Quinnipiac University has announced that all music, drama and art courses will count for the University Curriculum Fine Arts credit for the next two years beginning in the fall of 2013.

 This change means students will be able to take courses such as acting, improv, drawing or painting in addition to the traditional UC courses that are currently offered such as art, music and theatre practice. The only courses that will not count are any Interactive Design or Game Design courses.

 In addition to the three-credit course, the Visual and Performing Arts Department offers a variety of one to two-credit courses. If a student decides to take three of these courses, those credits will be counted for the UC Fine Arts credits as well.

 “I predict that this is going to increase student satisfaction,” Chair of the Visual and Performing Arts Department Professor Pattie Belle Hastings said.

 This proposal was put forth by the Visual and Performing Arts Department this past fall and went through the approval process in February. In order to be approved, the proposal went through the Faculty Senate at the university.

 The proposal says that these changes will be in effect for a two-year trial period. After the two years, the program will be re-evaluated to see if this change will continue. During the two years, students and faculty who are enrolled in the courses will be frequently surveyed. The Visual and Performing Arts Department encourages students to take part in these surveys and be honest when answering.

 “The Visual and Performing Arts Department is absolutely thrilled that we are able to do this,” Hastings said. “We are so excited for the students and excited to be able to offer them more choices.”

 Hastings said the most important aspect students must be aware of for this proposal is that this will not be retroactive, which means that the university will not be grandfathering in any classes that students previously took.

 Since this will go into effect this fall, students will be able to register for these new classes starting today. When logging into MyQ and opening the Academic Evaluation, the new courses will be listed under the UC Fine Arts credits.

Hasting said that they have created more sections of the theatre and music courses that will now count for the UC courses.

 “Ideally it is going to be a lot less hard for students to get into their Fine Arts course because all of them will count for the UC,” Hastings said.

Many students have already expressed excitement about these changes.

“I was involved in the music program in high school, but thought I was not going to be able to take any exciting music classes because of my demanding schedule,” freshman Alex Zannella said. “This change will allow me to take these courses as my Fine Arts elective credits.”

Students can look out for these changes and express their feedback on the surveys that will be sent from the Fine Arts Department by email.