Transcript
Hi everyone. And welcome to this week's episode of the Online Roadmap podcast, WVU Online's own podcast series. And today I'm joined with Gary Phillips and Kelly Leg, and they are WVU Online admissions coaches. And they're here to tell us a little bit about some of the new programs that WVU online has to offer.
So I'm going to go ahead and kick it off with Gary. If you could tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do at the university. Yeah. My name is Gary Phillips. I'm an admissions coach here at West Virginia university. Online. I work predominantly with students who are interested in the college of education and human services as well as the Statler college and the Davis college.
I really enjoy. A wide variety of programs and those are all degrees that I have a personal connection to. So it's been really fun to kind of help people get into those programs as well. And communicate via phone call emails, zoom, just to help people get through that initial admissions process.
So that they're ready to go on the coursework. Great. That's awesome. Thank you so much, Gary. And Kelly, can you tell us a little bit about who you are and what programs you want? Hey everyone. My name is Kelly Leg, and I am an online admissions coach here at WVU online. I am a graduate of WVU, so very excited to be back at the institution and working.
As far as the programs that I work with, I work with the college of physical activity and sports sciences. The college of creative. I also oversee John Chambers college of business and economics along with the school of public health, the school and the school of nursing. Very cool. Very cool. So I know that you both have some new programs that have been launched through the schools and departments that you guys work with.
So can you tell us a little bit, Kelly if you could just give us a few of the new programs that you're working with, and then I'll ask Gary to give his. Sure I can do that. So as far as some of the new programs that we are offering within the college of creative arts, we have a new master's in game design, which I think sounds really interesting in the college of business and economics.
We have a new doctorate in We also have a human resource leadership master's degree program in B and E. And then as far as the school of public health, we have a new master's degree in population health. Nice. Those are some interesting degrees, doctorate in accounting. I don't know if I could personally do that one, but it sounds interesting.
Well said, thank you for sharing those, Gary, can you let us know what new programs you're supposed to. Yeah. The Davis college in particular has been doing a lot of expansion with their online programs. They're now offering a full master's degree in resource economics and management. And they're also offering two new graduate certificates, one in GIS and one in sustainable trails, which I'm really enjoying working with because they're such specialized credentials that the people who.
Find those degrees and the certificates and want to be involved with them. Always have great stories. I get to talk to park Rangers and people in the forest service and it's just a really fun process to help with. The college of education and human services is doing a lot of expansion as well.
They're now offering master's degrees in teacher leadership with a specialization in elementary math and teacher leadership with digital technologies and connected learning, which, you know, is that much more important as more and more things move online. We're also now offering a bachelor's degree in early childhood special.
I'm really excited to be working about that one as well as I love the bachelor's degrees programs because they opened the doors. So many opportunities for people. Yeah. Very cool. Then the digital technologies and connective learning, I think right now is huge right. With just everything going on.
So those are really, really good programs. So, Kelly, can you tell us a little bit more about each of the programs that your schools are offering about, you know, business and music and all this good, good programs? Sure. I'll go ahead and start with the ones in B and E. So the doctorate is actually in business administration with a focus in accounting.
So it's a very in-depth degree plan, which would give exposure in accounting. And a person could go on to, you know, a teaching career. So the candidates that will enroll on that are quite experienced and have, you know, quite a career within that field. And then also within B and E we have the human resource leadership degree plan which I think is going to be really popular, a really good degree to obtain.
The graduates will focus on technical skills as well as people's skills. And we'll learn how to improve performance within organizations, and they'll explore it at all different levels like local state and federal. So again, another great degree to pursue. The one that I really find interesting, and I know nothing about is the game design master's degree program.
So it's for game designers that want to basically expand and build upon like conceptual production and management skills. So basically, you'll learn game design, game theory and game production, and you can specialize and obtain advanced skills in that area. So again, another really cool degree for those, you know, gamers that are out there.
