Specializations

Bachelor Degree Completion

Tailor Your Bachelor’s Degree with a Specialization

Merrimack’s Bachelor Degree Completion program offers nine different areas of specialization.

These specializations provide a more focused educational experience that can enhance career prospects, deepen knowledge, and align your studies with personal interests and goals.

Complete five courses (20 credits) and earn a specialization. The remaining 20 credits allow students to choose more courses in their specialization area, explore other areas of study, or earn a second specialization.

FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED

Bachelor Degree Completion Program

Accounting

In this specialization, you will gain the knowledge to work in various accounting positions throughout many industries. You will learn the fundamental skills needed for finance-related tasks and how to utilize current accounting technology.

Course Offerings Include:

  • Introduction to Business
  • Technology Skills for Business
  • Accounting for Business
  • Managerial Finance
  • Managerial Accounting

Business Studies

In this specialization, you will learn the fundamentals of business operations including accounting, marketing, and effective management. 

Course Offerings Include:

  • Introduction to Business
  • Accounting for Business
  • Principles of Marketing
  • Management Info Systems
  • Personal Financial Planning
  • Organizational Behavior
  • Ethics and Social Responsibility
  • Legal Environment of Business
  • Human Resource Management
  • Social Media Marketing
  • Gender and Diversity in Leadership

Child and Family Studies

In this specialization, you’ll explore child growth and development as well as leadership in early childhood settings, and gain real-world insights that will prepare you to be an advocate for children and families across diverse populations.

Course Offerings Include:

  • Child, Growth, and Development (0-8)
  • Family and Community Engagement
  • Social Policies and Human Services in the Community
  • Child Psychopathology and Treatment
  • Administration of Early Childhood Programs
  • Developing Social Maturity and Emotional Competence in Youth Foundations of Social-Emotional Development
  • Leadership and Human Resource Development in Early Childhood Programs
  • Early Childhood Curriculum Instruction and Assessment

Communication Studies

In this specialization, you will learn how to research and analyze information and how to clearly communicate topics through writing, speaking, and mediated communication. research and analyze information and how to clearly communicate topics through writing and speaking.

Course Offerings Include:

  • Public Communication
  • Introduction to Communication
  • Principles of Public Relations
  • Conflict Management
  • Communication & Non-Profit Organizations
  • Communication & Advocacy
  • Persuasion and Social Influence
  • Gender and Communication
  • Intercultural Communication
  • Gender, Race, and the Media

Health and Wellness Studies

In this specialization, you will learn about healthy lifestyles, nutrition, and develop administrative, ethical, and professional skills to educate individuals and communities. 

Course Offerings Include:

  • Applied Anatomy and Physiology
  • Nutrition and Wellness
  • Foundations of Health Policy
  • Foundations of Health Literacy
  • Wellness and Physical Activity
  • Cultural Competence in Healthcare Administration
  • Intro to Public Health
  • Health Behavior and Promotion
  • Science of Stress

Healthcare Administration

In this specialization, you will learn the fundamental skills to efficiently plan, direct, and coordinate medical and health services. Students will use various methods learned to adapt to changes in healthcare laws, regulations, and technology. 

Course Offerings Include:

  • Cultural Competence in Healthcare Administration
  • Foundations of Health Policy
  • Foundations of Healthcare Systems
  • Health Communications
  • Introduction to Medical Coding/Billing
  • Medical Terminology
  • Foundations of Leadership
  • Organizational Behavior
  • Human Resource Management
  • Conflict Management
  • Gender and Diversity in Leadership

Leadership Studies

In this specialization, you will learn the foundations and theories of leadership, effective leadership styles, the role of diversity in leadership locally and globally, and the challenges of leading in times of crisis. You will also have a chance to develop the leadership and team-building skills needed to be an effective leader in the public, private, or nonprofit sectors.

Course Offerings Include:

  • Foundations in Leadership
  • Leaders as Change Agents
  • Leading Teams
  • Leadership: Principles, Powers, and Persuasion
  • Leadership in Times of Crisis
  • Effective Leader-Follower Models
  • Ethical Leadership
  • Gender and Diversity in Leadership
  • Organizational Behavior
  • Ethics and Social Responsibility
  • Intercultural Communication

Psychology Studies

In this specialization, you will develop a broad understanding of human behaviors as well as the skills to understand and interpret research findings concerning human behaviors. 

Course Offerings Include:

  • Introduction to Psychology
  • Applied Psychology Research
  • Social Psychology
  • Group Dynamics
  • Lifespan Psychology
  • Personality
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Cultural Psychology
  • Abnormal Psychology
  • Psychology of Trauma

Speech, Language, Learning (Communication Sciences & Disorders)

In this specialization, you will learn academic and clinical skills related to speech, hearing, language, swallowing, and communication. You will be able to work immediately after BDC completion and are eligible to apply for entrance into graduate schools for Speech-Language Pathology. 

Course Offerings Include:

  • Introduction to Communication Sciences and Disorders
  • Phonetics
  • Language Acquisition and Literacy Development
  • Anatomy & Physiology for Speech, Hearing, & Swallowing
  • Language Disorders
  • Speech Disorders
  • Introduction to Audiology
  • Speech and Hearing Science

*Certification requires a graduate-level degree.

A TOP GRADUATE SCHOOL

At Merrimack College, we’re proud of our long history of providing quality degrees to students entering the job market. Our faculty are more than just teachers. We are committed to helping you grow — academically, personally, and professionally — so that you graduate as a confident, well-prepared leader.

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  • The Princeton Review 2022 Best Northeastern Regional College
  • Forbes Magazine 2019 Top 10 Most Innovative School – Regional Universities North
  • Money Magazine’s Best Colleges Most Transformative College 2019
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FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED

Bachelor Degree Completion Program