By LARS A. HAFNER, Ph.D.
President, State College of Florida
Today Manatee Community College officially became State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota. The expansion of workforce baccalaureate degrees heralds a new era in education for our region and ushers in a vision for a fundamentally different kind of academic institution.
First, however, it must be emphasized that the change does not discontinue nor diminish the shining accumulated history of Manatee Junior College and Manatee Community College nor does it lessen the contributions of the institution’s visionary founders. The 52-year-old mission of open access and legacy of quality education at the two-year level will continue unabated with the aim of doing even better.
While continuing the legacy, SCF will expand greatly the region’s educational future. The impetus for this change began in September 2008 when the MCC Board of Trustees voted to pursue four-year workforce degrees and become a “state” college. After thorough needs assessments and with forceful support from regional healthcare providers, the Board applied for a Bachelor of Science in Nursing as the first bachelor’s degree. On March 17, 2009, the State Board of Education unanimously approved the application.
The Legislature instituted the policy of authorizing community colleges to offer workforce baccalaureate degrees as a means to meet community workforce needs and expand students’ access to quality, affordable baccalaureate education that would allow them to obtain or retool their skills and continue to live and work in their communities.
Our college has been an exceptional example of the qualities that make this policy wise and practical. Community centered, it provides affordability with quality. Compared to average Florida university tuition, our associate degree courses are about 41 percent lower. Our new BSN tuition (only $9.57 per credit hour more than current two-year tuition) is about 35 percent lower.
The authority to offer four-year degrees brought with it the need for a new name. The Board chose State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota to signal the changed status and to recognize our entire service area. But the name does much more — it reflects a bold vision for a redesigned academic institution of global stature that merges educational levels from middle school to four-year degrees into a unified continuum of successful academic and career pathways.
Envisioned within the SCF continuum are a collegiate school, two-year associate degrees and four-year workforce degrees. Students will move through middle to high school and upon graduation have both high school and two-year associate’s degrees with the option of pursuing an SCF baccalaureate.
This model reduces the conventional walls of education. Just as technology innovators have merged various functions into connected devices, separate educational levels converge to create a supportive and linked culture of academic opportunity and success.
Success will depend on community and political support; ongoing collaboration with our local schools, higher education and business partners; the cooperation of SCF faculty and the continued generosity of current and new benefactors. Today State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota is a name change but more importantly it represents a new way to think about education — a community-based college with global impact through technology and vision that will continue to make transformative changes in the lives of students far into the future.
Let us begin.
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