For decades, the drive to challenge the status quo and do things better has fueled countless advancements—among them, next-generation technologies, more equitable policies, industry-transforming campaigns, and more efficient business processes.
In and beyond the classroom, students in American International College’s School of Business, Arts, and Sciences develop this mindset through a study of the liberal arts, learning not only to identify a problem but to formulate and convincingly defend their solution to different audiences. Throughout, exploring connections between disciplines makes the outcome of their efforts all the more powerful.
Our approach, reinforced through research opportunities, mentorship, and real-world experience, equips graduates with the skills employers prioritize, enabling them to grow their careers and influence.
Our Majors and Programs
Discover not just what but how you’ll learn in our more than 30 interdisciplinary undergraduate majors and 13 career-specific graduate programs, including on-campus and online options.
Business
Turn numbers, theories, and data into business plans and products, all while you develop the creativity and adaptability crucial for getting ahead.
Refine your visual eye through full immersion in the technical side of creativity, gearing up for careers in graphic design, public relations, digital media, or video editing.
Planning ahead—and challenging yourself through the liberal arts—thoroughly positions you to excel in professions that require advanced education. Work with an advisor to tailor one of our majors for a career in law, medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, optometry, osteopathy, or podiatry.
Developed in response to workforce demands, our 100% online bachelor’s degree completion programs connect everything you’ve learned and earned to careers in business, technology, or human services.
All Hives—our exploratory programs for undecided undergraduates—lead to the School of Business, Arts, and Sciences. Let your curiosity guide you through a study of multiple subjects and career areas before you define your major.
What’s Unique About the School of Business, Arts, and Sciences
Hear from Psychology major Isaiah Longs ’23 about his experience in the intersectional, supportive, career-driven environment of the School of Business, Arts, and Sciences.
School of Business, Arts, and Sciences students watch how the abstract becomes actionable, quantifiable, and impactful in opportunities available on and off campus.
Internships
A required internship or practicum takes the classroom right into the real world. Beyond your résumé, National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE)-related activities and a symposium presentation let you share your experiences and build professional relationships.
Research
Join faculty studies—or design your own—to pursue a question, getting exposure to research methods, advanced equipment, and data analysis in the process. These discoveries lead to our Undergraduate Research Symposium, as well as publications and presentations.
Hands-On Preparation
Access to industry-standard software and tools, peer mentorship, and settings where you can engage with what you know produces a can-do attitude and a portfolio of impressive examples for the field you aspire to enter.
Service Learning and Community Outreach
Across our programs, students are encouraged to get involved in the Greater Springfield community, applying their knowledge to lift everyone up.
Leadership Development
Guided by faculty, Yellow Jackets have several opportunities to initiate, collaborate, and take charge. Join (or start) a campus organization, add your voice to student government, or take part in outreach that serves the Western Mass community.
Customization and Flexibility
Our intersectional approach makes it possible to double major or build upon your core skills with one or two minors.
Integrated Career Development
Embedded into each course of study, an emphasis on professional skills and industry awareness launches graduates who can think critically, express ideas, and tackle any challenge.
Start Graduate Studies Early
Start your path to a master’s or certificate at AIC by taking up to two graduate-level courses before you finish your bachelor’s.
Where You’ll Learn
Scientific theories come to life in our state-of-the-art labs. The School of Business, Arts, and Sciences is home to wet labs for chemical and biological experimentation, a physics lab with precision measurement tools, a chemistry lab with advanced chromatography and spectroscopy instrumentation, and the recently renovated Molecular Biology Laboratory.
Our dynamic creative and technical spaces offer access to iMacs equipped with the Adobe Creative Suite, two podcasting studios for audio production and digital storytelling, a fully equipped TV studio for broadcast and media training, and digital photography, videography, and 3D printing technologies for visual arts projects.
Placements with law enforcement and social work agencies allow our social sciences students to observe how behavioral theories apply in different contexts. Teaching assistant opportunities are also available on campus.
A culture of mentorship shapes the School of Business, Arts, and Sciences at all levels. As you look up to your instructors, you’re encouraged to support others as a tutor, peer mentor, or community volunteer.
Our History and Mission
While the interdisciplinary pursuits of the School of Business, Arts, and Sciences stem from AIC’s origins, our academic formation dates back to the post-World War II years. A period of growing enrollment and program introductions saw fully developed liberal arts, science, and business curricula take shape, leading to our official establishment in 1960.
Background
From this foundation, the School of Business, Arts, and Sciences has heralded many of AIC’s—and often Western Massachusetts’—programmatic initiatives. From the 1950s into the 21st century, we spearheaded first-of-their-kind criminal justice, international business, and Executive Development programs. Buildings for The Karen Sprague Cultural Arts Center and The Esther B. Griswold Theatre for the Performing Arts were also constructed over these years.
Distinctions
Endowed chairs for International Business and Economics, Business Administration, and Free Enterprise were established to build awareness of and direct top scholarly talent to AIC’s boundary-pushing business offerings.
Our Approach
Across our academic disciplines, the School of Business, Arts, and Sciences fosters individuals who are prepared to think critically and creatively, communicate effectively, understand broad societal relations and heritages, and build strong foundations of equity and inclusion in an innovation-powered, ever-changing world.
Learning Environments
Our students experience a digitally connected, interactive setting through classrooms equipped with projection systems, smartboards, integrated audio-visual tools, and software for research and collaboration.
Approvals
The Certificate in Addiction Counseling—an independent credential and integrated into the Bachelor of Arts in Human Services program—is approved by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, qualifying students to sit for the Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor (LADC) exam. The Master of Science in Criminal Justice program is also approved by the Police Career Incentive Pay Program (PCIPP).
Student Perspectives
“As independent as my younger self thought I was, packing up my life and moving across the world was still daunting. AIC welcomed me with open arms, and I quickly found my second home. I never thought somewhere over 3,000 miles away from Dublin could feel so like home.”
Grace Dervan ’22, MBA ’23 Psychology Major and MBA
“The ability to be here is setting me up for success in the future. I’m the first in my family to be graduating from college and the first male in my family to graduate high school, so just coming to college is a blessing.”
Saleem Messiah ’24 Communications Major
“People always say you might not use what you learn in college, but I will tell you, almost 90% of the things I learned at AIC, I use in my daily routine in my career.”
Esterina O’Donnell ’22 Marketing Major
Accreditation
The School of Business, Arts, and Sciences at American International College has received specialized accreditation for its business programs through the International Accreditation Council for Business Education (IACBE) located at 11960 Quivira Road, Suite 300, Overland Park, KS 66213.
To see a report of student learning and program assessment, please view the International Accreditation Council for Business Education’s Interim Quality Assurance Report.
Public Disclosure of Student Achievement
Please view this report to see graduation rates for this program.
Ready to Take the Next Step?
A whole new perspective and an equally exciting career await.
