Online Bachelor of Applied Arts and Science

Program Highlights
120 credit hours | In-state tuition: $420/credit hour | Out-of-state tuition: $540/credit hour
- Designed for graduates of Applied Arts and Science programs (AAS) who are seeking a bachelor’s degree for employment, licensing or promotion
- Applies technical degree credit from the AAS and may, therefore, lead to a bachelor’s degree more quickly and at less cost than a traditional bachelor’s degree
- Is 100% online for maximum convenience and flexibility
Perfect Pathway to a Bachelor's Degree
The online BAAS provides the perfect pathway to a bachelor’s degree for working professionals anywhere with an AAS degree who need a BA as quickly as possible to advance in the workplace. Students get a minimum of 33 hours of transfer credit (they can get up to a maximum of 66 hours, depending on official transcript evaluation) which means they can potentially complete the BAAS and graduate with a bachelor’s degree within a shorter timeframe: a huge savings in time and money.
Graduates of this program will also leave with strong writing and communication skills which are widely applicable and useful in a variety of areas.
Finally, it also provides the opportunity for local-area students to continue with UTEP to receive a bachelor’s degree rather than moving to another part of the country for a bachelor’s degree.

"I'm a teacher. I teach eighth-grade English at a local charter school. " - Allene Mirazo, Graduate
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Course Overview
A total of 120 semester credit hours of coursework is required to successfully complete the BAAS. Of these, 33 must be awarded from an organized technical program (an AAS is required). The coursework also includes foundation courses plus two 15-hour concentrations that will be selected in consultation with the BAAS advisors. Concentrations may include Intelligence and National Security Studies, Communication Studies, and Writing Studies among others.
The foundation courses are intended to provide BAAS students with a background in writing and communication strategies and skill sets. Faculty members in the program will be drawn from several departments in the College of Liberal Arts, including Communication, Rhetoric and Writing, and Security Studies among others.
RWS 3355 | Workplace Writing | Focus on critical decision making in professional contexts. Apply the principles of professional rhetoric to the composing process with an emphasis on strategies for planning, organizing, drafting, and presenting written and oral communication for a workplace context. |
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RWS 3359 |
Technical Writing |
Learn how to professionally assemble, organize, draft and revise technical information for generating written documents and oral reports. |
RWS 3366 | Advanced Composition: Argument | Study the development of argumentative writing by examining contemporary issues and ethical questions in this project-based course that includes collaborative work emphasizes stylistics. |
COMM 3323 | Communication and Organizational Leadership | Analyze leadership as a communication process, focusing on concepts, theories and functions important in the leadership of organizations. Examine leaders as change agents, as creators of community, and as facilitators of diversity. Study evolving theories of leadership and the importance of communication in the enactment of leadership behaviors. |
COMM 3355 | Organizational Communication | Examine theory and research on the communication process in organizations. Explore functional and interpretive theories and applications. |
COMM 3371 | Communication Theory/Analysis | Survey significant communication theories using a history of similarities and differences among theories and theorists. Theories will range from intrapersonal processes to mass communication. |
COMM 4372 | Research Methods | Review the various social science methodologies used in conducting research in the communication discipline. Topics include problems formulation, measurement of concepts, design, collecting, and analyzing data. |