Work with real clients. Combine art and business. Audience analysis, account planning, creative project management. Learn what it takes to start your own business.
The Bachelor of Science Degree
The entrepreneurial studies major is offered in the four-year bachelor of science degree program. Our BSc curriculum integrates three critical dimensions of creative communication: creative management courses, studio courses, and liberal studies courses.
The BSc degree program is designed to let students interested in both business and art put their talents and abilities to work. It's a great fit for students who are both visual and verbal, have an entrepreneurial knack, and like to analyze and solve complex problems.
Course Descriptions
Foundation Studies
12
FDN 1111 Foundation: 2D 3 This course is an introduction to creative thinking that develops skills in research, observation, interpretation, and self-expression. There is an emphasis on learning new ways to read and see the world and how to report on it. Students learn basic two-dimensional principles through the use of various media, tools, materials, and processes. As a result, students develop a visual and verbal language for analyzing, organizing, shaping, and communicating two-dimensional form and meaning.
FDN 1311 Foundation: Media 1 3
Students are introduced to the digital resources at MCAD while exploring digital media and laptop computing. Areas covered include the Service Bureau, student servers, Media Center, and digital resources. Students discuss media and media artists as well as study various software applications including Adobe Photoshop and web-development tools.
FDN 1312 Foundation: Media 2 3
Building on the skills acquired in Foundation: Media 1, this course takes up more advanced software applications. Through discussions and lectures, students explore various modes of media presentation, the power of moving images, and web work. Using a variety of software and hardware, students learn the basics of nonlinear editing, sound recording, and video recording.
Prerequisites: Foundation: Media 1
EN 1200 Reading and Writing 2 3 Key to the creative and critical nature of college-level writing is the idea that students explore a topic by developing a thesis that changes as they ask questions, explore ideas, and conduct research. To that end, this course extends and concentrates the thinking and communication skills introduced in Reading and Writing 1. The foci of this course are developing a thesis; engaging in critical and sustained research; and drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading a finished research project. As a result, students will become increasingly adept at utilizing a wide variety of research tools, from published books to online search engines. The final project will be a completed research paper and a visual presentation using programs such as PowerPoint. Class sessions are composed of seminar discussions, research exercises, presentations and debates, and writing workshops. Course requirements include participation, presentations, a research journal, a major research paper and a final research presentation.
Core Degree Requirements
33
BS 1935 Biological Systems 3 The science of biology, its methods and its contexts provide insights into the commonalities of patterning in the natural and social worlds. Students will be introduced to organic systems and general systems theory, along with applications of these models in organizations and other social systems. Students learn concepts and approaches to scientific inquiry and taxonomy based on observation and through practical experience.
LS/HS 3235 Inventions and Progress 3 This course is an introduction to the historical study of the process of innovation and creativity underlying human technological development. Students will cover the factors and the processes that support invention, explore stories of technological development as well as consider the impact of technology on cultural forms. Active projects examine the role invention plays in creating the made and social worlds.
LS/HS 1501 Creative and Critical Thinking 3 This course is designed to help students enhance their own creativity as they apply the various areas of visual study. Various problem-solving techniques will be examined. Topics explored include creativity: what enhances it and what can inhibit it; how to confront the creative void and take the next step; creativity and time; creatively working with others; and the creative mind, the critical mind, and how they can work together.
BS 3850 Project Tracking 3 This course is a study of modern management techniques and systems needed to the execute a project from start to finish, to achieve predetermined objectives of scope, quality, time and budgetary cost, to the equal satisfaction of those involved. Relevant speakers, technical readings/discussions and practical work on concurrent projects underway elsewhere in the curriculum prepare the students for responsible and successful project planning and navigation in their careers.
BS 3362 Understanding Contexts 3 This course aids students in exploring context, character, and audiences in order to plan and guide success in creating Web sites. Students will study Internet trends, history, theory, and context in order to understand Web development from the perspective of both audience/user and client/business. Students use information discovery principles and questioning methods to discern context – of clients and their audiences, and designing Web sites. The course format combines studio and lecture/seminar. Students will prepare and field-test a Web site prototype and complete written and verbal responses to readings, quizzes and a paper, Students must be willing to work both solo and in teams and be flexible in participation in the various roles of planner, researcher, information architect, editor, designer, and/or developer. Prerequisite: Bachelor of Science student or permission of instructor.
Prerequisites: Bachelor of Science student or permission of instructor.
BS 2000 Writing for Organization and Communication 3 This course features extensive writing practice directed toward clear presentation of ideas and information in non-fiction writing. The assignments follow a variety of professional and formal models, such as descriptive prose, speechwriting, television narration, magazines or newsletters, and internet-based communication. Tools for prewriting, revising, and editing are strengthened, and a range of choices is broadened as students read, produce their own writing, and review and critique the written communications of others across a variety of media. Several assignments assume a client and audience are involved and aim toward tailoring prose style to the appropriate situation.
BS 3825 Client Studio 3 In the professional world, projects are successfully completed through the efforts of teams by effective leadership, collaboration, planning, innovation, structure, and flexibility. In this course, students will experience the processes and approaches that are used while working with a team on real-world client projects such as Web sites, multimedia presentations, and environmental design. Coaches will serve as mentors to guide teams in the project’s process throughout the semester. (This course is open to second-year Bachelor of Science students and to Bachelor of Fine Arts students with Junior or Senior standing)
BS 4010 1 Internship 1 3
Internships provide an opportunity for students to gain practical experience in a particular career area and valuable on-the-job skills. Internships may be arranged by the Director of Career Services or initiated by students. All internships must be pre-approved through the Career Services Office. For an internship to be approved, a mentor relationship and learning experience should exist beyond a simple employment opportunity. Three-credit internships require working 120 hours at the internship site and keeping a journal of hours and activities.
