18 bachelor degrees offered by USU-CEU
USU-CEU is now offering four-year degrees to complement its traditional two-year degrees. With a history of teaching freshman and sophomore students, the college now gears up to teach junior and senior students in popular bachelor degree programs.
This archived article was written by: Kelli Burke-Gabossi
USU-CEU is now offering four-year degrees to complement its traditional two-year degrees. With a history of teaching freshman and sophomore students, the college now gears up to teach junior and senior students in popular bachelor degree programs.
With the USU merger, the college will expand its use of technological-learning platforms. In addition to face-to-face interaction, students can learn by interactive broadcast, where the courses are delivered via state-of-the-art video conferencing technology. Students have the option to take online courses, delivered online to students all around the globe using Blackboard Vista. Students may participate anytime and anywhere they have an Internet connection.
The menu of bachelor degrees offered includes something for nearly any student: accounting, agribusiness, business, communicative disorders and deaf education, economics, elementary education, English education, entrepreneurship, family life studies, family, consumer and human development, history, interdisciplinary studies, management information systems, mathematics education, psychology, recreation resource management, social work and special education. Other degrees and programs can be viewed online at price.usu.edu.
Joe Peterson, USU-CEU chancellor, commented, “Many students mistakenly believe that a four-year degree must prepare them for a unique and particular job. While some degrees like nursing and elementary education indeed prepare graduates for a particular professional role, other four-year degrees are general preparation for the workforce, allowing graduates to take a wide variety of jobs.”
Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs and Student Services Greg Benson added, “The unemployment rate for people with four-year degrees is less than half of that of those with only a high school diploma. On average, earnings are much higher for graduates of four-year programs.”
Peterson explained that a greater emphasis on four-year degrees will serve local citizens well. “This allows place-bound people, those who have ongoing local obligations, to finish a four-year degree without having to relocate to a distant university campus.”
Daniel Allred, USU-CEU academic advisor, said that there is an emphasis on education, business, social work and a new focus on natural resources on the Price campus. Because of the wide selection of degrees available, students can attend and still be pleased with their major. “The advantage to these degrees is the variety of what can be done with them. Some areas in demand include elementary and special education.” Entrepreneurship, social work and wildlife science degrees would be useful as well.
According to Allred, eight of the 10 elementary education 2010 graduates searched for employment and all eight found jobs. “Students that prepare [for their career] as they’re seeking education should have more opportunities to use it right out of college. Students can expect a good employment rate.”
Educational opportunities in Price are on the rise. Students should look into areas in which they are curious.
Allred advises students to “Get a degree that you enjoy. It’s not the facts, it’s the skills you learn that will help you get employed. Go into what you’re interested in, but identify what you want to do with it.”
Some of the strongest fields to major in at USU-Eastern are wildlife science, recreation resource management (based out of Moab), education, business, social work, and psychology. These five areas are being emphasized on campus this year. “We have a lot of power there,” states Allred.
Wildlife science will require biology, chemistry and calculus classes. Like the wildlife degree, recreation resource management requires some science, but adds social science and management components. In the rural community of Price, wildlife science and recreation resource management play important roles.
Social work, another main area, is another degree in high demand. There’s interest to see it expand – 40 percent of social workers work for the government,” states Benson.
For years now, education has been emphasized at USU-CEU. There is a need for teachers with bachelor degrees.
Another focus is on psychology. Benson says, “It tends to be popular among students.” These classes teach students to think and communicate. Students with degrees in psychology can go into human resources, social services, medical services and more.
Still another emphasis will be business. “You can do nearly anything with a business degree. Graduates with four-year business degrees will be a great asset for our local economy. This degree will be a great service to the region,” states Peterson.
Benson recommends, “Get with a faculty member or advisor and find out what is really entailed in a degree and what sort of future there is with people with that degree. Talk directly to someone who is close to the program.”
Students interested in pursuing any of the degrees available through USU-CEU should talk to an academic advisor as soon as possible. Some degrees have application requirements or prerequisites that may need to be completed prior to application to the program of study. Any of the USU-CEU advisors can help students investigate their chosen degree.
