Program, Name Changes Implemented

NMU has implemented several academic program changes and a few departmental name changes in advance of the fall semester.

The university has added three new majors since the last academic year. The accounting/financial planning major provides students with basic competency in the areas of accounting and corporate finance. It also offers the minimum requirements to obtain employment and sit for professional exams such as the CPA exam.

The forensic biochemistry major includes the science background required for working as a forensic investigator in a crime lab. In addition, it prepares students for entry into a forensic science graduate program.

Students interested in certification to teach science at the secondary school level can now major in secondary education integrated science, which requires that they either minor in biology education, chemistry education, earth science education or physics education.

An alternative energies minor has also been implemented, offering course work in solar and wind power, bioenergy, heating systems and electrical circuit analysis. Art and design students will also have a new concentration available to them titled “human centered design,” which will offer a broad studio basis of experience in wood, metal, ceramics, computer-aided industrial/interior design, computer-aided drafting and rapid prototyping.

NMU’s carpentry certificate offered by the school of technology and applied sciences has been temporarily suspended for the 2006-07 academic year, and the architectural technology associate degree has been eliminated.

Communication Disorders has been renamed the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, and Diversity Student Services is now the Multicultural Education and Resource Center. The gateway academic program, a mentoring service for academically and financially disadvantaged freshmen, has also been renamed. It is now the Peer Advising, Counseling and Education program, or PACE.