And then the last one within the school of public health is called population health. And it prepares students for a variety of population-oriented leadership, clinical and research-oriented positions, both in healthcare, and then in the public health organizations. And again, we all know how important, you know, healthcare is these days.
So another good degree to, you know, pursue you as far as you know, the health industry. So those are the four new programs that I'm working with. That's awesome. Kelly. And he liked the point you made there about population health. I think that's going to be super popular. And just for the programs that you both are talking about.
I think we have a lot of new ones that are really interesting and really relevant to what's happening now. So that's really cool. Gary, can you go into a little bit more depth with your new book? Yeah, I'd be happy to just start off with the Davis colleges, new master’s of science in resource economics.
Full master's degree program, 30 credit hours. It is geared towards people who want to have a hand in policy develop. And I love this degree so much because it just, the approach that they take with things. The curriculum is arranged around the three phases of resource economics and development, where you're going to learn how to look at a problem, research it, figure out everything that's involved with.
Analyze the data and not just have an understanding of how it affects the area, but also really learn how to communicate what you have learned to people in land management institutions, public resource agencies, really being able to communicate to them. Why. You know what policy should go in this direction?
I think that's so practical of an approach. I really, I really like working with it. The certificates that the Davis college is now offering the one in GIS and spacial technologies and the one in sustainable trails are fantastic credentials. If you're looking to break into a related field or if you're in a related field and need.
Really specialized credential in that specialized skill development to do the best in your role. The things I love most about these certificates is they're quick. They're five credits for the diversity to be five courses for the GIS certificate, six courses for sustainable trails. So it's entirely possible to do them all in one year and really learn the hands-on skills that are relevant to those fields.
And then with the college of education, their new programs include that elementary math specialist masters and the digital technologies and connect them, learning a specialization. And the thing I love working with a college of education human services the most about is they're so responsive to.
The needs of the teachers in the area. All of these programs that they're developing are in response to specific needs by state teachers in surrounding states that need to develop new skills because we need to approach things differently. Just the way courses are being delivered right now.
You need to wear a lot of hats. You need to know the tech side. You need to know the curriculum instruction side, and both of these degrees are really good because they are kind of multidisciplinary you take courses in a few different areas curriculum design, instructional design to really.
No, how to use all this information to get across to students, which is obviously the most important thing. And then for the early childhood special education, bachelor's, it's like I said, it opens so many doors. This one was really developed because we need special education teachers. It, it takes a rare person.
I feel like to be able to do that role This is how you can get started with that, with the credentials that you need. And as far as employment opportunities go. I, I love hearing about what all is available to graduates of this, because there are currently positions for special ed teachers that have been open for more than a year, just because there's not the people to fill them, but this program will allow there to be very cool.
Very cool. So Gary talking about employment opportunities, what types of careers can students look to obtain with the new programs that we're offering? Well, they're really varied. As far as the programs do the college of education a lot of them are geared towards people who are already in a teaching role, the teacher leadership degrees, you know, they're, they're built with a summer start dates so that people who are in that teaching role can, can start at a time of the year.
That's a little, a little bit easier for. Hopefully. But those also allow individuals who are in that classroom teaching role to expand a little bit more. So if you want to be more involved in the policy development in your school's curriculum development there's some elements of program evaluation that you learn.
It it's, they're both good master’s degrees for. Teachers to do more. And the early childhood special education bachelor's is for individuals who really want to get in that classroom, working with students with mild to moderate learning disabilities, physical disabilities being teachers, aids, being classroom aids, being teachers themselves and kind of working within.
That whole vein of education to help the students who really need it. As far as the Davis colleges go you work with a lot of state local and federal agencies on creating policies. And with the certificates, they often go to students who are working in the fields of like water management, land management.
I've worked with individuals who map out power lines park Rangers, forest Rangers construction specialists to work with roads. So they're very hands on and they open up a lot of doors of a lot of different roles.
As a broad horizon of jobs that you can get from, you know, having a degree in, in any one of those majors. So that's really great to hear and Kelly with your degrees, what types of jobs can students, you know, look to obtain once they grow up? Well with the majority of my degrees, they are master’s degrees.
