BCC receives final OK to offer bachelor’s degree in radiation and imaging sciences

UPDATE, August 2007:

Bellevue Community College will open its doors to the first cohort of students accepted into the Bachelor of Applied Science degree program in Radiation and Imaging Sciences for classes beginning in September 2007. Thirty-eight students were admitted to the new degree program. All are practicing professionals in the radiation and imaging sciences who have entered the program to learn management and advanced technical skills to better prepare them for advancement in their fields.

Developed with extensive input from the health-care industry, the new bachelor’s degree program is designed to address that industry’s acute need for more employees with advanced radiation and imaging skills and the ability to manage imaging and radiation departments at hospitals and clinics. To help meet the overwhelming demand for employees with advanced skills, specialty courses leading to advanced certifications will also be open on a space available basis to working radiation and imaging professionals.

The college has received all the required preliminary approvals from the Washington State Legislature, the Higher Education Coordinating Board, the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges and the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) to begin offering the program. The college will undergo a full scale evaluation by the NWCCU in October 2009 as the final step in its accreditation candidacy at the bachelor degree level. Once it has been accredited as a baccalaureate institution, the status will apply to the first graduating class expected in June 2009.

ORIGINAL NEWS RELEASE:

BELLEVUE, WASH. – Bellevue Community College (BCC) has received the third and final approval in a series of authorizations needed to begin offering its first bachelor’s degree: a Bachelor of Applied Science in Radiation and Imaging Sciences.

The degree program will be the only one of its kind in the state and one of just a few in the nation.

Approval for the bachelor’s degree program was received Dec. 13 from the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, which is the regional accrediting agency for institutions of higher education (recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation and the U.S. Department of Education). The Commission gave approval for the program as a ‘substantive change’ to BCC’s offerings and granted the college informal candidacy for accreditation at the baccalaureate level. The Commission will conduct a full-scale review of BCC’s accreditation in 2009.

Authorizations from the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges and the state Higher Education Coordinating Board were received in April and July of this year, respectively.

The new program was created in response to state legislation enacted in 2005 that approved the development of four pilot applied bachelor’s degree programs at community colleges, targeted to high-demand fields to meet the most crucial needs of the state’s employers.

The BCC baccalaureate program is designed for nationally certified professionals in Radiologic Technology, Diagnostic Ultrasound, Radiation Therapy or Nuclear Medicine. Applications for the program are being accepted through February 15, 2007, with classes beginning in September 2007.

Two concentrations will be offered: Radiation and Imaging Management, for students who wish to lead radiation and imaging departments and clinics, and Radiation and Imaging Technology, for students seeking advanced technical expertise.

BCC already offers highly respected associate degree and certificate programs in the four specialties covered by the baccalaureate program.

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