THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234

TO:	The Honorable the Members of the Board of Regents
FROM:	Johanna Duncan-Poitier
COMMITTEE:	Higher Education and Professional Practice
TITLE OF ITEM:	Master Plan Amendment: SUNY College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill, B.S., Child Care and Development
DATE OF SUBMISSION:	April 23, 2004
PROPOSED HANDLING:	Approval (Consent Agenda)
RATIONALE FOR ITEM:	Master plan amendment is needed to authorize an institution’s first program in a new discipline
STRATEGIC GOAL:	Goal 2
AUTHORIZATION(S):

SUMMARY:

The State University of New York Board of Trustees seeks approval of an amendment to the State University of New York master plan to authorize the College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill to offer a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) program in child care and development. Master plan amendment is needed because this would be the College’s first program in the discipline of education. A petition for action requesting approval for the Trustees to confer the B.S. degree at the College at Cobleskill appears separately on the Regents agenda.

The Office of Higher Education has determined that the proposed program, if approved, would meet the standards for registration set forth in the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education.

Recommendation: I recommend that the Regents take the following action:

VOTED, that the master plan of the State University of New York be amended, effective May 18, 2004, to authorize the SUNY College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill to offer a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) program in child care and development. This approval will be effective until May 31, 2005, unless the Department registers the program prior to that date, in which case master plan amendment shall be without term.

SUNY College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill

B.S. in Child Care and Development

The proposed baccalaureate degree program will prepare students to provide child care and development services for children from birth through age five via a curriculum of field-based experiences, family-focused training and academically rigorous coursework in theoretical foundation, arts and sciences. The baccalaureate program would not lead to teacher certification.

The program is consistent with SUNY Cobleskill’s mission of “relevance to the working world,” with “emphasis on competence.” The proposed program builds upon SUNY Cobleskill’s long and distinguished history of offering an associate degree in Early Childhood.

Curriculum

The curriculum consists of 126 credits of coursework, comprising 63 credits in the major (33 upper-division), 61 credits of liberal arts and sciences (21 upper-division) and 2 credits of free electives. The Early Childhood faculty believe that the strengths of the program are an academically rigorous curriculum designed to integrate critical thinking, problem solving and extensive field experiences; the close student-faculty relationship; and the expertise of faculty who teach the Early Childhood program leading to the Associate in Applied Science (A.A.S.) degree.

Admissions

The criteria for admission of freshmen into the program include high school graduation with an average of 80 or better, successful completion of New York State Sequential Mathematics I, II and III, and a 75 or higher on the Mathematics A Regents Exam, junior level English, and two courses in physical or biological sciences or chemistry. Graduates of the College’s associate degree program in Early Childhood are required to have a GPA of 2.5 or better. Graduates of other associate degree programs are required to have a GPA of 2.5 or better and to have completed the equivalent of 28 credits of the core course requirements of the proposed program.

The projected student enrollment is expected to reflect the current student body in both ethnic composition and geographic distribution. Consistent with SUNY Cobleskill's enrollment goals, SUNY indicates that special efforts will be made to increase minority enrollment through high school programs designed to encourage excellence in child care and development. Projected enrollment for the first year is 25 students (20 full-time, 5 part-time). By the third year, enrollment is expected to be 100 students (80 full-time, 20 part-time), and by the fifth year, enrollment is expected to be 150 students (120 full-time, 30 part-time).

Resources

The new $2.2 million Cobleskill Campus Child Care Center scheduled for completion in summer 2004 will be the centerpiece of the proposed program. It is a 13,000 square foot facility with six classrooms, a large motor room, library, parent lounge, children's kitchen, and art room. The facility is state-of-the-art and is designed to serve up to 82 children ages 6 weeks to 12 years. The Campus Child Care Center is the only accredited child care program in Schoharie County. Additional campus resources include 14 computer labs, 3 child development labs, and 9 science labs.

The library holdings consist of 77,000 print items, 4,800 audiovisual items, and 290 magazine subscriptions. The College has budgeted $33,000 to expand library holdings.

The Early Childhood faculty consists of ten professors, four of whom hold doctoral degrees. An additional doctoral-level faculty position has been approved.

Projected Need

Significant job growth is anticipated in the area of child care and development based on Bureau of Labor Statistics projections, and the results of surveys conducted by the College. It is also expected that, based on data gathered from graduates of the associate degree program in Early Childhood, a significant percentage of the graduates of the proposed program will pursue advanced degrees before seeking employment.

Planning Review