The Bachelor of Individualized Studies (BIS) prepares students for 21st-century challenges.The BIS degree meets the needs of a range of students. It can allow students to complete a college degree when an initial major does not fit as well as planned. Its flexibility in accepting course credits also serves as a completion program for students who in the past started but left college and now want to return to earn a Bachelor’s degree. It can also be designed to serve students desiring an academic degree not offered at NMSU, particularly students with broad or diverse academic and career interests.
“Students served by the BIS are those with extensive, comprehensive, or eclectic academic and career interests. In consultation with an academic advisor if not also through work in the introductory “Foundations of Interdisciplinary Studies” course, each student constructs an individualized Program of Study plan integrating academic and career goals into a cohesive degree program. This Program of Study plan is organized to meet the unique educational needs of each student, whether as a means to use prior university credits, to advance within an existing job, to prepare for graduate or professional programs, or to strategize toward a career change.
A well-designed interdisciplinary curriculum emphasizes the value of approaching complex issues from multiple perspectives, equipping students with the requisite critical and analytical skills to become effective problem solvers in their chosen field of study or career.
Extensive flexibility in program design implies increased individual responsibility for the BIS student. BIS students must be active participants in their academic experience, simultaneously pursuing a skill set demonstrating:
- Coherent expression of ideas in writing;
- Capacity to conduct systematic and objective inquiry within their Program of Study;
- Ability to tolerate ambiguity within the design and implementation of a Program of Study;
- Proactive communication with the academic advisor;
- Commitment to effective follow-through on tasks related to Program of Study design and implementation.