below are sample course descriptions. Core courses change based on the faculty teaching each quarter. For information on Core courses currently being offered, check the online Time Schedule.

T CORE 101 Introduction to Academic Writing (C)
Service Learning for Social Justice.
Students will explore the theme of social justice through service learning. Along with writing on particular topics related to this theme, they will do research about the issue of volunteerism and civic responsibility in conjunction with the particular project they pick, such as working with Habitat for Humanity. The goal of the class is to put academics into action, so that students will understand that what they learn can be applied in the real world.

T CORE 102 Introduction to Science (NW)
Where the Water Meets the Road: Examining the Environmental Impacts of Urbanization on Aquatic Ecosystems.
How do your actions impact the aquatic organisms living in Puget Sound? As the human population continues to climb, more and more people are migrating to urban areas. This in turn imposes greater stresses on adjacent water bodies and other natural resources. This class seeks to explore the growing urban centers around the world and their associated environmental impacts on neighboring aquatic ecosystems. We will also address practices that promote sustainable living in urban areas.

T CORE 103 Introduction to Social Sciences (l&S)
'I'm Batman': Intersections of Pop Culture and Identity.
As consumers of popular culture, most of us are guilty of defending our favorite TV shows long after they've been cancelled, arguing about the likability of a hero in a film, or even debating the merit of trash TV. In an era where you can take Buzzfeed quizzes to determine which superhero or cartoon character you most resemble, it is important to question why our relationship with such cultural texts matters. This course will interrogate the relationship between popular culture, representations of identity, and its consumers. We will examine texts ranging from commercials to award-winning television shows in order to question how and why these texts create meaning for viewers. By writing about texts that we may not easily consider "academic," we will practice skills of interpretation and reflection in order to ask "Why do these texts matter to us?"

T CORE 104 Introduction to Humanities (VLPA)
Listening Outside the Box: Concert Music in the 21st Century.
With only ten weeks to explore the world of "classical music", we will immerse ourselves in a multitude of listening experiences, to include live concert attendance and in-class performances by local musicians. Building on this foundation, we will explore the impact of today's global society on this musical tradition: to what extent have new technologies, increased communication and the ensuing democratization of music impacted the ways in which we relate to "concert music"? Does this music still have relevance in our lives? How have other cultures embraced this tradition, and how has the music of other cultures influenced composition and performance in this genre?

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School of Education

School of Education silvaa

The mission of the University of Washington Tacoma Education Program is to prepare ethical and reflective educators who transform learning, contribute to the community, exemplify professionalism and promote diversity.

Undergraduate Programs

Major: Education

Graduate Programs

Doctor of Education (Educational Leadership)

Educational Specialist (School Psychology)

Master Of Education

Endorsements

Endorsement Offerings for Practicing Educators

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School of Engineering & Technology

School of Engineering & Technology silvaa

The School of Engineering and Technology at the University of Washington, Tacoma, provides focus for the rapid development of high-technology academic programs which serve the needs of the state of Washington. Launched in 2001, the School of Engineering and Technology has supported the community by building facilities, classrooms and labs. Through innovative partnerships with area companies, internships and funded research projects, Institute students gain real world experience to tackle the challenges of a continually evolving industry.

Undergraduate Programs

 Major: Civil Engineering

Major: Computer Engineering

Major: Computer Science and Systems

Major: Electrical Engineering

Major: Information Technology

Major: Mechanical Engineering

Minor: Applied Computing

Graduate Programs

Doctor of Philosophy (Computer Science and Systems)

Graduate Certificate In Software Development Engineering

Master Of Cybersecurity And Leadership

Master Of Science In Computer Science And Systems

Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering

Master of Science in Information Technology

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School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences

School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences silvaa

The School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences is divided into five divisions, each containing related programs and degrees. 

General Education Requirements for SIAS

As part of the degree requirements, students must complete approximately 85 credits of general education course work:

English Composition (C) 5 credits  
Writing (W) 10 credits One course may be part of the major requirements for students in majors such as Communication, History (all tracks), PP&E (all tracks), Law & Policy, Psychology, and Writing Studies
Reasoning (RSN) 5 credits Courses such as Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, General Chemistry, Statistics, and others may fulfill this requirement 
Diversity (DIV) 5 credits These are courses that focus on sociocultural, political, and economic diversity of human experience
Arts and Humanities (A&H) 20 credits These are courses in TARTS, TAMST, TFILM, TLIT, TWRT; select courses from other subject areas may count
Social Sciences (SSc) 20 credits These are courses in TEGL, THIST, TLAWPL, TPPE, TPSYCH, TSOC; select courses from other subject areas may count
Natural Sciences (NSc) 20 credits These are courses in TBIOL, TCHEM, TESC, TMATH, TPHYS, TCSS; select courses from other subject areas may count

Most students who transfer from another college have many of these requirements completed. Any requirements that aren't complete when a transfer student is admitted to UW Tacoma become part of the student's degree program.

