2-year music program could be suspended
The music department’s two-year certificate and diploma programs are being considered for enrollment suspension.
There are currently 12 students in the program, according to a memo informing the Educational Policies Committee about the department’s intention to suspend the program. If the suspension is approved by the EPC, they will be allowed to finish their course of study, though no new students will be accepted into it.
A public hearing will be held by the EPC Thursday, Feb. 16 from 1-2 p.m. in the Merrill-Cazier Library Room 154 for anyone to testify about the suspension. The committee will decide whether or not to recommend suspension to the Faculty Senate. The EPC, chaired by Vice-Provost Joyce Kinkead, is responsible for all program discontinuance as well as approval for course changes and standards for university-designated honors.
The programs in question offered students two-year diplomas in organ and church music, piano pedagogy or guitar. Certificates could be earned in piano, organ or guitar.
The programs were designed before anyone who is currently at Utah State University can remember. They were for students who did not want to complete a bachelor’s degree. Bruce Saperston, music department head, said most of the students to chose to complete a two-year program either had started a bachelor’s degree and later decided they would rather complete the shorter program, or students majoring in other fields who decided to get a music certificate as they worked towards their degrees.
According to school policy, enrollment suspension is a preliminary step to discontinuance of a program. If not reversed within three years, the program will be terminated.
A department that wishes to suspend enrollment in a major, minor, certificate program or program awarding a credential certifying completion must first notify the EPC. The EPC will review the request and hold public hearings at which all affected by the changes can testify. The EPC then recommends approval or disapproval of the suspension to the Faculty Senate, which then makes its own recommendation to the president.
Enrollment suspension may be reversed with the approval of the EPC, the dean and the president at any time up to three years after the suspension is initiated. If after three years the suspension has not been reversed, the program is officially discontinued.
Certificates differ from bachelor’s degrees because they don’t have general education requirements, Saperston said. Other than that, the same classes are required for those working towards a bachelor’s in music and those in the two-year programs. Saperston said students often use the certificates to teach privately.
Saperston said he didn’t know how long the program has been in place, but it has been offered by the department since before he came to USU 20 years ago.
“Since I inherited it and we had always done it, we just continued to do it,” he said. Saperston said his predecessor had also inherited it from the department head before him.
The programs continued without much notice by the Board of Regents until last spring, when someone “up above” noticed the programs were a bit of an anomaly, Saperston said.
Saperston said the certificates and diplomas were issued just like other diplomas issued by USU. They were signed by the president along with the bachelor’s and master’s degree diplomas, Saperston said. But, the school offers no other two-year programs.
“The school decided not to do them because we don’t really do two-year degrees,” Saperston said.
According to the memo, “because all of the courses required for these two-year programs are a part of the department’s regular offerings, the suspension of these two-year programs does not necessitate any changes in faculty assignments or course schedules.”
-ella@cc.usu.edu