Our Design minor provides a unique opportunity to cultivate critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills. You'll delve into the fundamentals of design, including visual literacy, user experience, and innovative thinking. This minor is ideal for students in various disciplines, such as business, computer science, and communications. By applying design principles to your major field, you'll gain a competitive edge and approach challenges from a fresh perspective. This minor will equip you with the tools to think creatively, solve problems effectively, and communicate your ideas visually.
Students will develop strong critical thinking skills and be able to apply design thinking methodologies to solve complex problems, both within their major field and beyond.
Students will gain a deeper understanding of visual language and be able to communicate ideas effectively through visual means. This skill set will enhance their ability to create compelling presentations, reports, and other visual materials.
Students will cultivate innovative thinking skills and be able to generate creative solutions to design challenges. They will be able to think outside the box and approach problems from multiple perspectives.
The art curriculum at Ozarks blends an intense fine arts studio experience with creative problem-solving, abstract thinking, and critical analysis. Students are engaged in learning and responding to the content and complexity of the human experience. Students will find small class sizes that provide a challenging yet supportive atmosphere and a strong sense of community. On evenings and weekends, it is not unusual to find the art studios filled with students working on projects and sharing ideas. The art program is diverse and provides students with a foundation of technical knowledge while having the freedom to investigate a range of meaningful ideas to discover their own creative voice that will prepare students for careers in the graphic design industry.
Degree Outcomes
Graduates will demonstrate the ability to think critically, analyze complex problems, and generate innovative design solutions. They will be skilled in utilizing design principles and techniques to effectively communicate ideas visually.
Graduates will possess a strong foundation in industry-standard design software and tools. They will be proficient in creating high-quality visual materials across various media, including print, web, and digital. Additionally, they will have a comprehensive understanding of design trends, industry standards, and ethical practices.
Graduates will be able to effectively communicate design concepts and ideas to diverse audiences, both verbally and visually. They will possess strong interpersonal skills, enabling them to collaborate effectively with clients, team members, and other professionals in a creative environment.
The Theatre minor at Ozarks centers on the core belief that by modeling professionalism during rehearsals, labs, projects, classes, and internships, students will develop skills which make them more marketable and diverse. We seek to educate students in all aspects of the theatrical arts. Analytical skills, problem solving, creativity, and cooperative endeavors are promoted through participation in theatre productions. Students with a minor in theatre are prepared to incorporate these skills into other major or minor fields.
Degree Outcomes
Students with a minor in theatre are prepared to incorporate the diverse skills in a wide range of professions.
The emphasis in advanced critical thinking, problem solving, versatility, communication, empathy, and collaboration complement many other fields of study.
PERFORMING ARTS SCHOLARSHIP
Students pursuing a major or minor in Theatre have the opportunity to compete for performing arts scholarships ranging up to $5,000 per year. This scholarship can stack on top of institutional scholarships and grants up to full tuition and are renewable for four years. Application deadlines are April 15th for the fall semester and December 1st for the spring semester.
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Students who minor in Spanish at Ozarks will acquire linguistic skills and invaluable knowledge of Hispanic culture. Spanish minors at Ozarks are challenged to strive for higher levels of proficiency in the Spanish language, building skills that will serve them well in their pursuit of employment or graduate studies.
Degree Outcomes
The minor provides students with important skills and understandings that will serve them in many areas of their personal and professional lives.
The minor serves students as an ideal complement to other major and minor fields at Ozarks, such as Business Administration.
The Spanish minor also compliments science related majors and minors such as Health Sciences, Biology, and Political Science.
A minor in religion can be a great complement to your studies at Ozarks. Some of the benefits are personal, such as learning about religion as a means to greater depth and maturity. The religion minor can also help you achieve professional goals. Virtually everyone will work in contexts of cultural and religious diversity, where the background knowledge and skills of a religion minor can always be put to good use. And some may pursue a religion minor as preparation for seminary or lay leadership in the church. Whatever the case, the religion minor at Ozarks may be the right fit for you.
Degree Outcomes
Students will have the religious literacy they need to begin to make sense of everything from the international headlines to the religious identity of their co-worker.
