Motivation for this Strategic Initiative:
To continue to provide relevant and in-demand STEM educational programs, we must be nimble in response to the shifting needs of the region, state, and nation. While some of our undergraduates anticipate continuing to graduate-level training in their discipline, others are aiming to enter careers either directly after graduation or after applied professional training in areas like teaching, allied health professions, or applied environmental science. Therefore, we will consider a range of new majors, minors, or degree tracks, as well as combined BS/MS programs that more directly feed into the careers many of our current and future students are looking for and are needed in our region.
Summary of Task Force Report (see appendix for full report)
[See note from SI 4 description above]
The task force organized their recommendations into two themes related to increasing student numbers in existing majors and creating new high-demand programs. These themes are 1) Increase the number of transfer and incoming students; and 2) Create new programs to better match with job markets. For the first theme the immediate action item is to identify barriers faced by potential transfer students, for example too onerous pre-transfer requirements or too lengthy a path to graduation after transferring. Subsequent action items will be to make changes to lower the barriers identified. For the second theme, the immediate action item is to add new career-oriented emphasis tracks to existing majors, beginning by creating a K-12 education track for every major. Additionally, based on previous planning discussions, the task force suggests prioritizing pre-health and data science as emphases likely to be popular and well-connected to career opportunities. These ideas will be tested using market analytics. Finally, the task force suggests exploring new cross-school majors in areas such as sustainable agriculture, public health, and environmental sustainability and justice. Other possible contributors to and beneficiaries of this effort will be graduate students and postdocs who sometimes have more current information about the job skills needed in high-demand areas. Moreover, some of the skill-training activities could be adapted for graduate students or postdocs.
Proposed Action Items (see Task Force Report for more details and metrics)
2021-2022
- Identify what barriers exist for transfer students to each major (e.g. required pre-requisites, number of incoming credits, time to graduation).
- Identify existing gaps for education credentials for each major.
- Fill existing gaps to achieving teaching credentials within each major and add an education emphasis track.
- Compile information from other campuses on the required skills, and experiences needed for a pre-health certificate, and identify any new courses that need to be developed for such a credential.
- Consult with the Office of Medical Education, HSRI, and UC Cooperative Extension for marketing and connections with health employers.
- Work with the departments to develop and submit a proposal for a pre-health certificate.
- Convene one or more working groups to discuss and assess opportunities for cross-school programs in areas including, but not limited to, sustainable agriculture, public health, environmental sustainability and justice, and data science.
2022-2023
- Consider and implement options to removing barriers for incoming transfer students
- Add education emphasis to each major.
- Encourage and support departments in developing new cross-campus programs.
2023 and after
- Launch new cross-campus programs.
