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CSU-Pueblo to Offer Fine Arts Degree Program

Posted on: Thursday, 4 May 2006, 09:04 CDT

By Gayle Perez, The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.

May 4--FORT COLLINS - Colorado State University-Pueblo will begin offering a bachelor of fine arts degree program this fall.

The program will replace the outdated bachelor of science in art program.

The Board of Governors of the CSU System voted Wednesday to eliminate the bachelor of science in art program, and then in separate action, approved the plan to begin offering the bachelor of fine arts degree program.

"The department has liked for a number of years to add this degree program," said Roy Sonnema, chair of the art department at CSU-Pueblo. "Years ago, this degree was less common, but today it is really out of line to not have it. I think it's going to be a plus for the university and the department."

Sonnema said the bachelor of science degree was outdated and did not meet the needs of the students. He said the new degree will offer students more of a pre-professional program which will prepare them better for a profession in art or graduate school.

Sonnoma said having not been able to offer such a program to students in the region was a disservice. He added the addition of the program will be a plus for CSU-Pueblo.

"We feel this has huge potential for Colorado State University-Pueblo," said Sonnema. "We will be the only school south of Denver along the Front Range to offer such a program."

The university's bachelor of arts degree in art, which offers a more liberal arts based education, will continue without any changes.

The new program in fine arts is expected to better serve the needs of the students which will help to enhance retention and enrollment in the program in the future. It also is geared toward a pre-professional program.

The change also will help bring CSU-Pueblo's art department into alignment with similar art programs offered throughout the country. It also is expected to improve the educational opportunities for art students in the region.

University officials said that discontinuing the bachelor's program in art will not impact any faculty positions.

As a result of the elimination of the bachelor of science program, the university will accept no new students into the program. Instead, incoming students will now be required to seek the bachelor of arts or the bachelor of fine arts degree.

Students currently in the bachelor of science in art program will be allowed to complete that degree or to switch over to the bachelor of fine arts program.

The new fine arts program will require students to complete 120 credit hours, including 66 credit hours of art study.

University officials said they anticipate that within five years, there will be at least 80 students enrolled, including approximately 30 students who would switch from the bachelor of science degree program.

The new degree program is also expected to enhance the growing art department at CSU-Pueblo. Officials said that the university has experienced a significant increase in the number of art majors in the past 15 years.

There currently are approximately 130 art majors and it is expected those numbers could increase to 170 in the next five years with the addition of the new art program.

In other action Wednesday, the board of governors also approved the program plan and the spending authority for a multi-purpose recreational field to be build at CSU-Pueblo.

The field is being funded by fees that students voted last year to assess themselves.

The plan approved Wednesday is seeking to put the 48,000-square-foot recreational field on the north end of the campus, just north of the child care center.

The field is to be made of synthetic turf and the initial phase of the project would include rough-in for electrical power so that lights could be added at a later time.

The cost of the project is estimated to be $1.5 million.

With the Board of Governors approval, CSU-Pueblo officials will now submit the program plan to the Colorado Commission on Higher Education for its review and approval.

CCHE would then need to submit the project plan to the capital development and joint budget committees for approval.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.

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Source: The Pueblo Chieftain

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