Degrees, curriculums altered to maintain successful students
To adapt to the evolving job market, USU’s Board of Trustees discussed a number of curriculum proposals that will help students become equipped with the skills they need to compete after graduation while remaining financially stable.
The Board of Trustees voted unanimously to discontinue USU’s Dairy Herdsmen Program (DHP) in the College of Agriculture, but plans to keep related dairy science classes available. The decision will be solidified after it passes through the Board of Regents.
Tom Bunch, associate dean of the Animal, Dairy and Veterinary Science department, said there has been a dramatic decrease of small dairy farms in Utah and the jobs are in big industry dairy. The number of students enrolled in DHP has dwindled to 12 students per year over the decade and became an unreasonable program to maintain financially.
The College of Agriculture also proposed that the Animal Science, Dairy Science and Veterinary Science graduate degrees be consolidated into one degree with five emphases. According to the Board of Trustees’ Jan. 7 meeting agenda “a one-degree program will strengthen graduate education in ADVS and provide greater opportunities with more in-depth research experience.”
“We felt that we needed distinct graduate programs,” said Noelle Cockett, dean of the College of Agriculture. “To make this program work better we needed more centralization.”
Graduate students may choose one of the following five emphases to accompany their ADVS master’s degree: animal management, animal health and disease, animal molecular genetics, animal nutrition, and reproduction and development.
“We see this as a win-win and it’s a much more workable degree,” Bunch said.
The Board of Trustees also voted unanimously in favor of a proposal to establish a non-terminal master’s degree in economics and statistics — non-terminal meaning it is a checkpoint to an even higher degree. This will also be passed onto the Board of Regents to determine its finalization.
Richard Cutler, department head of mathematics and statistics, said the new degree “meshes coursework from both disciplines.”
Dean of the College of Business, Doug Anderson, said the combination of these subjects has become essential in the job market as the financial system becomes increasingly complex. Due to a steady demand from students for this unique degree, Anderson said he believes it will be a successful degree. The agenda states that due to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, the need for economists will increase 6 percent from 2008-18. A master’s degree in financial economics was also proposed at the meeting.
“We are seeing an increasingly sophisticated financial system,” said finance and economics department head Tyler Bowles. “More and more jobs will come from this.”
In 2008, the elementary education and secondary education degrees were combined and students were given the option to specialize in a level of schooling. The Emma Eccles Jones College of Education requested the name of these specialized degrees fit under one name – education specialist in curriculum and instruction. The Board of Trustees approved the recommendation unanimously.
“All of this shows our constant attempt to adjust our curriculum,” said USU Provost Ray Coward.
Coward said USU’s goal is to stay on top of the evolving job market and needs of students to make them successful in the job market upon graduation.
– catherine.meidell@aggiemail.usu.edu