by Samantha Perera
News editor
The Department of Art, Communication and Theatre at SE added a new departmental enrichment fee this semester.
All art, communication and theatre classes will be assessed a $9 fee per credit hour, said Dell McLain, ACT department chair. The fee will “help us with enhancements to all of our art, comm. and theatre programs,” said McLain. This will be department-wide to help with materials and other essentials throughout the department, he said.
McLain, along with Dr. Stacy Weger, the music department chair, have been conducting research for the past couple of years, said McLain.
They found that “some of our competitors around the region and the state had fees assessed” for their departments, as much as $25 to $50 per class, said McLain.
According to McLain, it is common for departments to have such fees set in place. Even though art and music classes already have enrichment fees for materials and supplies, similar communication and theatre classes didn’t have them, said McLain.
A request was made through the Regional University System of Oklahoma’s Board of Regents (RUSO), who approved the fee, said McLain.
“We used them and have been using them to enhance all of our activities and programs in art, communication and theatre,” said McLain. “I think students will definitely see their fee money at work.”
A large industrial-size color printer was bought for the ACT department that students will be able to access, said McLain.
“You can well imagine art students needing access to it, you can imagine theatre students needing access to it, and absolutely imagine comm. students needing access to it,” said McLain. Without this kind of fee in place, the department would not able to make these kinds of purchases, he said.
In times to come, McLain said, the department hopes to bring guest speakers, guest lecturers and guest artists to the campus. This will be part of the Act of Discovery Series, McLain said. “We asked faculty to include a statement about (the Act of Discovery series) in their syllabi, so that students will not be caught unawares,” he said.
The Act of Discovery is an initiative to foster discovery and learning, and according to the syllabus statement, “the instructor may assign additional work that can include, but is not limited to: gallery, lecture or performance attendance; reading, writing or presentation assignments; group discussions; or journaling exercises.”
As mentioned in all ACT syllabi, instructors will give students a 30-days prior notice to any Act of Discovery assignment.