In an effort to better prepare its students for careers in healthcare and the public sector, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth recently received state approval for two new bachelor's degree programs.

The university will offer degrees in Health and Society and another in Public Administration, with student enrollments slated to begin for the Fall 2018 semester.

The new degree programs represent a collaboration between faculty in the university’s Sociology and Anthropology, Women and Gender Studies, Political Science, Economics, English, History, Philosophy, and Psychology departments. Faculty built on each department’s academic and research strengths to create and develop the new degree programs, officials said in a press release.

The Health and Society program is intended to prepare students for careers in areas like hospital administration and healthcare policy analysis.

The Public Administration program will offer Bachelor of Science or Arts options. The B.S. option and is intended to train students for positions with a focus on management and analysis, while the B.A. program will focus on jobs that require extensive interaction with the public.

In a press release, university officials said both programs will produce graduates who understand the nature of politics and policy-making, who are competent economic and fiscal analysts, and who are effective at communicating their work to a broad audience.