Tallahassee Community College is bringing its academic offerings to a new level by adding three bachelor’s degree programs — a bachelor of applied science in business administration, a bachelor of science in elementary education and a bachelor of science in exceptional student education.
A press conference was held on TCC’s campus to announce the new programs, which will all launch in the fall.
“I can’t tell you how excited I am,” TCC President Jim Murdaugh told the Tallahassee Democrat. “This is an expansion of what we love, which is being a resource for the community and providing our students with degrees and credentials to get a job in areas that are in demand in our community. This moves us into a new territory.”
The new offerings come as a result of Flagler College-Tallahassee’s decision last year to close the three bachelor’s degree programs that it has had on TCC’s campus, which opened a door for TCC to continue offering them instead.
Murdaugh says that TCC received support from Flagler College President John Delaney as well as Florida State and universities to have the two-year programs on its campus before getting approval from the State Board of Education in March.
Prior to the three programs, the only bachelor’s program that TCC offered was for a degree in nursing, which 10 students graduated from in the spring.
TCC students now have more options to consider if they wish to stay at the college instead of taking the traditional path of transferring to FSU or FAMU after two years.
But at the same time, TCC Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Calandra Stringer explained how the college's expanded opportunities will not be in opposition to the similar programs that exist at FSU and FAMU in the community.
“A lot of our students don’t have an opportunity to get into (FSU and FAMU’s) programs because of their limited access, so this opens the door for us to meet the local demand — not compete against them," Stringer said. "We’re just stepping in to make sure that students have an additional choice and an opportunity to pursue their bachelor’s degree.”
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Students who earn a bachelor’s degree in business administration from TCC’s program will be able to apply for job positions that include being a human resource manager, management analysts and sales manager, which will support the local community's growing need for skilled workers in the roles.
There are nearly 900 annual job openings in TCC’s service area related to the business and administration field, according to labor market projections from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.
While a bachelor’s degree in elementary education will prepare students for certification in teaching subjects in grades K-6, an exceptional student education degree will prepare them for the Florida Elementary Teacher Certification (K-12).
With each of the education programs currently having nearly 90 annual job openings in demand within the college’s service district, TCC’s new offerings will help fill the critical teacher shortages that exist in the fields.
The new offerings also mean that new faculty will be added to the three programs, and the number of additional members will depend on the number of students who will be pursuing the bachelor’s degrees in the fall, according to Stringer.
In addition, the programs come along with $150,000 worth of scholarships that will be offered to students pursuing each of the bachelor’s degrees.
While TCC’s President Circle gifted the exceptional student education program with $50,000 and Donna Calloway — a former TCC trustee who is also a retired educator and principal — donated $50,000 to go toward the elementary education program, Amazon contributed $50,000 in scholarship money for the business administration program.
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“It’s a really big deal to have such a large corporation make such an investment in what we do here at TCC,” Vice President for Institutional Advancement Heather Mitchell said, referring to Amazon’s contribution. “Amazon has come to the table more times than we can count whenever we’ve asked, so this investment is a very big deal.”
Mitchell, who is also the TCC Foundation’s executive director, says the three scholarship donations will be distributed in the fall, and each of the amounts will help fund 17 students with half of what their tuition cost is for their entire bachelor’s degree program.
Students who apply for a scholarship on the college’s Scholarships website for their respective program will be notified by mid-June to know if they will receive funding.
Applications for the new bachelor’s programs are also currently available online with a deadline of Aug. 1.
Following the three new offerings, individuals in the community can look forward to more bachelor’s degree programs being added to TCC’s campus in the future as Stringer says the college is looking to start the development process this year for another new program that could possibly be announced next year.
“We’re looking at what’s still needed in the community and will start doing more research to determine what our next bachelor’s degree will be, which is coming soon,” Stringer told the Democrat.
Contact Tarah Jean at tjean@tallahassee.com or follow her on twitter @tarahjean_.
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