Progress

Overall Timeline for Initial Adoption

Proposals for Fall 2023

The legislation authorizing community colleges in AZ to offer bachelor's degrees outlines specific considerations related to program offerings, such as workforce demand, student demand, financial and resource analysis, and evidence that we are not unnecessarily duplicating offerings in the state. A visioning session was held on August 31, 2021, where input from faculty and administrators was used to develop the framework and rubric in alignment with the legislation to guide the college proposals. These proposals were submitted on October 19, 2021. The district leadership reviewed the proposals and selected the programs for development on October 26, 2021. Refer to the Fall 2023 proposal cycle for more information.

Work Teams/Curriculum Design & Development

Over 150 dedicated participants and leads of the bachelor’s degree work teams made up of faculty, staff, and administrators from across the colleges and District Office engaged stakeholders and integrated their feedback into the 101 deliverables related to the needed changes to processes, structures, and systems to successfully integrate bachelor’s degrees. Review the deliverables for additional information.

The cross-college and cross-functional curriculum design teams of 90+ faculty and staff completed the curricular development for our 7 proposed bachelor’s degrees. This includes over 100 new and/or modified courses, 7 programs, as well as assessment plans, to support our students to achieve bachelor’s level learning. The curriculum went to the GB for review and approval on August 23, 2022, along with the other components required by state statute for authorization to offer bachelor’s degrees. 

Also, during spring 2022, a team worked to coordinate the HLC substantive change applications across the system. Colleges refined their applications in the spring and summer and provide the detailed college-specific information required by the legislation for review by the Governing Board.

Future Planning

A session in March 2022 and August 2022 was held to refine our set of guiding principles for the development of bachelor’s degree programs in the years to come. The plan was informed by our lessons learned from this first cycle to make future iterations of the process even more efficient. The Bachelor's Advisory Committee developed and the Chancellor's Executive Council (CEC) endorsed Rationale for a Bachelor's Cycle to help us identify program areas to develop for the next 3-5 years and the means to demonstrate our success to students, the legislature, our employer partners, and the community at large, our accreditors, and ourselves.

Partnership Notification

In line with legislative requirements, we formally notified Arizona State University of the programs we intended to offer 60 days in advance of the August 23 board meeting, which then provided them with 30 days to provide a formal response to be included in the Governing Board package. No response was received. Because we do value our university partnerships, we exceeded legislative requirements and previously informally notified ASU, NAU, and the University of Arizona of the programs that we intend to develop and have made efforts to keep these lines of communication open throughout our process.

Governing Board Approval

The legislation authorizing community colleges in the state of Arizona to offer bachelor’s degrees requires information to be provided to, and subsequently approved by, the Governing Board related to each proposed program offering.  This includes curriculum approval, which is similar to what currently occurs for certificates of completion and associate’s degrees, as well as additional items.  A report with the required information was reviewed and approved at, the August 23 Governing Board meeting. This included:

• Curriculum

• Evidence of Market/Student Demand

• Projected Enrollment/Similar Programs (Competition)

• Financial Resource Analysis

• ASU Response (if any provided)

Refer to the GB Final Authorization Report and Board meeting minutes.

HLC Approval & Site Visits

Upon Governing Board approval all of the colleges submitted the substantive change application to offer a new program at the baccalaureate award level to the Higher Learning Commission. 

The HLC conducted coordinated site visits in September and October of 2022. The district office and our college Accreditation Liaison Officers (ALOs) worked closely with each other to prepare for these site visits. Refer to the HLC Site Visit preparations.  

The HLC approved the 7 programs on November 18. These have been submitted to the Department of Education and are pending approval of Title IV Federal Financial Aid. 

Implementation
With the recommendations for the 101 deliverables finalized, we have identified the related areas for implementation where additional decisions are needed to support bachelor’s degree-seeking students, including:

• Approvals and Accreditation

• Admissions

• Budget

• Compliance

• Systems

This is not meant to be all-inclusive, but to give a general idea of the primary “buckets” and key areas where implementation has to occur, based on the efforts of the work teams. Professional development will be also designed to align with all these changes and weaved throughout the implementation phase, as indicated by the work teams. 

Review the implementation timeline for details of all the ongoing work in these areas an more.

2024, 2025, & 2026 Cycles

Review the cycle calendars for additional details of the rollout of the RN to BSN in Fall 2024 and beyond.