So a lot of times people are interested in pursuing their degrees so they can move up, you know, within their current job. Some are doing a career change, so there's a lot of different options out there. For people that are in the game design industry you know, they can get into being like a special effects artist or animator.
You can also go the route of software development and of course the video game designers, I mean, that kind of makes sense. Within the population health master's degree, again kind of a wide range within the health industry. So you could be possibly like a clinical director. You can get into community health and do promotions mental health, and also like nursing to be a nursing director.
And like a health information management director. Those are some of the positions, you know, that would be viable with that. And then within John Chambers college of business and economics of course the doctorate level, a lot of the people are wanting to become a professor. So you could teach a course accounting or any sort of business within college.
Also general operations manager, COO's treasurer and controllers, of course, with accounting and auditing as well. And then what then human resources and leadership. Of course human resources management. You can also get into like the business continuity planning financial management and administrative service managers.
So. A lot of different jobs that are out there. And within these degree programs, you know, these jobs are in demand. So another reason that it's great to be able to pursue the master's in any of these areas just because there is a need for those positions. Great. Thank you so much. Thank you both so much for that.
And where can, where can students find information on these careers and. These programs. Well, after spending a good bit of time researching a lot of different schools, online course offerings. I can say that you can find a lot of really good information organized very well on the WVU online websites.
Every one of our programs has scattered basic information listed. That includes things like tuition, number of credit hours, deadlines. All of that. And also on each of those WVU online pages, you can find the contact information to reach out directly to me or Kelly. One of the admissions coaches, either by phone emails, zoom appointments just making those connections with us and we can walk you right through it.
We're here to help. Hey, thank you so much, Kelly. Any other additional information on the best way a student can get information about the program? Yeah, I would suggest, definitely reaching out to an admissions coach. Like Gary said, our website has a ton of information. But I think by, you know, placing a phone call, sending an email, setting up a zoom.
You can ask specific questions; you'd get that information that you're looking for. Also some of our programs offer information sessions and we'd be happy to tell you about those and you know, highly recommend if you're able to attend one of those, again, just another way to get more information and helping, you know, the prospect, make sure that it's a great fit for them and, you know, want to apply for the program.
Thank you so much. And I always like our guests to leave one last piece of advice for our students. So, Kelly, anything you would like to leave as the last piece of advice for students looking to apply to WVU online program? Sure. I think, you know, when some people are looking, they're hesitant to start, they may feel like, you know, it's too much work or whatnot.
I really think that if it's something that you want to pursue, I mean, go for it, complete an application. See if you get admitted you know, once you're enrolled, if you need to cut back schedules and whatnot, a lot of times the programs offer flexibility. So I'm, I guess the biggest piece of advice is like, don't, don't hesitate.
Go for it. You have nothing to lose. I love that. I always think like you miss out on a hundred percent of the opportunities that you never take. Right? So it's a good opportunity for students who are interested in, in obtaining a degree or just seeing, you know, what their options are. So I love that piece of advice, Gary, any last pieces of advice you'd like to offer?
I was actually going to say the exact same thing as Kelly. If you're looking at one of our pages and thinking, this is exactly what I need to make that career change or take the next step in my career. But you're not sure call it, request that info cause we're here to help, and we'll make it as easy on you as we can.
Some of our degrees are really specialized so that if you think it's going to do some good to have it apply well, we'll work with you. And we'll I will have faculty that really know the ins and outs of your field as well. Shout out to Dr. Haas over in sustainable trails. Because I feel like her and I get to work with a lot of really interesting people from interesting backgrounds.
And she in particular will go to the map for people trying to help them get into the program that we know is going to suit them. So you got a lot of people working for you here? Definitely. Great. Thank you both so much for joining us today. We really appreciate both of your time and yeah, we will see you guys next time on the next episode of the Online Roadmap podcast.
Thanks. Y'all.