Programs include information technology, public safety administration, behavioral health science and education
The Maricopa Community College District, which includes 10 colleges across the Phoenix area, announced November 4 plans to launch its first baccalaureate degrees in programs including information technology, public safety administration, behavioral health science and education. The degree programs are expected to begin in fall 2023, pending approval.
Officials told the Arizona Republic that they worked to develop degrees in line with the new legislation’s guidelines. Senate Bill 1453, which was passed earlier this year, instructs community colleges wanting to offer four-year degrees to demonstrate workforce need in the region and student demand.
According to Helice Agria, Maricopa’s faculty district director for academic affairs, who is coordinating the four-year degree program efforts across the district, all the selected fields already exist as associate’s degrees or certificate programs. That means there’s a built-in pipeline of students who could move into the four-year degree.
Ms. Agria said that the district prioritized programs in “key industry sectors” that were discussed during the legislative process, such as education, health care, information technology and public safety administration, given workforce needs and the emphasis from lawmakers that represent the community.
District officials will spend the next year designing the courses and requirements for each of the degrees. “It’s a big step to name them, but it’s a lot more work to actually build them,” Agria said.
Maricopa Community Colleges’ planned four-year degrees include:
- Bachelor of Applied Sciences, programming and data analytics: Mesa Community College.
- BAS, information technology: Estrella Mountain Community College, Phoenix College.
- BAS, public safety administration: Phoenix College, Rio Salado College.
- BAS, nuclear medicine technology and computed tomography: GateWay Community College.
- Bachelor of Science, behavioral health science: South Mountain Community College.
- Bachelor of Arts, early childhood education-dual language: Mesa Community College.
- BA, Education, dual certification in elementary/special education: Glendale Community College, Paradise Valley Community College, Rio Salado College.