Available Online Courses
We have the high-quality online courses you need! The following prerequisite courses are offered in an accelerated five- or eight-week format. These courses are geared to students pursuing a second degree, nursing program, Health and Human Services degree completion from Marian University, or another health care career path.
Sciences & Nutrition
Psychology & Sociology
Statistics & General Education
Health & Human Services
Online Science and Nutrition Courses
BIO 214: Microbiology
Credit: 4 credit hours
Course Description: A study of bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms; their morphology, development, and function; techniques of isolation, cultivation, and identification; with emphasis on structure, metabolism, role in disease, and immune responses to infection.
BIO 225: Human Anatomy
Credit: 5 credit hours
Course Description: The content of this course will provide a full description of all the essential aspects of human anatomy. This course is designed to provide all the essential anatomical content required for anyone going forward into a health profession.
BIO 226: General Human Physiology
Credit: 5 credit hours
Course Description: The content of this course will provide a full description of all the essential aspects of human physiology. This course is designed to provide all the essential physiological content required for anyone going forward into a health profession.
CHE 100: Elements of General & Biological Chemistry
Credit: 4 credit hours
Course Description: An introduction to the principles of general chemistry, organic chemistry, and biochemistry. This course is designed for students in the health science areas.
CHE 108L: Elements of General & Biological Chemistry Lab
Credit: 1 credit hour
Course Description: This course is an online lab course that compliments CHE 100 General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry. The course utilizes a kit to perform all the experiments from home.
ENV 172: Intro to Environmental Science
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: This course examines the biological principles underlying the use, conservation and preservation of natural resources, covering such topics as management of harvested populations, pest management, biodiversity, conservation of endangered species, climate change, human demography, nutrient cycles and pollution.
ESS 236: Basic Human Nutrition
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: In this course, students will be exposed to all the basic aspects of human nutrition and to the relationships between nutrition, health, and disease prevention.
NSG 211: Pathophysiology
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: This course systematically focuses on etiologic factors and their impact on the structure, function and adaptive capabilities of cells, tissues and organs in the human body. A variety of disease processes and their unique clinical manifestations including laboratory diagnostics are studied in detail. This course prepares the student with the pathophysiological foundation required to provide nursing care.
Online Psychology and Sociology Courses
PSY 101: General Psychology
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: This course serves as a broad introduction to the field of contemporary psychology, which is explored as a science, a profession, and a means of promoting human welfare. Students are exposed to psychology as both a natural and social science through reading assignments, lectures, discussions, and demonstrations. Writing assignments reflecting critical thinking are required.
PSY 220: Human Growth and Development
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: Major theories, developmental stages, and current research in the area of human development are studied. Emphasis is placed on the genetic and environmental factors that influence the physical, cognitive, and social development of individuals throughout the lifespan.
PSY 230: Abnormal Psychology
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: A scientific study of abnormal behavior, with emphasis on cause, treatment, and prevention. Psychopathology, including its development, assessment, and treatment is approached using major paradigms and research findings as they relate to a range of disorders as listed in the current DSM.
PSY 310: Industrial/Organizational Behavior
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: This course is a study of social psychological applications in the workplace with special emphasis on performance appraisal, motivation, leadership, and new forms of organizational structure and function. Psychological methods adapted for advertising and consumer research are also discussed. Analytical assignments (research articles, case analysis) supplement text material.
PSY 330: Health Psychology
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: This course is an overview of the rapidly developing field of health psychology, which applies empirically based psychological principles to health care, in medical, exercise, work and hospital settings. Consideration is given to individuals as well as institutions seeking to promote stress management, healthy lifestyle choices, and wellness. Readings and class activities engage students and supplement course material. Topics include health care ethics, cultural factors, coping, injury and treatment, pain management, and preventive interventions.
PSY 373: Forensic Psychology
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: This course uses an issue-based approach to present the interface between psychology (clinical and socio-cultural) and legal systems and practice. Applications of psychological theories and research to legal practice will be addressed, covering the following topics: eyewitness identification, jury selection and decision-making, crime prevention, profiling, trial procedures and testimony, and the appropriate use of clinical evidence in litigation.
SOC 101: Introduction to Sociology
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: This course serves as a broad introduction to the social scientific field of sociology. The main features of human societies are examined; how they are organized, how they change and how they come to shape collective social existence. Explicit attention is paid to the interaction between individuals and society, how social structures shape everyday life, social inequalities and social change.
SOC 305: Sex, Gender, and Sexuality
Credit: 3 credit hours
SOC 325: Social Class, Power, and Inequality
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: This course examines class, status, and power relations in society as they relate to social mobility, work, globalization, and social change.
