University of Wisconsin-Baraboo/Sauk County is in the developmental stages for a new four-year bachelor’s degree in applied arts and science.
The degree, aimed at non-traditional students, whom are defined by UW Colleges Chancellor David Wilson as students who are 22 years of age or older, would tailor some of its requirements to fit the life of a student who works full time.
“We’ve been given by the UW System the approval to go forward [with a] plan that would allow the UW Colleges to offer a degree ‘Bachelors of Applied Arts and Sciences’ on six of the campuses,” Wilson said.
Wilson said the degree would target working adults with families who cannot leave their communities to study at a campus-based university.
The degree would integrate credit for prior learning. Students who had already spent time in the workforce could receive 10-12 credits for previous work, if their experience related to college coursework.
“Work experience would mean they wouldn’t have to take Intro to Accounting if they have already been in accounting,” Wilson said.
A global component of the degree would give students the skills they need, Wilson said. Employers are looking for people who can work in the interconnected world.
The degree would emphasize critical thinking skills and the ability to communicate well, Wilson said. The degree is not in one discipline, but it brings together a number of different skills to make students marketable.
The details for the curriculum have not been thoroughly fleshed out, however, Campus Executive Officer and UW-BSC Dean Thomas Pleger said.
The next step is composing a proposal to get the degree passed by the Board of Regents. Until then, the exact elements of what the degree will offer are still unclear, Pleger said.
The plans for the degree are not on this week’s Board of Regents meeting, and the exact date the Regents will hear the proposal is unsure, he said.
According to Pleger, UW-BSC is one of six colleges in the UW Colleges system planning to adopt the four-year degree.
UW-BSC was chosen to target those in the community who have an interest in returning to school but are place bound, Pleger said.
One of the goals of the new program is to have more people in the area with degrees. According to Pleger, 20 percent of people in the Sauk County area hold a B.A. He hopes with the new degree this statistic will improve.
Pleger also hopes the courses will be taught primarily face-to-face on campus, as opposed to online. Although it may not be possible to have all courses taught on campus, he emphasized that higher-level capstone courses would be taught in person.
While UW-BSC currently offers a number of degrees and one masters program, Leger said these programs are in conjunction with other universities, and the applied arts and science degree would be the first “in-house” degree.
