Bachelor of Arts in Employment and Labor Relations (BAELR)

The employment and labor relations major provides students with the opportunity to develop the critical skills necessary to analyze employment and workplace issues. An interdepartmental program, this major examines the social, political, and economic dimensions of these issues in the context of a broad liberal arts education. Students become familiar with employment and labor law, human resource management, compensation and benefits, and techniques associated with the resolution of conflict in the workplace.

Admissions

Depending on experience and academic preparation, students can be admitted with a high school diploma, a General Equivalency Diploma (G.E.D.) or by transferring from a community college or university.

Learn more about

• Program learning objectives

  Knowledge and skills

  Students master the knowledge and skills to become professional leaders in the field of employment and labor relations and human resource management in order to earn successful careers in business, labor, or government. They will demonstrate knowledge of basic concepts in the areas of human resource management, collective bargaining, and the role of unions and the state in employment and labor relations. Such knowledge will be assessed through a short answer assessment instrument.

  Verbal and oral presentation skills

  They will be able to make clear, professional, substantively meaningful presentations that address questions and problems relevant to the audience. Their proficiency in oral presentations will be assessed through an evaluative instrument applied to their class presentations on their career development plans.

  Career development

  Students develop plans for career enhancement and work toward acquiring relevant knowledge and skills. These plans will identify realistic goals, steps that can be taken to realize the goals, and how the ELR program can help them meet the goals. Students will also monitor their progress and report on progress as part of their plans of study to their academic advisor.

  Apply critical thinking

  Students will apply critical thinking to analyze important problems in the field of employment and labor relations. Such thinking involves specifying important problems or questions (ex., what impact do human resource management compensation policies have on pay equity?); framing how you would collect data to analyze the question, and analyzing the data and reporting the results.

• Transfer of credit

  In most cases, credit earned at a community college and other colleges and universities is transferable to the employment and labor relations degree program. This includes related courses offered by area community colleges.