Press Release:
PENSACOLA, Fla. – The Pensacola Junior College Board of Trustees has unanimously voted to pursue the offering of baccalaureate degrees.
“This is an expansion of our mission that will allow us to serve our community better, especially in some areas of critical workforce shortage,†said Board of Trustee Chair Vincent Andry.
PJC is a member of the new Florida College System, which now has nine former Florida community colleges granting baccalaureate degrees and at least five others currently pursuing authority to grant baccalaureate degrees.
PJC President Ed Meadows said, “The PJC Board felt that this change was necessary to help provide qualified professionals in a number of areas, particularly in high demand areas such as health care where critical shortages are predicted to continue through the next decade.â€
The Board will seek approval from the State Board of Education for authority to offer the baccalaureate degree based on documented need in critical workforce professions. In addition, it will petition the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to move from Level I to Level II, which is required for offering baccalaureate degrees.
“This will not happen immediately, as we have several processes to go through, but we are hopeful that our requests will be well received,†Meadows said.
The great majority of PJC’s programs will continue to be associate degrees and the college will continue its long “Two-Plus-Two†relationship with the University of West Florida
and other Florida universities.
“The majority of our associate degree students transfer to theUniversity of West Florida,†Meadows said. “We will work very closely with the University of West Florida to establish a seamless articulation agreement for all levels of degrees offered.â€
