Special to the Peachite
A Fort Valley State University department is overhauling two degree programs on campus to meet the career and academic needs of students. Recently, Dr. Dawn Herd-Clark, chair of the university’s History, Geography, Political Science and Criminal Justice program, announced that the campus is still offering bachelor’s degrees in both history and political science. The university also is launching a new pre-law track for students, as well as changing the credit hour requirements for students to earn degrees within both areas.
According to the departmental chair, potential students have been calling about the departmental degree tracks at FVSU since the university eliminated some under-performing academic programs during the Summer 2015.
“I had a student who came for the last open house that was interested in history, and her tour guide told her that history was no longer a major on Fort Valley State’s campus, which is not the case,” Herd-Clark said. “Although the master’s degree program in history was eliminated, we do offer bachelor’s degree in that area.”
Herd-Clark explained that bachelor’s degrees in history and political science allow for students to enter into career fields in law, the federal government, research and education.
Herd-Clark says that the bachelor’s degree program for both majors were restructured and that both the history and political science majors credit-hour requirements are now in line with other University System of Georgia campuses. The departmental chair says the history program once required 45 hours to be completed for students to earn a bachelor’s degree.
“We have retooled our programs meet the demands of students’ needs,” Herd-Clark said. “We have reduced the number of credit hours for our programs to make them more in line with our sister University System of Georgia institutions and to make the degrees more flexible.”
She says the history program will now require only 27 credit hours (in their major area) to earn a bachelor’s degree, and political science program now requires 24 hours. The university also is retooling the programs to meet the needs of students entering law.
“As a way to attract students the political science program, we have added a pre-law track,” she said. “Fort Valley State has a lot of students who want to become attorneys, and a lot of schools in this country offer pre-law classes. This pre-law track makes it apparent for those students who are pursuing law school.”
There are honor societies and clubs available for history and political sciences majors within the department including the Phi Alpha Theta National History Honor Society for history majors, Pi Gamma Mu International Honor Society in Social Sciences, the Fort Valley State University Historical Society, and the FVSU Political Science Student Association.
Additionally, FVSU provides scholarships and opportunities to work with an exhibit that is sponsored by the Georgia Humanities Council and Smithsonian Institute that will come to campus in 2017.
For details, call (478) 825-6657.
