Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Lake Erie College | Painesville, OH

This major is an interdisciplinary program that equips you with the skills and knowledge to establish and build relationships between businesses/organizations and their target audiences. The program integrates visual, oral, and written communication skills allowing graduates to create, promote, and advance the strategic visions of organizations. Choose from three concentration areas: Advertising, Public Relations or Digital Media.

This major includes courses both in writing processes and in the history and theory of different forms of communication. This double focus is based on the belief that the processes of oral and written communication must be grounded in substantive understanding of their theoretical and historical backgrounds.

The criminal justice major is an interdisciplinary major comprised of courses in criminal justice, legal studies, psychology, and the social sciences. You will be exposed to a variety of different perspectives on law, justice, and human behavior. Many of the faculty are experts in the field including practicing lawyers and other clinicians.

By earning a Bachelor of Arts in English you learn to communicate clearly and effectively, becoming an exceptional practitioner of the written word. Learn to think and write critically and analytically, develop ethical and responsible research skills, create and sustain effective arguments, and apply a variety of critical and theoretical lenses to their writing. Particular emphasis is placed on British and American literature.

The Fine Arts major with a concentration provides a comprehensive liberal arts education to undergraduates in the fine arts. You have the opportunity to complete a concentration in one of the following fine arts disciplines: dance, music, theatre, visual art, or multi-disciplinary. Each fine arts major offers an in-depth core curriculum unique to the individual discipline of study. Additionally, the major provides you with a background in all fine arts with experience in three other disciplines of fine arts separate from your chosen concentration.

The major in history prepares you for employment in many areas, including state and federal government, civil service, diplomacy, in business for those companies with international markets, and in museums, archival repositories, libraries, historical societies, as well as several other fields. Secondary education students planning to teach history and other social studies fields also benefit from a concentration in history as a content area. Graduates in history frequently go on to graduate school, whether for history, law, political science, international studies, or multi-disciplinary studies.

Italian Studies (as well as the minor) is an interdisciplinary program focusing on the study of the Italian language, culture, literature, visual & audiovisual arts, its manifestations in history, and its usage in the present cultural and social context. The language and culture courses in Italian Studies enable you to examine, reflect, and comment on the broad diversity of intellectual and artistic life in Italy and its impact on Western culture, from ancient to contemporary times. The program also provides the necessary preparation for graduate studies. You will interact within multicultural and foreign societies and be prepared for the 21st Century professional 
environment in which diversity and global elements are frequent. You may also choose an opportunity to have an educational and cultural experience abroad in Italy (or in Switzerland), or complete an internship in a specialized field of your choice (e.g. fine arts, culinary arts, design, fashion, history, international business, entrepreneurship, music, cinema, literature, environmental science).

The major in political science provides an understanding of political institutions and processes at the local, national, and international level. The curriculum exposes you to the major sub-fields of the discipline including American government, comparative politics, international relations, and political philosophy. Explore fundamental political concepts such as democracy, power, citizenship, governance, and rights, and acquire research skills to understand and analyze political phenomena around the world. 
The program places an emphasis on the development of research, writing, and critical thinking skills. Become prepared for careers in a variety of fields including government, politics, international affairs, law, business, journalism, and education. Political science is an excellent undergraduate major if you plan on attending law school after graduation. 
You have significant flexibility in designing a course of study based upon your areas of interest. Internships and study abroad opportunities are available.

The psychology major is designed to increase personal understanding of animal and human behavior and mental processes and to provide basic preparation for entrance into graduate school or pursuit of a professional career in the field of psychology. Careers in the field of psychology typically require further training; many of our students pursue graduate studies in this field. Psychology students have worked with the Juvenile Court, shelters, psychiatric clinics, and rehabilitation agencies.

Economic globalization has made communication among cultures and nations more important than ever. Spanish is spoken by almost 400 million people worldwide; moreover, about half the population of the Western Hemisphere speaks Spanish, making it the primary language for as many people as English in this part of the world. Even within the U.S., Spanish is the second most widely spoken language. A major in Spanish Studies allows you to engage with a rich variety of history, literature, art, and architecture.

The Visual Communication and Graphic Design (VCGD) curriculum has a strong focus on design process, typography, image-making and critical, strategic thinking. Classes engage you in the creation of principled, conceptually strong, imaginative, and formally sound responses to many types of issues. The production of printed materials such as books, brochures, packaging, and posters is also supported in visual communication design. We emphasize creative growth through intense exploration of a wide range of media, coupled with training on the latest professional software. Experience opportunities ranging from designing for pre- press to usability design and testing for interactive media. Students' work will be reviewed during their junior year. At this time, it will be determined if the students' work reflects strong design skills to graduate with a BFA in their senior year. Those students portfolios that do not pass the junior review will graduate with the BA in VCGD.