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The Florida State Board of Education approved Pensacola Junior College’s application to begin offering two work force baccalaureate degree programs.

The state approved a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Administration and Supervision with four concentration areas: organizational administration; public safety/ public service; healthcare management; and commercial graphic design.

PJC President Ed Meadows said the BSN degree supplements the University of West Florida’s nursing program. Together, these programs will help fill the tremendous shortage of nurses in this region of the state.

Meadows also stated that the BAS degree provides the opportunity for PJC associate of applied science graduates to enroll in a baccalaureate degree program. In the past, no educational career ladder existed for students with this type of associate degree.

PJC Vice President for Instructional Affairs Martin Gonzalez said the next level of approval for the degree-level change will come from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges. PJC expects to offer the first upper-division classes in the new degree programs in spring 2011.

Today, PJC serves about 30,000 students in Northwest Florida and Southern Alabama – offering full-service campuses in Milton, Pensacola and Warrington, as well as the Pensacola Downtown Center. More than 37 percent of graduating seniors from local high schools begin college life at PJC.

PJC held its first day of class Sept. 13, 1948, as Florida’s first public junior college.