Front Range Community College will have new programs starting in the upcoming academic year, including a new bachelor’s program, two new associate degrees and two new classes offered in Spanish.
The new bachelor’s degree coming in the fall of 2023 or spring of 2024 will be in business for creative industries. It will be FRCC’s third bachelor’s degree program.
The degree is for students in multimedia, graphic design, recording art, studio art or similar areas seeking a four-year degree. Vice President of Academic Affairs Rebecca Woulfe said it will give students a leg up so they have the skills industry partners say are needed.
“Having the opportunity to do a bachelor’s degree at a community college means it might be something they (students) would pursue. Whereas if they had to go to a large university, they may not pursue it,” Woulfe said. “Giving them that opportunity at the community college is huge for so many of these students.”
The degree will give students the skills to start their own business in their creative field and give them the skills they need to advance within a company or industry.
FRCC will also offer two new associates degrees in optics technology and precision machining this fall.
Certificates in both programs will still be offered in addition to the new degree. Optics and precision machining are high-tech manufacturing programs based at FRCC’s Center for Integrated Manufacturing in Longmont.
Students in these industries learn special skills and how to use specialized equipment. Amanda Meier, program director and faculty for optics technology, said the degree was created based on local need for professionals in the industry.
“This really expands into people’s needs for the industry and students are really excited to continue their education that they’ve started in the certificate program into these specific applications, which I think is exciting,” Meier said.
Optics technicians fabricate, assemble or install optical instruments, such as telescopes, microscopes, aerial cameras and eyeglasses. With a degree in optics, a student can become a photonics technician or laser technician, for example.
According to FRCC’s website, job growth in the optics industry is projected to increase 4.2% from 2023 to 2027, and the average salary is $60,874.
A precision machinist can set up, program and run high-tech machine tools, program parts on CAD/CAM software, figure out the most efficient way to make a part and work in teams to solve factory and production problems in the aerospace, automotive, medical device or computer industry.
The average salary is $45,417, according to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment Occupational Statistics Survey.
FRCC will also be offering two of its early childhood education courses entirely in Spanish, allowing Spanish-speaking students to obtain an early childhood education teaching certificate.
The college will offer the introduction to early childhood education class and guided strategies for young children class in Spanish, which are the two classes needed to get a certificate to teach in a pre-K classroom. The classes will be online and available to anyone living in Colorado.
Leah Morley, lead faculty of the early childhood education department, said the classes were translated because of input from the Family Center in Fort Collins that people wanted to become certified but weren’t comfortable taking the classes in English.
“Our goal is to support any Spanish-speaking students in getting educated and getting these higher qualifications so that they can support all of the students in their classroom,” Morley said. “But particularly for the families that also speak Spanish, having their children taught by teachers who speak their home language, we know from the research, is incredibly impactful for their children and their development.”
All the new programs coming to FRCC in the next academic year — the new bachelor’s program, new associate degrees and the new courses in Spanish — are due in part to feedback from industry partners that there’s a shortage of qualified professionals in each field.
Moving forward, FRCC is planning to introduce two new bachelor’s programs in the 2024-2025 academic school year. A bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity and one in business administration are expected to be offered in 2024.
Woulfe said FRCC is adding new bachelor’s programs because of the benefits it provides.
“What they (researchers) have found is so many community college students love their community college and want to continue there,” Woulfe said. “They feel comfortable, it saves them money, it has so many benefits.”
Colorado is one of 11 states in the country where all community colleges in the system offer bachelor’s degrees, according to the Community College Baccalaureate Association. Woulfe said she hopes FRCC continues to be a leader in that way.
“We’re really just ready to put Colorado on the map by adding bachelor’s degrees at many, if not all, of our community colleges here in the state,” Woulfe said. “So I’m just really excited about the prospect and I’m excited for our students because it’s such a great opportunity for them.”
