Data Analytics BAS Degree Meets Needs of Businesses

The first cohort in Bellevue College’s newest of its six bachelor’s degrees will begin classes winter quarter 2015. The program should graduate its first students in 2017.

Data Analytics is the science of examining raw data with the purpose of drawing conclusions about that information. The program is designed to be convenient for working students with a combination of online and hybrid (part on campus/part online) courses.

“It’s an exciting, emerging field,” said Shanon Reedy, Data Analytics BAS program manager, “We are delighted to bring this BAS program to the student’s here at Bellevue College and surrounding community and technical colleges.”

Modern data analytics brings together tools and techniques from business, communication, graphic arts, information technology and statistics to collect, mine, interpret and represent large datasets to illustrate concepts and inform decisions in healthcare, business, finance and other industries to increase operational efficiency and support professionals and administrators in all levels of decision making.

“This program was a collaboration of several disciplines across the campus such as business, communication, information technology and statistics,” said Sylvia Unwin, assistant dean of the Institute for Business and Information Technology (iBIT). “It was teamwork and a partnership that worked together in collaboration to develop a new and exciting program. Just as analytics can be applied across disciplines, so does this new degree.”

Students with an associate’s degree in Applied Accounting, Business Management or Marketing, Information Systems, Sustainable Business, Business Administration Transfer or Computer Science Transfer (or equivalent credits) may find the degree a pathway to a successful career. Graduates may pursue work as data analysts, data technicians, and in some circumstances, data managers, in a wide range of organizations and industries.

All six of Bellevue College’s bachelor’s degrees are career-centric programs in high-demand fields identified as desirable by regional employers during research and outreach efforts by the college. Like its predecessors, the program will be operated on a self-support basis.

– by Sharon Berg