Cutting edge neuroscience degree to be offered at UW-River Falls

December 11, 2015--The UW System Board of Regents today approved a new bachelor's degree program in neuroscience, set to begin at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in fall 2017. This new degree will give students a solid foundation for traditional career paths in medicine, research or education, while also expanding their career options in new neuroscience-related fields.

The Board of Regents approval makes UW-River Falls the only comprehensive campus in the UW System to offer the undergraduate major, and one of only a handful of schools in the Twin Cities metropolitan area to offer the degree. 

"As we continue to alter our curriculum to meet the needs of an ever-changing world, I am very excited that we are adding neuroscience to a terrific array of STEM-related offerings within the College of Arts and Sciences at UWRF," said Brad Caskey, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. "This new program will take advantage of current strengths within our superb psychology, biology, and chemistry/biotechnology departments and will provide excellent academic training in a cutting-edge field."

In recent years, fields such as psychology, biology, and medicine have focused increasingly on the nervous system. This has led to tremendous growth in the interdisciplinary field of neuroscience. According to Hanover Research, a global information services firm, degrees in the neuroscience field are growing rapidly with a combined annual growth rate of 15 percent (well above the nationwide average of 3.6 percent for all bachelor's degrees), and these trends are likely to continue.

At UW-River Falls, the neuroscience curriculum will emphasize an in-depth understanding of research methodology, statistical analysis, and the fundamentals of behavior and biology, helping to prepare students for careers in traditional fields such as medicine, public health, education, and pharmaceuticals as well as emerging fields such as neurotechnology and neuroprosthetics.

The neuroscience major will be housed in the Psychology Department within the College of Arts and Sciences and will include core coursework in psychology, biology and chemistry. Additional required and elective coursework will emphasize bioethics, statistics, computer science, mathematics, and other disciplines.

Because of the wide array of possible career trajectories, UW-River Falls has worked to ensure that the program is broad-based and robust, helping to prepare students for a variety of choices in an ever-expanding field of work and graduate study.

"The UW-River Falls Department of Psychology is thrilled to offer this new program of study. We look forward to working with university, community, and business partners to deliver this distinctive, innovative opportunity to students," said Travis Tubré, professor and chair of the Psychology Department.

For more information about the Neuroscience Program at UW-River Falls, contact Tubré at travis.tubre@uwrf.edu or 715-425-3306.