UCCS will offer two new degrees this fall
The Colorado Springs Business Journal
By: Jeanne Devant
UCCS will offer two new bachelor’s degrees for the fall 2022 semester — a bachelor of science in aerospace engineering and a bachelor of arts in music.
In their Feb. 10 regular session, the University of Colorado Board of Regents approved UCCS’s proposal for the two new degrees
The aerospace engineering degree will complement UCCS’s nationally recognized offerings in cybersecurity and engineering education. The degree will prepare students for high-paying careers in the aerospace industry and strengthen workforce development in Colorado.
The program will be only the second aerospace engineering program in the state.
The Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade reports that the aerospace industry in Colorado is the second largest aerospace economy in the United States, consisting of more than 400 employers that produced more than $6.8 billion in output and employed more than 27,000 workers in 2020.
“Persistent interest in the aerospace minor, together with student application trends both nationally and in Colorado, provide ample evidence of a strong student demand for this new degree option at UCCS,” said Peter Gorder, chair of the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department. “And the robust aerospace industrial community in southern Colorado has been outspoken in their desire for more local workforce development to serve their current and future hiring needs.”
Both UCCS and the CU system are part of the U.S. Space Force University Partnership Program agreement, signed in August 2021 to develop talent pipelines and research partnerships to support the new branch of the military. Colorado is currently home to three Space Force installations.
In the College of Letters, Arts & Sciences, the new Bachelor of Arts in Music degree will give students increased flexibility and stronger career development opportunities, in addition to greater specialization in their chosen areas of interest across the fields of composition, performance and music technology.
“This new professional degree integrates performance, composition and music technology, and is modeled for high-level musicians from any and all traditions,” said Glen Whitehead, co-director of the music program at UCCS. “Addressing the present-day world of music, the flexible degree structure enables students to carve out their own personal paths as performers, composers, music technologists, scholars, sound artists or all of the above.”
Both programs launch in the fall of 2022. Interested students can apply for admission to UCCS at uccs.edu.