Trustees Approve New Programs, Increase Endowment Payout, Welcome New Member
Two new academic programs are set to launch in Fall 2014, after receiving approval from the Pacific University Board of Trustees at its regular meeting this weekend.
The bachelor of music therapy will become the newest undergraduate degree in the College of Arts & Sciences. The intense five-year degree program will give students a path to board certification in the growing profession that melds the arts with health professions. Students will develop music proficiency, as well as take coursework in psychology, neuroscience, anatomy and healthcare ethics and philosophy. They also will complete 1,200 hours of clinical work under the supervision of a board certified music therapist. According to the American Music Therapy Association, Pacific will become just the third university in the Pacific Northwest to offer a degree, joining Marylhurst and Seattle Pacific universities.
The master of social work degree, meanwhile, will become the newest graduate-level offering in the College of Arts & Sciences. Based at our Eugene Campus, the program will provide a two-year course of study and hands-on training to prepare students for a career in social work. The first year of the program will feature generalist training, while the second year will go more in-depth in one of two concentration areas: health and wellness or Latino studies. The program also will include significant fieldwork with local social service organizations. Pacific will become just the second Oregon institution to offer a master of social work degree, building on our existing bachelor of social work program offered in Forest Grove.
Also this weekend, the Board of Trustees voted to increase the payout rate from the university’s endowment funds as of July 1, 2014. This increase will provide 4.75 percent, up from 4.5 percent, of each endowed fund into the spending account for the designated scholarship, position or program it supports.
Finally, the Board of Trustees welcomed its newest member, Mike Wright, senior advisor for ZoomCare. Wright is cofounder and retired president/CEO of Wellpartner, a Portland-based mail-order pharmacy company, and previously worked for 27 years with Johnson & Johnson. He established Gene Therapeutic and MicroHeart, site-specific drug-delivery systems for treatment of cancer and heart disease, and he was CEO of TomTec Imaging, a developer of advanced ultrasound software and hardware. Originally from Texas, he has lived in Oregon since 2001. We are pleased to have him join the Pacific University Board of Trustees.