Jon Johnson Photo/Gila Herald: EA President Todd Haynie is all smiles as he announces two bachelor’s degrees to be offered at EA in the Fall.
EA announces two BA degrees to be offered in the Fall
By Jon Johnson
“We’re building the future here. It’s not just we’re building tomorrow. It is we’re building for five years, 10 years, 20, 30, 50, 100 years, so I think that’s really our focus. It’s not on the immediate future, it’s on the long-term viability and stability of this institution.”
Eastern Arizona College President Todd Haynie
THATCHER – Eastern Arizona College (EA) announced at a pep rally press conference in its Guitteau Gymnasium on Thursday that it has been approved by the higher learning commission to begin offering bachelor’s degrees for a Bachelor of Health Sciences and Bachelor of Music in Music Education.
“Breaking new ground, I’m thrilled to announce Eastern Arizona College is the newest destination for affordable baccalaureate degrees,” EA President Todd Haynie said at the rally.
Haynie told the Gila Herald that the impact the shift in degree offerings will have on the college will be historical and that the college will move forward while doing its due diligence.
“We’re building the future here,” Haynie said. “It’s not just we’re building tomorrow. It is we’re building for five years, 10 years, 20, 30, 50, 100 years, so I think that’s really our focus. It’s not on the immediate future, it’s on the long-term viability and stability of this institution.”
Registration will start in March with classes beginning in the Fall of this year. After re-evaluating the college’s mission statement, future bachelor’s degrees will be offered.
After opening with some numbers from the EA Band, Eastern Arizona College President Todd Haynie began the pep rally press conference by telling the crowd that a historical, momentous shift was about to occur at EA.
“Something like this happening at an institution that is 136 years old is a hinge point in the history of this institution,” Haynie said. “Probably the only thing that compares to what we’re going to announce today is when Eastern Arizona College, 80 years ago which was then an academy offering high school diplomas began to offer associate degrees and we are now, you are now part of this ship in what is and will be Eastern Arizona College.”
Haynie said the programs EA will offer will be roughly a quarter of the cost at universities in the state and will alleviate the need to travel away from family, friends, and jobs for your education.
He added that EA has a roughly $250 million impact on the economy of Graham County and that the addition of bachelor’s degrees will increase that viability.
Graham County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Vance Bryce (whose father, Mark Bryce, served as EA President from 2002-2018) spoke at the event and said the degrees have been a dream of those in the area for longer than he has been alive.
“Higher education unlocks critical thinking, reading, and writing skills, mastery of vocabulary, and exceptional technical skill,” Vance Bryce said. “It enlivens the soul and enlarges our capabilities, and now it’s not only available somewhere else, it’s available here, for everybody. Students from first-generation, low-income, and underrepresented homes, now have this opportunity.”
The ability for a community college to offer a bachelor’s degree has been in the works for numerous years and on May 4, 2021, SB-1453 was signed into law making Arizona the 24th state to allow community colleges to offer four-year degrees.
After the bill was passed, EA staff began to examine to see what degrees would best fit the area to serve the community and came up with a Bachelor of Music Education and a Bachelor of Health Sciences. Future bachelor’s degrees will be offered, according to Haynie.
EA Dean of Arts, Humanities, and Social Science Pete Chidester and his team came up with the Bachelor of Music Education.
Chidester said there is a national shortage of music educators and the bachelor’s degree program to be offered at EA will help keep music majors who are already at EA for the great performance opportunities from transferring to receive that four-year bachelor’s degree.
“At universities, they can’t get on the stage until their junior and senior years,” Chidester said. “Here, from their very first semester, we can get them opportunities to perform in our ensembles, which is just amazing not only in preparing them for being music educators but just for the experience in general. We really think that between that and the affordability, we’re going to see a lot of students who pick us over the universities. It’s a great opportunity.”
EA’s legacy in fine arts now will have its legacy program to equip students to go into the workforce and not only will students have the teacher training provided but they will be able to highlight performance as well. EA is the only community college in Arizona that has a marching band.
“That makes it the No. 1 community college marching band in the state of Arizona,” Haynie told the crowd.
EA Dean of STEM and Allied Health Aaron Burk and his team came up with the Bachelor of Health Sciences after switching from a different area of study.
“This wasn’t the assignment I was given,” Burk said. “We originally had looked at a Bachelor’s of Applied Sciences of General Education but then as we looked at the community and the needs of rural Arizona it became apparent that health sciences would serve the community better, so we pivoted.”
The health degree will help prepare students for employment in more than 40 healthcare roles and there are currently more than 8,400 jobs in healthcare management nationally available monthly with more than 12.5 percent of those jobs going unfilled.
Eastern Arizona College Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs Dr. Susan Andrus Wood said while the programs were intended for local high school graduates that students from other community colleges would now transfer to EA as well.
“These really are programs that are tailored for our high school graduates here in our community, but we will welcome anybody, any graduate with an associate’s degree,” Wood said. “Transfer. Come here. We will now be a transfer destination for many students in Arizona.”
