The Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning recently approved three new degree programs at the University of Mississippi. These include a Bachelor of Arts in sport management in the School of Applied Sciences, a Bachelor of Arts in environmental studies in the College of Liberal Arts and a Master of Arts in teaching in elementary education in the School of Education.
The current Bachelor of Arts in sports and recreation management program in the School of Applied Sciences Department of Health will change to a Bachelor of Arts in sport management.
Currently, the program allows students to focus on either sports or recreation. However, the vast majority of students choose an emphasis in sports, according to Program Director and Associate Professor Brenna Berg.
Berg has spent the last three years restructuring the current curriculum to reflect this focus by reorienting it to include more classes related to sports and taking away the requirement of recreation courses.
“The core curriculum that everyone had to take was still recreation heavy,” Berg said.
The decision to rename the program to sports management is the culmination of this restructuring and will not require any additional funding or resources from the university.
Despite this change, the department will still support students who currently have an emphasis in recreation.
“(The Department of Health, Exercise Science and Recreation) has plans in place to continue offering some of those recreation courses over the next few years so that students can finish out their major with us,” Berg said.
The program will officially launch in fall 2025.
The new Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies builds upon an existing minor at the university due to increased faculty interest and a private donation from Steven B. King, an alumnus from St. Louis.
The College of Liberal Arts hired Ishana Ratan, a doctoral candidate in political science at the University of California, Berkeley, and a fellow at the Johns Hopkins NetZero Industrial Lab, to teach some of the new courses
Donald Dyer, the associate dean for faculty and academic affairs in the College of Liberal Arts, said the new program is “a very interdisciplinary program where you take courses from a lot of different disciplines.”
The bachelor’s program will become available in fall 2025.
In response to the statewide teacher shortage that followed the COVID-19 pandemic , UM launched a new Master of Arts in Teaching in Elementary Education. This follows the Mississippi Department of Education’s expansion of its Alternative Route Pathway to Elementary Education.
The Alternate Route Pathway provides a way for individuals who hold a bachelor’s degree to earn a teaching license. Applicants must enroll in an approved university program, complete several State Board of Education approved licensure assessments and obtain an online institutional recommendation before receiving a three-year provisional license.
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Ann Monroe says the university created this program “because we know we do it well, and we know we have excellent programs that train teachers.”
The new Master of Arts in teaching in elementary education will have additional coursework tailored to elementary education, including an additional three-hour class to help students pass the Foundations of Reading Test required for teaching at the elementary level.
The program will be strictly online, allowing participants from across the state to participate and will become available in spring 2026.
