By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Students interested in pursuing careers in music now have a new option at BGSU.
At last week’s meeting, the university trustees approved a new Bachelor of Arts in Music Industry.
The major is intended to prepare students for careers in recording studios, artist management firms, music publishing companies, event production companies, and related industries, according to Interim Provost Glenn Davis.
The multi-billion-dollar field, he said, projects 8-percent job growth n the next five years.
The College of Musical Arts already offers a Music Industry minor. Based on thenumber of students in the minor, Davis said about 40 students are expected to enroll in the new major.
The major will require 120 credits. Most of those will be in the College of Musical Arts, but others will be in the Schmidthorst College of Business, including in entrepreneurship, and in the Department of Theatre and Film.
Davis said the program could help the university bring in transfer students from two-year colleges that offer associate degrees in music technology and production.
National Trustee Thomas Shehab noted that he recently was at a meeting where the Motown Museum discussed its $75 million expansion which will involve developing talent in the music industry.
He suggested that be on BGSU’s radar screen as place for collaborations. The major requires students to earn six credit hours in internships and practicums.
The new major will not require new courses or hiring new faculty.
The major was approved unanimously.
Davis also discussed a couple new majors that are in the pipeline.
A major in artificial intelligence would be interdisciplinary and collaborative, Davis said. He called it a Bachelor of Artificial Intelligence + X. That “X” refers not to the social media app but to whatever other discipline the student chooses to pair with their study of artificial intelligence. It could be art, or it could be statistics, or a number of other fields.
The core of the program would be studies in computer science and ethics.
“We see that as a way to respond to a rapidly growing need for professionals in the artificial intelligence field,” Davis said.
This would be the first such major in the state.
He said he expects they will bring a new degree in artificial intelligence to trustees in February.
While the AI degree is an innovation, another degree being considered, Bachelor’s Degree in General Studies, is already offered at some form at other institutions.
The Bachelor’s Degree in General Studies is aimed at studies who have earned an associates degree or at least 60 credits, yet do not have a pathway to earn a degree in a specific discipline.
Davis said these students often drop out without earning degree. This program would give them a way to get a degree. He said that an estimated 1.2 million to 1.4 million Ohioans have some college credits but no degree.
Trustee Richard Ross said that it seems to run contrary the BGSU’s push into areas with high demand. He questioned what career demand this would meet. What jobs would this qualify a student for?
President Rodney Rogers noted that most of the people interested in this already have jobs, and this would help them advance in their careers.
The program would be housed on the Firelands campus.
Davis said that university’s Life Design initiative could give it an advantage over other schools.
The course is envisioned as mostly online, but could involve in-person courses. The only additional offering would be a Capstone course to have students reflect on their academic experience.
