Texas Border Business
Governmental and educational institutions are among the largest employers in the Rio Grande Valley and for them to improve the service they offer to the community, they need a pool of well-educated employees. South Texas College’s latest Associate of Applied Science degree in Public Administration was created to improve that pool and will begin in fall 2014.
“We recognize that our community has a need for professionals in public administration,” STC Business and Technology Division Dean Mario Reyna said. “This program will benefit individuals that work or want to work for city, state and county governments, school administrations or the federal government.”
“This program will benefit all of those individuals,” he added. “The curriculum is broad and it encompasses many subjects, but they are all geared to someone that is involved in the area of public administration.”
The new Public Administration Program will provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary for employment in the public and non-profit sectors. The program will enable students to understand the political, legal, ethical and social context of public administration.
The Associate of Applied Science degree in Public Administration requires students to complete 60 credit hours of coursework that includes 36 credit hours from the Work Force Education Course Manual.
Some of the courses include Municipal, Public and Human Resources Management, Budgeting, Ethics, Public Relations and Urban Planning.
“The program’s courses will explain to our students what it takes to run a municipality, have a greater understanding of government agencies and what it takes to develop a budget,” Reyna explained. “These are technical career-oriented courses, they’re hands-on. There’s a lot of activities involved that will help the student understand what the program is all about.”
Upon completion of the Public Administration degree, students have the opportunity to seamlessly transfer their credits to STC’s Bachelor’s of Applied Technology and Science Programs. STC is the only community college in Texas that offers four bachelor’s degrees.
“Most of the degrees at STC will easily transfer into our Bachelor’s of Applied Technology degree in Technology Management and Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Organizational Leadership,” Reyna said. “Students will lose nothing. Everything will transfer. This program is very helpful to folks in public administration and non-profits like the Red Cross and United Way.”
For more information about South Texas College’s Public Administration Program, call (956) 872-2536 or via email at apherron@southtexascollege.edu.
