With the goal of addressing prospective student interests and workforce trends, Whittier College launched three innovative academic programs this fall.
Pathway Integrating Child Development and Education Specialist (PICES) Program
PICES is a progression of the child development and education department’s long-existing integrated program where students can take up to nine courses toward a teaching credential as an undergraduate, making it possible for a student to earn a B.A. and teaching credential in five years. The new program will allow students to complete all the coursework for the child development major and an education specialist preliminary credential in just four years.
“Special Education was selected as our first choice because we currently have a strong offering in the area and there is additional room for growth,” said Associate Professor of Education & Child Development and department chair Shannon Stanton.
The new program is a result of changes in the state’s credentialing guidelines which hope to ease a teacher shortage in California. The College received a grant for $189,922 from the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to support the creation and development of PICES.
Digital Art and Design
The Digital Art and Design track within the Art and Visual Studies Department focuses on the commercial application of visual art and design principles in the production of creative content for various new media platforms. This track provides students broad experience in digital art and design that ranges from designing websites to producing animations and even creating visual marketing campaigns for social media. Production-based courses are balanced with courses that critically analyze the personal, cultural, and political influence visual media has on our past and present.
Computer Science
The College is in a position to educate future computer scientists who have the technical skills, the global perspectives, and the social and cultural insight that is needed to use computers creatively and ethically.
The new major adheres to Whittier’s mission of offering a broad liberal education while emphasizing interdisciplinarity and connections, particularly the connection between computer science and one other field of study. While the structure of the major will be a core of math and computer science courses, the complementary course of study selected by the student would ideally be outside of the natural sciences.
