St. Petersburg College to offer 3 new bachelor’s degrees

The State Board of Education has cleared St. Petersburg College to offer a trio of new four-year degrees in line with labor market demands.

Board members, meeting Wednesday in Tallahassee, unanimously approved the programs and praised the college for being at the forefront of connecting students with jobs.

A new degree in cardiopulmonary sciences will be offered online only, while degrees in digital media and English education for middle and high schools will be taught online and in-person.

A document describing the cardiopulmonary sciences degree said the program was designed to prepare graduates for jobs including respiratory care managers and case managers, from neonatal to acute critical care. It said the field will see about 35 job openings a year in the college’s service area.

The proposal was supported by the University of South Florida and several regional hospitals.

Matthew Liao-Troth, SPC’s vice president for academic affairs, told the State Board that the degree would be a step-up from respiratory therapists, a field the college trains students for within its health science bachelor’s program.

The need for respiratory therapists has grown since the COVID-19 pandemic, the proposal said, and annual salaries for the position are around $61,000.

The digital media degree is expected to train graphic designers, digital videographers, animators, content and instructional designers, deposition video recorders and game designers, according to SPC’s proposal. It estimates the area will see about 200 job openings a year in those fields, with annual salaries of just over $62,000. Letters of support for the proposal came from USF, the Pinellas County school district and WEDU PBS.

Liao-Troth said the college currently offers an associate degree in digital media, and that those graduates earn around $42,000. But he added that much of “corporate America is looking for a bachelor’s degree.”

He spoke of Darlene Sanchez, a motion graphics creative manager who returned to college for a bachelor’s degree after being praised for her portfolio but overlooked for projects because she didn’t have a four-year degree. After getting her bachelor’s, she was hired by the Tampa Bay Lighting, Liao-Troth said.

State Board member Ben Gibson called the degree one that could be “very lucrative” for a low cost.

The college’s new secondary English education degree will help prepare middle and high school English teachers, as well as English department chairs. The Florida Department of Education has identified secondary English teachers as a “critical shortage” area.

SPC’s proposal stated the field has a projected 118 annual job openings in the area with a median salary of around $65,458. USF offers a similar degree program, but produces an average of 29 graduates per year.

The university supported SPC’s proposal, along with the Pinellas and Pasco county school districts.

Liao-Troth said the focus will be to produce graduates for the Pinellas district, where there is high demand for secondary English teachers.

Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, spoke in support of the new degree, saying his ninth grade daughter in Volusia County spent the first nine weeks of the year without an English teacher. It’s her third year in school without a full set of teachers, said Spar, who encouraged the board to consider factors that drive teachers out of the state.

In an interview, Liao-Troth said SPC regularly analyzes industry and private data, along with regional demand, to assess its offerings. The college has phased out degrees that don’t lead to high paying jobs or easy transfers, he said.

The three newest degree programs had been planned since before the pandemic, he said.

Board member Monesia Brown praised SPC President Tonjua Williams for “being on the front end of identifying opportunities to really be a change agent in the community” and partnering with the private sector.

While other colleges are taking similar steps, Williams has “been the tip of the spear,” Brown said. “You guys have been really aggressive about this, and I think set a great example of what all our colleges should be doing.”

Divya Kumar covers higher education for the Tampa Bay Times, working in partnership with Open Campus.