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YSU trustees panel OKs 2 new master’s degrees
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
A Youngstown State University trustees committee approved two new master’s degrees at the school.
The Academic Quality and Student Success Committee approved resolutions to create a master’s of athletic training and a master’s of fine arts in interdisciplinary visual arts at a meeting Tuesday.
The two new degrees still must be approved by the full trustee board and the Ohio Department of Higher Education.
Jennifer Pintar, chairwoman of the Department of Human Performance and Exercise Science, told trustees that YSU has 412 majors in undergraduate programs that may go on to graduate school, but YSU only offers a graduate degree in physical therapy.
More than 345 people applied last year for 30 spots for the physical therapy graduate program.
“It seems like this is a program that might actually be a good recruitment tool,” Pintar said.
Athletic training is seeing a 19 percent growth in the athletic training field compared with an 11 percent average growth across all industries.
The program would require 60 credit hours and would be offered in two options.
One would be a four-plus-one program, where students earn both a bachelor’s degree in exercise science and a master’s degree in athletic training in five years.
The other option is for those who already have earned an undergraduate degree.
Greg Moring, chairman of YSU’s art department, told trustees the proposal for the master’s degree in fine arts in interdisciplinary visual arts was faculty driven.
In fine arts, the master’s is a terminal degree. There isn’t a doctorate that’s recognized by the accrediting agency for such programs.
“It’s designed to be [for] a modest enrollment,” Moring said. “We’re projecting eight to 10 people.”
What’s being proposed is unique, the department chairman said.
Other universities that offer MFAs in visual arts offer them in a specialized area: painting or sculpting, etc.
“Ours is tailored and designed across disciplines,” Moring said.
Students would be in a two-year program requiring 60 semester hours.