Allan Hancock College was not among the 15 colleges selected on Jan. 20 by the California Community College Board of Governors to begin pilot programs offering bachelor’s degrees to students.
“I can’t say we’re not disappointed,” Hancock Superintendent/President Kevin Walthers said in a statement shortly after the official word came out. “The selected degrees represent the ability of the community college system to create more opportunity and increase access for students to complete their education.”
At the end of 2014, Hancock applied to offer a bachelor’s degree in applied viticulture—the study of grapes to make wine—with an emphasis on climate change, water management, and sustainability.
“They are all important topics for the agricultural community,” Walthers said.
The application process was faculty-driven, Walters said. Among those responsible for drafting the application were academic dean Paul Murphy; agribusiness instructor Eric Shiers; and Alfredo Koch, a professor in viticulture at Hancock.
Koch said he wasn’t given much time to draft the application but gave it his best shot and wrote it as if the college were going to be selected. He doesn’t believe the rush had anything to do with not being selected.
“There was not much time, maybe less than a month,” Koch said. “But we started to work as soon as we learned that we had a chance.”
There are similar programs in the area, such as at Cal Poly, but Koch said Hancock’s program would have differed in the sense that it was more applied.
“We feel that it’s something really useful, and that can be great for our industry to train more students in sustainability,” Koch said.
Koch added that there is a possibility the college could re-apply sometime in the future. In the meantime, Walthers said that the college will continue to explore partnerships with other universities, such as Cal Poly.
The closest community college selected to pursue a pilot program is Bakersfield College, which will offer a bachelor’s degree in industrial automation.
Senate Bill 850, passed last September, made the pilot program possible. The law is designed to meet the state’s demand for technical job fields and enables up to 15 community colleges to have bachelor’s degree programs that are unavailable in either of California’s university systems.
“Something needs to be done to serve the students in a community of this size because there is no accessible place for our students to receive a four-year degree,” Walthers said.
This article appears in Jan 29 – Feb 5, 2015.