Digital media production degree established at Leeward Community College

Provisional status granted for UH Hilo environmental studies and science programs

PEARL CITY, Oʻahu — After five years of provisional status in which it has overwhelmingly exceeded expectations, the Associate in Science Program in Digital Media Production at Leeward Community College (LCC) was permanently established as a degree program by the University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents (BOR).

Designed to provide the state with entry-level digital media workers, the program‘s flexible design has also allowed opportunities for liberal arts majors and workers already in the field, particularly those in small businesses, to obtain the technical skills to manage web sites, produce desktop publishing, and design computer graphics. Students in the program, which offers concentrations in internet publishing, motion graphics, and digital video, also have the option of continuing their studies at the baccalaureate level through the Academy for Creative Media at UH Mānoa.

In addition, the program has allowed LCC to expand outreach efforts on the Leeward coast in supporting initiatives being undertaken in the Waianae region and other Central Oʻahu high schools to promote career pathways into high technology fields. Elements of the program have already been offered in the Waianae region through Leeward‘s Waianae campus.

In other action, the BOR granted provisional status for the Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies and the Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science at UH Hilo. The rise in the establishment of interdisciplinary undergraduate and graduate degree programs in these fields across the country has been fueled by the rapidly expanding societal need for trained professionals to deal with an ever-widening range of complex environmental issues.

The demand for courses and interest in environmental sciences has been felt at UH Hilo with numerous inquiries received from prospective students. In addition, other environmentally oriented programs at the campus, such as the Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology track and the Marine Science major, are near or at capacity.

With these programs in environmental studies and environmental science, students will be trained as environmental professionals, provided with an interdisciplinary approach to education, and exposed to methods and techniques used by natural and social sciences to identify, analyze and interpret environmental problems.

The environmental science track will focus more on a physical and biological sciences background and human interaction with environmental processes, while the environmental studies program will offer a stronger social science emphasis incorporating environmental policy perspectives. The programs will be offered beginning in Fall 2006.