· Bachelor of Science in criminal justice at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania – Clearfield Campus.

The Board of Governors since January 2000 has approved 20 new academic programs to be offered by State System universities. Many of the programs are in high-demand fields such as science, technology and multimedia.

“Our universities are continually evolving, changing to meet the needs of the Commonwealth,” said Mary W. Burger, vice chancellor for academic policy, planning and assessment. “We will continue to develop new and innovative programs that will help supply employers with the highly skilled employees they need in a competitive marketplace.”

The new Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degree program in elementary education will be offered in conjunction with the Urban Learning Academy, formed in 1998 as a collaboration of four universities – Cheyney, Bloomsburg, East Stroudsburg and Kutztown Universities of Pennsylvania – and the School District of Philadelphia. The academy works with the school district to help meet the needs of educators in the Philadelphia region by coordinating activities within and among the cooperating institutions.

The need for additional qualified teachers in the district is acute – currently, nearly 2,000 teachers have emergency permits, and, each year, about 500 vacancies are not filled at the start of the school year.

The accelerated MAT program is designed to provide a pipeline of certified teachers to address the critical shortages in the School District of Philadelphia. The program will prepare non-credentialed elementary education teachers for certification to fill urban public school teaching positions. This will be a 12-month program, with courses to be offered by all four universities at school district sites and via distance education technology. Cheyney University will be the lead and degree granting institution for the program.

The master of education in early childhood education at Millersville University is designed to prepare early childhood educators for leadership positions in teaching, administration and management of early childhood programs. A survey conducted in the region indicated a strong need for the new degree, which is not provided locally by any other higher education institution.

Students will be required to complete 36 credits to earn the degree. The curriculum was reviewed by a nationally recognized expert in early childhood graduate education and found to meet national standards.

The Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree at Millersville will permit students to meet the course and degree requirements of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. The program also will respond to a report prepared for the Economic Development Company of Lancaster County in March 2000 to “strengthen the educational composition of the workforce” in the Lancaster region.

The new program will provide increased access to graduate education for a non-traditional population of working professionals in the Millersville service area, estimated through survey data at more than 2,000 people who currently are not served by an existing MBA program in close proximity to work and home.

The twin computer engineering technology degrees to be offered at California University of Pennsylvania will help address a large unmet need for computer engineers in the Pittsburgh region. According to state Department of Labor and Industry projections, more than 1,650 new computer engineers will be needed in the region by the year 2005.

The associate degree program will require students to complete 66 credit hours, with three-fourths of the courses concentrated in the areas of physical sciences, computer engineering technology, electrical engineering technology and general engineering technology.

The bachelors’ degree program will be the only one of its kind in the State System, and one of fewer than two dozen offered nationally. Students will be required to complete 135 credit hours of coursework, with about 75 percent dedicated to the area of concentration. The university, which will seek accreditation for the program from the Technology Accreditation Commission of The Accreditation Board for Engineering Technology, recently updated the computer hardware in the computer science laboratories in anticipation of the development of the new degree offerings.

Both of the new programs at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania are designed to address growing interest in the field of journalism. According to data provided by the College Board, the demand for journalism is growing and is consistently among the top 25 most popular programs of study. The vast majority of graduates receive at least one job offer upon graduation. Although other colleges in the Edinboro geographic region offer courses in the discipline, none has a degree program in journalism.

The associate of science in nanofabrication technology degree will be offered by Cheyney University of Pennsylvania in collaboration with Pennsylvania State University. Students will complete their first three semesters at Cheyney. The final semester of the program will be completed at Penn State in the $25 million National Science Foundation funded Nanofabrication Manufacturing Technology Center.

Nanotechnology involves the science and engineering of assembling material and components atom by atom or molecule by molecule, and integrating the products into useful devices. A recent job fair in Philadelphia revealed that there were 3,400 job openings in the field, and only 300 qualified applicants. The Delaware Valley area of Pennsylvania is the fastest growing area for biotechnology and semi-conductor manufacturing and research and the need for a technically trained workforce is increasing rapidly.

The bachelor of science in criminal justice degree to be offered at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania’s Clearfield campus will prepare students for careers in law enforcement, corrections, law and government. It will be available to students through distance education. The program meets the standards for criminal justice undergraduate programs developed by the Northeastern Association of Criminal Justice Sciences and adopted by the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. It is designed to conform to and build upon the associate degree in criminal justice, which was approved in October by the Board of Governors so that students may transfer seamlessly between the two programs.

With more than 96,000 students, the State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher education in the Commonwealth. Its 14 universities offer more than 250 degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study. More than 360,000 System alumni live and work in Pennsylvania.

The state-owned universities are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania. The System also operates branch campuses in Clearfield, Kittanning, Oil City and Punxsutawney and several regional centers, including the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg and the University Center for Southwest Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh. The regional centers are part of the Educational Resources Group, which is responsible for coordinating statewide programming.