Students interested in Clark’s new Bachelor degree in management can now take their first step by applying for the program, the college announced at an information session in Gaiser Hall on Tuesday.
Tuesday’s session was the second in a series of three events to inform students about the curriculum, costs, and application process of the Bachelor of Applied Science in Applied Management degree, a two-year, 90-credit program aimed at students hoping to start a business or work in managerial and leadership positions. Applications for next Winter can be found at www.clark.edu/cc/basam and will be accepted and reviewed through the end of Fall quarter. Students should turn in their applications along with a $75 nonrefundable application fee to the Enrollment Services Office in Gaiser Hall.
According to student recruitment specialist Tyler Bieber, who hosted the session, the BASAM is different from a regular business administration degree because it focuses more on the technical and management skills of the career path that each student wants to take, while a BA focuses primarily on business theory.
“So you have that theory base, but you also an application to whichever location, trade or skill you’re applying it to,” Bieber said.
Once accepted, BASAM students will be placed in a cohort, a group of 35 classmates that stay together throughout the two–year program, said Bieber.
The prerequisites include an Associate of Applied Science or Associate of Applied Technology degree, a cumulative 2.0 GPA and specific courses that are listed on the Clark website and on the application sheet.
Tuition will be around $2,000 for Washington residents, $6,000 for out-of-state students, and $1,600 for veterans, according to Bieber.
Because the degree is new, the program may change based off of feedback from students and faculty, said Bieber. The final information session will be presented Nov. 17 at 5 p.m. in Gaiser Hall, room 213.
Vice President of Instruction Tim Cook said the college hopes to increase the number of Bachelor’s degrees offered at Clark beyond dental hygiene and applied management. Cook said administrators are looking to create Bachelor’s programs in Human Services, which would basically expand the current addiction counseling program, and Early Childhood.
Creating a new degree is a complicated and long process, Cook said. First, the Instructional Planning Team at Clark has to approve the proposal. Next, the proposal is taken to the state level where, according to Cook, the college must explain why the program is needed and prove that there are no similar programs locally that will create competition.
“If they get approval then they go through a further, much deeper proposal going over the curriculum, who the faculty are, [and] how we’ll pay for it long term,” Cook said. Finally, a state board has to approve the project.
Cook doesn’t expect any new degrees to be created soon, because the process “takes two or three years, realistically, start to finish to get one in place.”
