West Virginia University

This broad program allows you to develop expertise in an area that interests you while preparing you for a successful career immediately after graduating. You’ll be equipped to take on entry-level management positions or start your own enterprise in a variety of rural, land-based, agricultural and/or food-related businesses.

You can expect to find employment with agribusiness – including nursery and landscaping – firms or farms, financial institutions and state and federal agencies dealing with land use, food and agriculture.

Employment in these areas requires the essential components of this major: a broad educational background combined with knowledge of managing natural resource-based businesses.... [-]

Having a hard time choosing just one area of business? General Business allows you to choose from many different career paths and customize your curriculum to meet your goals.

In General Business, you will gain an overall understanding of business and how organizations operate.

General Business majors choose upper-level business course electives from accounting, economics, finance, management, marketing and management information systems courses.

Civil engineering historically encompassed all engineering endeavors needed to provide the infrastructure for society to function. Because of its origin and history, civil engineering still embraces a wide variety of technological areas. These include:

Civil engineers work with problems that directly impact the health and economic vitality of people and communities. These problems include waste disposal, environmental pollution, transportation systems analysis and design, water resource development, and the design, construction, and rehabilitation of constructed facilities such as dams, bridges, buildings, and highways.... [-]

Geologists look back millions of years in the past, conduct experiments in the present and predict what the earth’s future might be. An interdisciplinary science drawing on physics, chemistry, biology and more, Geology trains you to study the natural resources that shape our lives today.

West Virginia is rich with unique resources and close to the natural laboratory of the Appalachian mountains. Our Department brings students out into the field and works closely with the energy and environmental industries and with the West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey. Training in the field and in the lab with cutting-edge technology prepares you for a wide range of careers or graduate studies.... [-]

Industrial engineering is the discipline of engineering concerned with the design, improvement, and installation of integrated systems of people, material, information, equipment, and energy to assure performance, reliability, maintainability, schedule adherence, and cost control. Industrial engineers look at the “big picture” of an operation or system and bridge the gap between management and operations. They deal with and motivate people as well as determine what tools should be used and how they should be used. Industrial engineers use computers and sophisticated software as tools to solve complicated problems to design, quantify, predict, and evaluate the performance of all types of complex technologies and systems.... [-]

Mechanical engineering is a broad technical discipline. It integrates knowledge of the physical sciences and mathematics for the design, construction, and manufacture, testing, analysis, use, and operation of a device, structure, a machine, a process, or a system in service to humanity. Its development parallels the growth of the industry. Modern society needs mechanical engineers who have broad and deep training in the fundamentals of engineering and related sciences and who have developed versatility in analyzing and solving complex problems. The mechanical engineer must not only possess a high level of professional expertise but also have an appreciation for the impact of engineering solutions in a societal context, including ethical and economic considerations.... [-]

When you explore biology, you begin to understand the extraordinary nature of the world — from genes to ecosystems, molecules and cells, structure and function, organisms and their environments.

Through in-depth instruction at the cutting-edge of our discipline, hands-on research conducted with award-winning faculty and experience with next-generation resources and equipment, Biology majors at WVU learn to question, experiment and innovate. We provide all the opportunities of a large university with a small college feel.

As a Biology major, your career goals may include biological research, medical school, pharmacy, business or education. Students interested in health professions also have access to additional information and advice through the Pre-Health Advising and Professional Development Office.... [-]

Finance is the study of the creation and management of wealth. A Finance major learns how to evaluate and control assets and risks to maximize the value to owners or beneficiaries. This involves such day-to-day activities as collecting/paying money and interacting with banks and other financial institutions. Also involved is long-range planning about what building and equipment to buy, what stocks to purchase or issue, managing dividends and interest, using insurance to protect assets and developing new financial instruments or services. Finance majors are prepared for careers on either side of the desk: as sellers or buyers of investments; as credit seekers or credit grantors; and as purveyors or recipients of insurance services.... [-]