SOC 377: Global Health Issues and Interventions
Credit: 3 credit hours
SOC 451: Social Psychology
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: This course examines the reciprocal relationship between the social group and the self. Symbolic interactionism is used as the major frame of reference for the analysis of social processes, all forms of interaction and the relationship between the individual and the norms and patterns that constitute society.
Online Business Courses
BUS 250: Principles of Management
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: This course is designed to present a realistic picture of the content of modern managerial challenges. It includes a study of the fundamentals of management principles and techniques for all fields of business: business objectives, policies, functions, executive leadership, organization structure and morale, operative and control procedures.
BUS 301: Business Law
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: A study of the legal relationships of various business entities and the nature of law and the court systems. Topics include constitutional law, torts, contracts, crimes, commercial law and sales, property, litigation, alternative dispute resolution, agency, partnerships, corporations, unfair competition, securities regulation, antitrust and international law.
BUS 330: Leadership
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: A study the theory and practice of leadership, the most current research trends and models, as well as the basic components of leadership.
Prerequisite: BUS 250
BUS 401: Business Ethics
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: Integrates the general education theme and readings. Attendance at convocations required. This course deals with a study of the role of ethics, morality, and social responsibility in the business environment. Students are challenged to better understand the role of business managers in dealing with difficult ethical dilemmas, improve their skills in analyzing and resolving business issues and ethical conflicts, and to critically examine assumptions and values that stakeholders have in complex business decisions which raise ethical issues. The case study method is used extensively to review topics such as consumer product safety, truth in advertising, affirmative action, sexual harassment, employee rights and responsibilities, whistleblowing, conflicts of interest and workplace safety.
FIN 111: Personal Finance
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: Introduces personal finance and the financial planning process. Study includes budgeting and cash management, credit and debt management, tax management, major purchase and housing expenditures, insurance fundamentals, investment fundamentals, retirement and estate planning. Financial calculators and computer applications are utilized.
FIN 310: Managerial Finance
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: Focuses on the financial functioning of business enterprises. Topics covered include organizational forms, the financial marketplace, the international financial marketplace, ratio analysis, time value of money, the risk/return tradeoff, fixed-income securities, common stock securities, and capital budgeting. Financial calculators and cases are utilized.
MGT 351: Human Resources Management
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: A study of the objectives, organization, policies and activities in typical human resource programs and of the problems encountered in their effective administration. Topics include recruiting, selecting, placing, training, safety, health employee services, wage and hours administration, labor-management relations and personnel research.
MGT 352: Organizational Behavior
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: A study of the nature of behavior in organizations as a function of the individual, the groups within which an employee interacts, and the organizational setting. Emphasis on applications of behavioral science concepts and findings to individual behavior and organizational performance.
MGT 372: Creativity and Change
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: This course acquaints students with theories and strategies for exercising the creative process. Leadership and change are also examined to help the students understand how to effectively introduce and implement new and creative ideas.
MGT 450: International Business
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: A course designed to study the present and future implications of international trade and its economic impact on the United States. Emphasis is placed on the analysis of case studies and current affairs in the context of international business.
MKT 240: Principles of Marketing
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: A study of the process of planning and implementing the business activities that facilitate and expedite development of satisfying exchange relationships through the creation, distribution, promotion, and pricing of goods, services and ideas.
MIS 330: Project Management
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: The field of systems analysis is explored through lectures and applications in analysis and design activities. Students are required to analyze an existing business and design improved procedures, forms, and managerial policies to enhance the firm’s operational efficiency.
Statistics and General Education Courses
COM 101: Public Speaking
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: Rhetoric is the art of persuasion and public speaking is the paradigmatic rhetorical act. Practicing the fundamentals of speech construction and delivery, students will cultivate rhetorical awareness – the critical sensibilities required to read a particular situation and craft a strategic response. This course equips students with effective communication skills for academic achievement, professional success, and civic engagement.
ECN 200: Introductory Economics
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: A one-semester introduction to the major principles and issues in economics for students who are not majoring in accounting, business administration, economics, finance, management, marketing, or minoring in economics. The course surveys both micro and macroeconomic issues.
HIS 102: History of the Modern World
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: Study of the increasing contacts and interdependence of civilizations, 1500 to the present; the rise of the West, European reconnaissance and expansion, imperialism and decolonization, religion, science, and technology.
MAT 095: Intermediate Algebra
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: Designed for students needing a mathematics course to assist them in their major area of study, such as health science. Topics selected include linear equations, graphing, proportion and variation applications, use of exponents.
PHL 130: Human Nature and Person
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: This course addresses what it is to be human and what it means to be a human person. Particular emphasis is given to exploring these themes within the Western and specifically Catholic philosophical tradition in dialogue with other, and sometimes competing, positions.
