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New Online Bachelor’s Degree Programs – January 2020

A number of public universities and private, non-profit colleges have recently launched new online bachelor’s degree programs. Sam Houston State University (SHSU) in Texas, Mississippi State University (MSU), Southern Illinois University (SIU), and Louisiana State University (LSU) are among the state schools that have introduced new online options for earning a bachelor’s degree. And Champlain College in Burlington, VT is one of the private non-profit schools that is offering a new online bachelor’s degree program. The new programs offered by these schools include online bachelor’s programs in applied science, marketing communication, nursing, sociology, and victim studies.

Sam Houston State University (SHSU) – Online Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science (BA/BS) in Victim Studies Program

Sam Houston State University (SHSU), a Texas State University System School located in the city of Huntsville, has added a new department to its College of Criminal Justice along with a new bachelor’s program that can be completed on campus or fully online. Beginning in the fall of 2020, the new Department of Victim Studies at SHSU will offer an online Victim Studies undergraduate program that gives students the option of earning a Bachelor of Arts (BA) or a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree. The Victim Studies major is comprised of five core criminal justice courses, several specialized courses in victimology and victim services topics like child abuse, family violence, crisis counseling, and trauma intervention, and additional electives in criminal justice, psychology, and sociology. The primary difference between the BA and BS options is that the BA degree has a foreign language requirement.

Mississippi State University (MSU) – Online Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS) Program

Mississippi State University (MSU), a public land-grand research university with a main campus near the city of Starkville and a satellite campus in Meridian, has introduced a new Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS) program that can be completed 100% online or through a mix of online and campus-based classes. The new program is designed for students who have earned an associate degree in a technical field from a community college or through the military and who would like to earn a bachelor’s degree without having to repeat prior coursework. Students may transfer into the program with up to 60 of the 120 credits required for graduation.

They may then complete their undergraduate studies online, including general education requirements and a BAS major that includes 30 upper-division credits in the following BAS emphasis areas : Communication; Criminology; General Business; General Technology; Geosciences; Health Promotion; History; Kinesiology; Manufacturing Fundamentals; Psychology; Veterans’ Affairs; Social Work; and Sociology.

Southern Illinois University (SIU) – Online Bachelor of Science in Nursing (RN-to-BSN) Program

The School of Health Science at Southern Illinois University (SIU) in Carbondale has introduced a new Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program that began accepting pre-nursing students in the fall of 2019 and will begin offering a full BSN curriculum in the fall of 2020. The program has a traditional, four-year BSN track for incoming freshmen who have not received prior training in nursing (this program is only offered on-campus), as well as an online RN-to-BSN track for Registered Nurses who hold an associate degree in nursing (ADN). The RN-to-BSN track curriculum is fully online and gives students the option of earning a minor in Health Care Management. SIU has plans to introduce an Accelerated BSN track for students who do not have prior training in nursing but who do have a bachelor’s degree in a non-nursing science field or a minimum of 70-80 undergraduate college credits in science. The Accelerated BSN program track is currently scheduled to begin in the fall of 2021 and will be a hybrid program with on-campus and online instruction.

Champlain College – Online Bachelor of Science (BS) in Marketing Communication Program

Vermont’s Champlain College, a non-profit private college located in the city of Burlington, has added a new online Bachelor of Science (BS) in Marketing Communication program to the programs the school currently offers through Champlain College Online. The 120-credit online BS in Marketing Communication program consists of 57 credits of general education requirements (e.g., Critical Reading & Expository Writing; Introduction to Statistics; and Microeconomics), and 63 credits in the Marketing Communication major. The Marketing Communication major includes a 48-credit core that covers topics in marketing, public relations, crisis communication, and consumer behavior, and 15 credits in a Digital Marketing or Content Strategy concentration. Champlain College Online is currently accepting applicants for its online BS in Marketing Communication program.

Louisiana State University – Online Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Sociology Program

Louisiana State University (LSU) has added a new undergraduate degree program to the slate of programs it offers through LSU Online. The new program is an online Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Sociology program with a curriculum that is administered by the Department of Sociology in LSU’s College of Humanities & Social Sciences and modeled after the school’s existing campus-based BA in Sociology program. To graduate from the program, students must complete 120 total credits, including general education requirements such as English Composition, General Biology, and Introduction to Psychology, as well as courses within the Sociology major, which may include Sociology of the Criminal Justice System, Sociology of Law, and Sociology of Deviance. The program is enrolling students for a January of 2020 start date.