College's four year degrees are still in their transitional process

Florida State College at Jacksonville is still in its transitional year. Many things have already changed since the college switched names, but there are still some things left that need to be tackled. "The transition is going well," said President Steven Wallace.

The new web site is operational, so there is no need for the old one. The fccj.edu domain is expiring in February. This means that no one will be able to pull up that former address online anymore after that point. The same is true with the old FCCJ email addresses. Both of these things are being phased out.

The accreditation process took a little longer than expected for some of the new bachelor degrees, but students are now able to enroll for classes in the Early Childhood Education program as well as the Information Technology Management and Public Safety Management.

In order for a program to be added to a college it must first be approved by the State Board of Education. After that it must get approved by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS).

FSCJ is still planning to add addit-ional four year degrees in the near future. They are Converged Communications and Media, Biomedical Science and Business Administration.

The soon-to-be added majors are still in the developmental process. Wallace said that FSCJ is working with other local colleges to finalize the curriculum for these new majors. He said that the college does not want to duplicate what is already offered at the other schools.

Wallace said that the accreditation process gets easier the more bachelor degrees a college adds. He said that students should be able to apply for the new programs in fall 2011.

Space in these programs is limited. The application process is selective. This means that students are not guaranteed a spot in the program. They would have to apply and be accepted, just as it would be if they were applying to a university or to FSCJ for the first time.

Wallace said that the college has limited the spots in each program based on how many graduates are needed in the local work field. If students were interested in more than one of the bachelor programs they would have to apply and be admitted to each program separately.

Bachelor students are now able to receive talent grants if they qualify. The college is hoping that scholarship donors will designate money for the upper division students as well.

The college is in the second phase of its newly developed marketing plan. The plan includes advertisements in radio, television and on billboards.

FSCJ is working with the Florida Department of Transportation to get the signs around town changed to the new name. There are still some campus signs that need to be changed too.

"We would rather spend the money on the students than the signs," said Wallace.

"We are about halfway through the transitional year and are very happy with the way things are going," Wallace said.