PSY 205: Statistical Methods
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: Basic concepts, uses, and methods of statistical computation, including descriptive statistics, correlation, probability, estimation, sampling, design, hypothesis testing, t-tests, ANOVAs, and Chi square are presented. This is a computational and interpretational statistics course designed to prepare students for upper division/graduate courses in research, data evaluation, and analytical reasoning. Use of computer software facilitates learning. Fee required. This course partially satisfies the general education requirement in the scientific and quantitative understanding category.
SPA 101: Introduction to Spanish
Credit: 4 credit hours
Course Description: Introductory study of the Spanish language with emphasis on building adequate vocabulary and sense of structure to carry out routine tasks and engage in simple conversation. The course is designed to help the student ask and answer questions about familiar topics and handle basic social situations, write simple sentences, learn about aspects of everyday culture in Spain and Latin America. This course 239 partially satisfies the general education curriculum standards for the development of humanistic and artistic knowledge. This course is conducted in Spanish.
THL 105: Introduction to Theology
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: Study of the meaning and nature of theology, theological issues of God, human persons, Jesus the Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Church, and an introduction to Scriptures, liturgy, sacraments and Christian morality.
THL 216: Moral Issues
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: A study of moral theology in relationship to current moral issues with a particular emphasis on the dignity of the human person, conscience formation, and the struggle to live authentically in our culture. Moral issues concentrate on a consistent ethic of life encompassing the personal, social, economic, and ecological dimensions.
Online Health and Human Services Courses
PBH 100: Introduction to Human Services and Social Problems
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: This course will cover fundamental concepts and strategies in the health and human services industry. Students will examine their local communities as well as themselves and learn how self-awareness aids in the development of relationships with individuals, community and society. Students will learn and demonstrate the importance of observation, listening skills, reading and analysis, problem solving, note taking and interviewing skills. Ethical situations and awareness will also be a focus of the course, as well as a historical overview of the career field and an exposure to job opportunities in various environments and specializations. There will be several topics of focus that students will be examining throughout the course. These include but are not limited to; homelessness, poverty, malnutrition, child care, child development, foster care, vaccinations, health screenings, mental health, AIDS/HIV.
PBH 201: Public Health and Society
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: This course examines the social context of health, illness, and healthcare with particular attention to understanding health and illness of populations. This course introduces both sociological and public health approaches to population health, disease causation and prevention—emphasizing health issues that affect society as a whole as well as vulnerable populations.
PBH 301: Introduction to Epidemiology
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: This course introduces the basic concepts and methods of epidemiology with a focus on application to multiple domains of public health. The course enables students to understand the distribution of health events in human populations and the methods of assessment by the use of morbidity and mortality data.
PBH 330: Family, Children, and People with Disabilities
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: Students will deepen their knowledge of families, children and the people with disabilities. This course is a review of the ways in which professionals work together in supporting child and family resiliency within the context of complex issues, such as divorce, child abuse and neglect, and illness and death of family members. This course also focuses on current social systems and the policies that affect the welfare of families and children, as well as various forms of family functionality. This course provides a historical overview of family and child policy in the United States, including policies toward children and families in poverty. This course approaches concerns of people with disabilities from an interdisciplinary perspective and uses multiple theories to define disability. This course provides a socio historical survey of political, economic, social and cultural perspectives. Topics such as the social construction of disability and the changing experiences of people with disabilities are discussed in the context of other civil rights movements and the broader evolution of social policy.
English and Humanities
ENG 112: Writing and Community
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: Students use writing to think critically and creatively about human experience as represented in literary, scholarly, and culturally-relevant texts, as well as in their own experiences. Instruction emphasizes drafting, reading, and research strategies expected of college-level writers. Multiple assignments require revision processes to refine thinking and expression, to navigate genre expectations, and to reflect the habits and conventions of discourse communities, academic and others.
ENG 213: Literature: The Short Story
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: This course provides instruction in analyzing, discussing, and writing about modern short stories. The course explores styles and themes of contemporary short fiction written cultural perspectives, including American, Hispanic, African, Middle Eastern, Asian, and European.
ENG 239: Professional Writing
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: Theory and practice of writing common professional forms such as sales materials, abstracts, memos, application letters, and resumés. Emphasis is placed on writing proposals and reports, and on understanding, in general, the persuasive element in most professional writing.
HUM 210: The Search for Meaning Through Culture
Credit: 3 credit hours
Course Description: A consideration of the particular kind of knowledge which the literature, art and music of Western civilization have to offer; a study of artists’ expressions of human experience. HUM-210 explores human creativity from prehistory to our world today and the search for answers to the enduring questions of existence.