BS 4010 2 Internship 2 3
Internships provide an opportunity for students to gain practical experience in a particular career area and valuable on-the-job skills. Internships may be arranged by the Director of Career Services or initiated by students. All internships must be pre-approved through the Career Services Office. For an internship to be approved, a mentor relationship and learning experience should exist beyond a simple employment opportunity. Three-credit internships require working 120 hours at the internship site and keeping a journal of hours and activities.
BS 4010 3 Internship 3 3
Internships provide an opportunity for students to gain practical experience in a particular career area and valuable on-the-job skills. Internships may be arranged by the Director of Career Services or initiated by students. All internships must be pre-approved through the Career Services Office. For an internship to be approved, a mentor relationship and learning experience should exist beyond a simple employment opportunity. Three-credit internships require working 120 hours at the internship site and keeping a journal of hours and activities.
BS 4010 4 Internship 4 3 Internships provide an opportunity for students to gain practical experience in a particular career area and valuable on-the-job skills. Internships may be arranged by the Director of Career Services or initiated by students. All internships must be pre-approved through the Career Services Office. For an internship to be approved, a mentor relationship and learning experience should exist beyond a simple employment opportunity. Three-credit internships require working 120 hours at the internship site and keeping a journal of hours and activities.
Specialization Courses
30
BS 3857 The Aesthetics of Sustainability 3 This course is designed for students in all disciplines to use their skills on projects with global partners in specific sites around the world. Students will learn basic concepts of environmental and human sustainability through their work with these sites. The class will explore a brief history of aesthetics from stone-age to industrial and electronic age and explore a new philosophical, visual, and economic framework that integrates human need and environmental restoration.
BS 3430 Human Factors 3
Human factors, broadly defined, investigates the human condition and provides methods for research, design, and evaluation of the human-centeredness of services, products, and environments. Ergonomics, psychology, design, biology, cognitive science, social science, and neuroscience (among others) inform the human factors tradition. The application of these areas can result in social innovation and betterment of human and human-like systems. Directing human factors to photography, visual design, motion design, visualization, advertising, and painting results designs that aid humans in important ways.
BS 3301 Account Planning and Management 3 This course provides students with a basic understanding of the methods of account planning and management. Concepts covered include strategic thinking, marketing research, analytics, agency workflow, budgeting, and creative development. Students will examine the concept of a target audience, and the steps and skills needed to listen and learn during a development process. Students will plan an entire project from beginning to end.
BS 3852 Creating and Running a Business 3 This course covers the nuts and bolts of starting and managing a business from crafting a business concept, to analyzing market demand, to developing a marketing strategy, to establishing a legal entity as well as key elements of financing, budgeting, operating and growing a business. In a workshop setting, students will examine various types of arts-related and design businesses and the range of issues associated with each as well as key aspects of free-lancing, building a business firm, and growing a business operation. Students will learn through case studies and hands-on projects, all the elements of a successful business enterprise.
Prerequisites: Junior or Senior standing
BS 3025 Marketing Concepts and Analysis 3 This course will study the theory and practice of marketing. Students will discover marketing’s role in society and for organizations as well as engage in an in-depth study of the various steps in the marketing process, including research, strategy, and campaign development. Students will develop a campaign as well as analyze historic and contemporary case studies.
BS 3364 Experience Frameworks 3 In recent years, the term "experience" has become almost as ubiquitous as "brand" in marketing, design and advertising practice. This course will look at how user-centered design, experiential marketing, observational research, experience design and other customer-centric processes represent a movement to go beyond creating awareness or even preference to shaping behavior and creating meaningful transformations. We'll explore the works of philosophers and leading practitioners as well as learn techniques for understanding, modeling and producing experiences in multiple media and connect theory with creative practice.
BS 3853 Essential Economics 3 All of us, unknowingly perhaps, use economic reasoning daily. We consider costs and benefits when making a decision. As consumers, we attempt to maximize our utility (satisfaction). And, all of us, quite knowingly, are affected by our local, national and world economy. This course introduces students to the basic concepts of supply and demand and how crucial they are to almost every element of economics. Other topics will include growth, productivity, unemployment, inflation, production and cost analysis, monetary policy, and the labor market. Students will also learn basic statistics. This course will be facilitated by readings, debates, discussions, games, case studies, and relevant speakers.
BS 3354 Futures for Society and Individuals 3 This interdisciplinary course explores changes and trends, along with technological and social forces that will shape society, your life, and work. Subjects covered will include the experience and framing of time, individual pasts and key milestones for paving future paths, understanding change, time systems and artifacts, planning with many scenarios (there is no one future), and “inventing the future.” The subjects discussed in class will become source material to be applied to a final project in your preferred media.
3 Infographics: Visualizing Data 3 Infographics: Visualizing Data description coming soon. Infographics: Visualizing Data description coming soon.
BS 5100 Bachelor of Science Advanced Seminar 3
Students use this course to engage in broad strategies of personal marketing, career goal-setting and folio prep, and visioning one’s future. Students conduct interviews aimed at business/community people and contexts; results are framed and presented to classmates as mini-case studies. Course outcome: a personal planning document and work portfolio that establishes pathways and positioning for one’s externship, career choices, and/or graduate school opportunities. Textbook, assigned readings, and quizzes required, as is participation in guest lectures, guest-facilitated workshops, and one month of student interviewing/fieldwork.
Electives
45
varying Studio Electives 21
BSc students choose 21 credits of Studio Electives from a variety of disciplines.
varying Humanities and Sciences Electives 24
BSc students chose 24 credits of Humanities and Sciences Electives.
Total Credits
120
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