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YSU trustees propose 2 more bachelor’s degrees
By Denise Dick
By DENISE DICK
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown State University trustees want to establish two new bachelor-degree programs.
The trustees’ Academic and Student Affairs Committee on Tuesday took a first step to creating a bachelor of science in dental hygiene and a bachelor of arts in dance management.
A vote is expected from the full trustees board at a meeting Oct. 1. From there, the degrees must be approved by the Ohio Board of Regents.
That’s a process that can take between six and nine months for a new program, said Bege Bowers, associate provost, academic programs and planning.
The dental-hygiene bachelor’s degree program would replace the associate in applied science degree in dental hygiene, said Joseph Mosca, dean of the College of Health and Human Services.
“With the two-year program, students have taken a good deal of coursework before entry to the program,” Mosca said.
That trend is because most students elect to take the support courses before entering the program due to the demanding curriculum, he said. That means that the two-year program takes most students three or four years to complete.
After completing the associate-degree program, many dental-hygiene graduates enter the bachelor of science in applied science program to complete a baccalaureate degree, Mosca said.
“Dental care is the No. 1 unmet health need for children and low-income adults in Ohio,” according to an executive summary on the proposal given to trustees. “According to the Ohio Department of Health, 3.6 million adults [43 percent] and 670,000 Ohio children [23 percent] are uninsured for dental care.”
The Ohio Dental Hygienists’ Association is preparing to submit a bill to the Ohio General Assembly to allow dental hygienists to provide unsupervised dental hygiene in homes, schools and clinics, the summary said.
Bryan DePoy, dean of the college of fine and performing arts, said the bachelor of arts in dance management targets people who want to work as dance instructors.
“This is not a dance- performance degree,” DePoy said.
It was designed to be an interdisciplinary degree with coursework from the school of business constituting 25 percent of the major coursework involving theatrical-staging skills and performance comprising 25 percent and the remaining 50 percent consisting of a core of practical-dance courses.
“There are no other institutions within our operational region that offer such an interdisciplinary program,” the executive summary of the program proposal says.
In other business, the committee approved a memorandum of understanding to move Youngstown Early College from YSU to Eastern Gateway Community College during the next three years.
The agreement was approved by the EGCC trustees earlier this month and still must be approved by the city school board.