MTSU Trustee Pam Wright gives the report of the Academic Affairs, Student Life and Athletics Committee, which she chairs, during the Board of Trustees meeting held Tuesday, April 6, 2021, inside the Miller Education Center. (MTSU photo by Andy Heidt)

Middle Tennessee State University’s Board of Trustees approved new bachelor’s degree programs in supply chain management, media management and photography at its quarterly meeting Tuesday, April 6.

MTSU Provost Mark Byrnes addresses the Board of Trustees during its meeting held Tuesday, April 6, 2021, inside the Miller Education Center. (MTSU photo by Andy Heidt)

Trustees approved the recommendations of the Academic Affairs, Student Life and Athletics Committee, which included:

• Elevating the existing concentration in supply chain management within the Bachelor of Business Administration in Management to a free-standing B.B.A. degree with a major in supply chain management.
• Elevating the existing concentration in media management within the Bachelor of Science in Media and Entertainment to a free‐standing B.S. degree with a major in media management.
• Elevating the existing concentration in photography within the Bachelor of Science in Media and Entertainment to a free‐standing B.S. degree with a major in photography.

All new programs are expected to become effective in summer 2021 pending approval by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.

Trustees also approved a request to begin the process to create a Master of Fine Arts in Independent Film and Television. The program would be composed of three tracks: Documentary, Creative Producing and Live Event TV.

The program’s focal tracks create a unique offering both in the region and the state, said the committee’s chair, Trustee Pam Wright, especially as film and TV remain burgeoning industries, as noted by the Atlanta Film Commission,

MTSU will next conduct a feasibility study of the proposed degree and, if the study is favorable, seek next-level approval from the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, Wright said.

— Andrew Oppmann (Andrew.Oppmann@mtsu.edu)

MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee, left, gives his report to the Board of Trustees during its meeting held Tuesday, April 6, 2021, inside the Miller Education Center. (MTSU photo by Andy Heidt)

MTSU Board of Trustees Vice Chairman Darrell Freeman, standing center right at the lectern, addresses his fellow trustees during the board’s socially distanced spring meeting held Tuesday, April 6, 2021, inside the Miller Education Center. The meeting aired virtually on MTSU’s livestream channel due to COVID-19 capacity restrictions. (MTSU photo by Andy Heidt)