It’s not every day that a university adds new majors to its offerings. But for this year’s freshman class and future classes, there are some new degrees available. 

This school year’s academic catalog comes with several changes. Some of the changes include a new degree in hospitality management, new graduate programs in the counseling department, and the ability to complete a degree 100% online. 

The hospitality management program is new to the business department this year. According to Dr. Gordon McClung, chairperson for the Business Administration Department, hospitality management is in demand in the field. 

“We did an evaluation of employment opportunities and it’s a growth area,” McClung said. “We also have a lot of opportunities for students to work in hospitality with internships locally.”

McClung also said what the new program offers would be good for students, whether in the department or not interested in the travel industry, starting their own business or doing a minor in Business Management. 

In the graduate and professional studies division, students have the option to complete their degree online and go for an associates degree in professional studies that is fully online too. 

“What’s new is the degree completion program is 100% online,” David Mariner, Dean of Graduate and Professional Studies, said. “[Students] transfer credits in or they could be an internal, traditional student that for whatever reason has to choose to go online so they can complete their bachelor’s degree that way.”

“The associate degree is 60 credits,” Mariner said. “So it’s the halfway mark. So some students are just looking to complete those 60 credits and exit with an associate degree. Some students would take that associate degree and then continue on and pursue that bachelor’s degree.”

Mariner also mentioned how the counseling department has new programs as well, such as a Masters of Arts and Counseling, a PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision, and a new addiction certification program. And coming in January is a certification program in supervision.

“It falls under counseling,” Mariner said. “So it’s specifically designed for counselors who supervise other counselors.”

All of these changes were the result of a two-year long process that also saw adjustments made to all majors according to each department.

“We did a full curriculum review with our advisory board that took two years in the process of looking at every major,” McClung said. “So every major has been changed. it was a detailed two year process of researching and evaluating what are the skill sets required.”

Further information is available on the 2022-23 academic catalog.