Some courses may fulfill more than one general education category or a major requirement. See advisor for details. For example, a course might be a Writing course and also an Arts and Humanities (A&H). Courses that are both A&H and Social Science (SSc) can only fulfill one general education area. 

Division of Culture, Art and Communication

Division of Politics, Philosophy, and Public Affairs

Division of Sciences and Mathematics

The division of Sciences and Mathematics offers Bachelor of Arts degrees in Environmental Studies, and Bachelor of Science degrees in Biomedical Sciences, Environmental Science and Mathematics. Our curriculum, internship opportunities and research maintain local community ties while exploring global perspectives, leading to excellent career opportunities for graduating students.

Division of Social, Behavioral and Human Sciences

Our majors include Psychology and Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences with an individually-designed option. Our curriculum in Psychology is designed to prepare students for careers in human services, community service, human resources and for graduate school for students who plan to work as professional psychologists. We value interdisciplinarity, being able to combine and use skills and knowledge across disciplines.

Undergraduate Programs

Division of Social and Historical Study

The SIAS division of Social and Historical Studies covers social science and humanities courses in the History, Ethnic, Gender and Labor Studies and IAS Global Studies concentration majors. Investigate diverse experiences and conditions over time and place to provide a common framework, paying particular attention to race, class, ethnicity and gender, and to how people shape their destinies.

Undergraduate Programs

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School of Nursing & Healthcare Leadership

School of Nursing & Healthcare Leadership silvaa

The Nursing & Healthcare Leadership Program shares the University of Washington Tacoma mission to provide undergraduate and graduate education for the diverse citizens of the South Puget Sound region. The program supports the interdisciplinary mission of the campus through teaching and scholarly inquiry. Within the overall mission of the campus, the program focuses on the discovery and dissemination of knowledge that promotes health within an ethic of social justice. The curriculum emphasizes and fosters the integration of teaching, inquiry and service through a community of learners. Partnerships with the community assist the program in providing learning environments in which learners build upon their skills and knowledge to strengthen their understanding of local, national and global health issues.

Undergraduate Programs

Major: Healthcare Leadership

Major: Nursing

Minor: Health and Society

Graduate Programs

Master Of Nursing

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School of Social Work & Criminal Justice

School of Social Work & Criminal Justice silvaa

The School of Social Work and Criminal Justice offers two distinct undergraduate majors, an undergraduate minor and one professional graduate degree. The degrees include a bachelor of arts in criminal justice offering both an on-campus and an online degree completion option as well as a bachelor of arts in social welfare. In addition, an undergraduate minor in criminal justice is available to all majors across campus. The Master of Social Work (MSW) degree offers professional graduate study in a specialized area. The School of Social Work and Criminal Justice has strong ties to the South Puget Sound community, our graduate and undergraduate students complete local internships and practicum placements, our faculty conduct collaborative research with partners in our community, and our alumni are actively involved in service and helping professions largely in the South Puget Sound region.

Undergraduate Programs

Program of Study: Major: Criminal Justice

Major: Social Welfare

Minor: Criminal Justice

Graduate Programs

Master Of Social Work

Certificate Program

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

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School of Urban Studies

School of Urban Studies silvaa

The Urban Studies Program offers a bachelor of arts in urban studies with formal options in Global Urbanism and Community Development & Planning. The degree starts with an introduction into the discipline of urban studies with course topics on exploring cities, world development, and urban studies "in practice". The formal options deliver focused theory and skill-based courses that teach how to understand and impact the local and global dynamics of urban society. Graduates are prepared for public or private-sector jobs in areas such as housing and community development, planning, transportation, government agencies, and social services. The program is also excellent preparation for those interested in graduate study in such fields as community development, public administration, law or urban planning/design.

Undergraduate Programs

Major: Sustainable Urban Development

Major: Urban Design

Major: Urban Studies

Minor: Sustainable Urban Development

Minor: Urban Studies

Graduate Programs

Master Of Arts In Community Planning

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