Master’s degrees at Metro State have taken the next step to becoming a reality with the unanimous vote of approval by the trustees at today’s (Nov. 4) Board of Trustees meeting.

President Stephen Jordan thanked the faculty from the Accounting, Social Work and Teacher Education Departments and Sheila Thompson, interim associate vice president of academic affairs, for the “exceptional job” in developing the three programs with what he said was his rigid requirement that the programs would be revenue centers, not cost centers. “We will be generating revenue that will help enhance our undergraduate programs. Hats off to everyone who got us here in such a short period of time,” Jordan said.

In a side note, Trustee Antonio Esquibel pointed out that College’s addition of master’s programs was cited by The Chronicle of Higher Education as “one of [Metro State’s] several new ventures designed to better position itself for the future” in response to the higher education funding crisis. (“Retirement Incentives, New Degrees, Grant Writers: How One College Is Tackling the Crisis,” Oct. 30, p. 14).

The next major hurdle for the master’s programs initiative will be the accreditation site visit by the Higher Learning Commission scheduled for Feb. 1-2, 2010.

For more information, go to master’s and watch @Metro for regular updates.