Students can interpret the Bible from multiple perspectives, students will develop the critical thinking skills necessary to analyze complex texts.
Students will discover the benefits of putting different ideas in conversation with each other.
A minor in philosophy introduces students to some of the ideas, problems, and methods of philosophers. It introduces careful thinking into some of the biggest problems in our civilization: What is good thinking? What is mind and self? What is real? What is good and right? Students who minor in philosophy at Ozarks typically think through these things, and learn to develop reasonable arguments and to communicate things that matter personally to them.
Degree Outcomes
A philosophy minor enhances a number of majors in preparation for careers that demand careful reasoning: law school, for example, and seminary, depending on what major it is coupled with.
Minors learn to develop rational arguments and to instantiate these in well-reasoned papers, something valuable to all undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional preparation in any subject field.
Minor students explore meaning, identity, and ethics for themselves in a way that makes more meaningful their individual professions and careers.
The Music minor has been designed with the understanding that the study of music can be fulfilling for all students, even those who do not intend to pursue music as a career and those without extensive prior training in music. Those who already have some training and experience take the same Music Theory I course as the music majors, along with Music History I or II, four semesters of applied music, and two electives. Students who have little background in music can instead take a music reading course (Fundamentals of Music) and either Music Appreciation or Global Music for their core courses, along with four semesters of applied music and two electives. Students can choose their applied music concentration from voice, piano, organ (if they have had piano lessons) or choir.
Degree Outcomes
A Music minor could use the skills and knowledge attained in this program to engage confidently in singing in a church or community choir.
Music minors can also pursue acting as the choir director or keyboardist for a small church.
Minors may also choose to simply enhance their lives by broadening their experience in different types of music.
Performing Arts Scholarship
Students pursuing a major or minor in Music have the opportunity to compete for performing arts scholarships ranging up to $5,000 per year. This scholarship can stack on top of institutional scholarships and grants up to full tuition and are renewable for four years. Application deadlines are April 15th for the fall semester and December 1st for the spring semester.
Find out more information!
In the twenty-first century, religion has dominated the headlines as never before. Whether the subject is terrorism, gender identity, or the environment, religion and worldview differences are a central feature of life in our global society. At the same time, virtually every professional field requires practitioners to make decisions and forge relationships in the context of cultural difference. Those who major in sociology, political science, business, and other fields will all find interfaith study a challenging and valuable asset for living and working in a global context.
Degree Outcomes
Business majors may strengthen the global focus of their degrees with an Interfaith Studies minor.
Students with this minor will be able to pursue further studies in seminary or graduate school.
The Interfaith Studies minor will prepare students for leadership in settings where diversity of cultures and worldviews is the norm.
History minors at Ozarks receive training and experience in the craft of history. As they learn more information about the human past and its relevance to the human present, they also build their skills of research, analysis, and argumentation. History minors can also take advantage of the full range of co-curricular and extra-curricular opportunities available to history majors, such as study abroad, internships, and membership in the Ozarks chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the national honor society in history.
Degree Outcomes
History serves as a good minor to complement major programs in other LENS areas, such as Business Administration, Political Science, and Enviornmental Studies.
History minors develop the knowledge and skills that can help prepare them for graduate study in history or other graduate and pre-professional programs, such as law school, seminary, or a Master’s of Business Administration (MBA).
History minors can also prepare themselves for careers in public history, working as reseachers, interpreters, or administrators in museums, parks, archives, and other historical institutions that serve the public.
English minors at Ozarks study great authors and works of American and British literature, and they may explore new and emerging literatures as well. Students learn to critically read and think about the major genres of literature, and they are introduced to literary theory and research. Along the way, our minors explore all aspects of the life of the mind--in research at the library, poetry readings on campus, and literary discussions in the coffee house.
Degree Outcomes
In the tradition of a Liberal Arts education, our minors become better writers, thinkers, communicators, and problem solvers.
The English minor offers a range of knowledge and skills that greatly enhance other majors, such as Political Science, Environmental Studies, and Psychology.
Students who graduate with a minor in English also pursue graduate school.
