Degree Completion Programs: Transforming Students’ Lives and Careers

This UVA Speaks podcast features David Corlett, Assistant Professor and Senior Program Director of Undergraduate Degrees at the School of Continuing and Professional Studies at the University of Virginia. Corlett discusses the Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies (BIS) and the Bachelor of Professional Studies in Health Sciences Management (BPHM). These degree completion programs have transitioned from in-person to primarily online formats, broadening UVA's reach to non-traditional students both nationwide and internationally. He emphasizes the importance of a liberal arts education in fostering critical thinking, ethics, and adaptability, and shares how these programs have profoundly impacted students' careers and personal lives. Transcripts of the audio broadcast can be found here. David Corlett is an Assistant Professor and Senior Program Director of Undergraduate Degrees at the School of Continuing and Professional Studies at the University of Virginia. Corlett is a historian whose research and teaching interests focus on the Atlantic World, comparative colonialism, and early New England. Before joining UVA full-time, he taught with the Bachelor of Interdisciplinary program at UVA since 2005, served as an Assistant Teaching Professor at Arizona State University (2019-2023), and as the Interim Director of the National Institute of American History & Democracy at the College of William & Mary.