Northern Kentucky University recently added two new bachelor degrees to its curriculum: a B.S. in Data Science and a B.A. in Special Education. NKU now offers 62 undergraduate degrees, 19 graduate degrees, 27 graduate certificates, a post-masters in educational leadership, two doctoral programs and a juris doctor.
The bachelor’s degree in Data Science, which will be offered through the
College of Informatics, will be initiated this fall. Students will learn and develop skills for careers as data analysts, data science and systems engineers. To be accepted into the program, incoming students must have an ACT score of 25 or higher.
“There was a tremendous demand from the businesses our graduates end up working for,” says Dean of the College of Informatics Kevin Kirby. “At the national level, there was a need for big data professionals, and there weren't enough people to decipher big data. So we decided to add something in data science to meet that demand.”
NKU is offering a degree in data science at the undergraduate level, which is something that other universities don’t offer, says Kirby. There are graduate programs in business analytics, but the need for talent at the undergraduate level led NKU to develop the program at the bachelor’s level.
Beginning in fall 2014, the
College of Education and Human Services will offer a B.A. in Special Education. The degree program will prepare NKU graduates for state certification to teach children in grades P-12 that have disabilities. In addition to being certified in elementary, middle school or secondary education, graduates will also be certified in special education for mild to moderate disabilities. The program will require students to obtain an additional teaching certificate.
Both degree programs will require 120 classroom hours for completion. Eight new classes will be developed for the data science degree; classes for the special education degree are already in place as part of an existing program.
By Caitlin Koenig
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