Jeremy Handel
Staff Writer
Following its mission to empower students to pursue their future confidently, Spartanburg Methodist College continues to expand its academic offerings, adding five new bachelor’s degrees and an associate degree in the coming year.
“These new fields of study will give our students more career path options,” said Dr. Curt Laird, Provost and Executive Vice President at SMC. “Combined with our Camak Core professional development program, our graduates get the education and hands-on experience they need to enter the workforce with the skills and confidence to succeed.”
The new degree options open paths to some new and popular careers, provide stopped-out students an opportunity to finish their degree without starting over, and create a foundation for pursuing an existing SMC bachelor’s degree.
Sport Management
Sports is a booming industry with numerous career options, and today’s digital landscape provides seemingly endless opportunities for students with outstanding writing and content creation skills.
Students in the new sport management program will learn the intricacies of the business of sports, like contracts, event management, liability and risk, and communications and marketing. With the tools they gain, graduates can move into jobs in professional or college sports, youth and recreation programs, arena management, and more.
Professional Writing
The bachelor’s in professional writing and digital communications teaches best practices in writing and integrating art, music, and digital elements into content. Blending these skills will best prepare graduates to become social media content creators, journalists, technical writers, public relations professionals, and more. Content creation is essential in almost all careers, and SMC graduates will be ready to step into any industry and succeed.
In addition to these new subject areas, the College is launching a degree program to help stopped-out students return and finish their degrees.
General Studies
The all-new Bachelor of Arts in General Studies will help OneSpartanburg, Inc.’s Re:Degree initiative re-engage the thousands of adults in Spartanburg County who have taken some college classes but never finished. Both efforts are part of the Movement 2030 Cradle to Career campaign by the Spartanburg Academic Movement (SAM).
“We’re very excited to work with SMC on this effort to increase adult degree attainment. Data shows that those with completed degrees have higher social and economic mobility and increased pay opportunities in their careers. This General Studies program can make a substantive difference for some of those people in Spartanburg County with some college experience but no degree,” said Dr. Erin Smith, OneSpartanburg, Inc. director of adult degree re-engagement.
The General Studies degree offers a fully online, flexible educational experience with a comprehensive curriculum focused on providing the essential skills sought by employers. To further ease the transition back to college, SMC also allows interested students to earn college credit for their work and life experiences and any previous classes they have taken. Through its credits for prior learning program, students can earn credit for specialized work experience, professional certifications, and military or law enforcement service.
“Many adult learners are nervous about returning to finish their degree because they don’t want to start over,” said Dr. Laird. “Earning credit for work and life experiences will help them complete their degree faster and reduce the cost as well.”
Additional Subjects
SMC is adding a bachelor’s degree in general business to its business administration curriculum. The degree focuses on the broad skills and knowledge to tackle various business roles or move on to graduate school to specialize further.
A new Associate in Religious Studies provides a two-year online course that matches its current on-campus program.
Finally, a bachelor’s in humanities incorporates the fine arts into a degree program for the first time at SMC.
Professional Development
With SMC’s unique Camak Core professional development program, students will get the career-readiness skills they need on top of their academic knowledge to succeed. Employers continue to identify professional talents like communications, problem-solving, collaboration, and leadership, which are lacking among college graduates. The Camak Core is a required part of all SMC bachelor’s degrees, providing hands-on training in these critical skills.
“SMC was established as a work-study institution dedicated to educating local workers to provide them with the skills and knowledge to improve their future,” said SMC President Scott Cochran. “These new degree programs carry on that mission, providing our graduates the opportunity for a better future.”