building at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif., on April 12, 2023. The school received a $2 million check for the creation of a biotechnology education program. Photo by Hunter Hammerot
Community College is a great place to start your degree, and if you’re a Biotechnology major, now it could be a great place to finish as well.
Pierce College and Congressman Brad Sherman announced the approval of a brand new Baccalaureate program for biotechnology last Thursday.
The press conference, which took place at the front of the Center for Life Sciences Building, and featured many speakers – including interim Pierce President Ara Aguiar, Chancellor Francisco Rodriguez, and California Congressman Brad Sherman, announced a new milestone for Pierce College.
The new program was funded by Sherman and his district, with a $2 million check presentation for the program.
When it is set up, the baccalaureate program will allow students to not only obtain their 2 year associate’s degree in biotechnology, but they can also continue on to receive their Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology while enrolled at Pierce.
This program is significantly less expensive than a traditional 4-year university, and will only cost students approximately $10,000, before student aid.
“Now, I am very excited about this program. Not just because of the effect on the economy, not just because of the good jobs,” Sherman said. “But because biotechnology and biomanufacturing save the world.”
Biotechnology can help solve various real world problems, including climate change and medicine, so having this program available to Pierce students can potentially have a large impact on growing the industry.
Board of Trustees President David Vela vocalized the impact that this program could have not only on students, but on the biotechnology industry.
“These jobs can really mitigate the environmental pollution and environmental concerns of today,” Vela said. “And not only that, we’re going to have our students, our very own community college students, afforded this opportunity.”
Biotechnology Faculty Lead Aron Kamajaya is going to run the program. During the conference, he expressed the importance of biotechnology and the role it’s going to play in future research.
“I think, no matter who you are, wherever you are in the political spectrum, everybody realizes that the biotechnology industry is at the inflection point right now,” Kamajaya said. “And we’re ready for that huge explosion in the field.”
Biotechnology and microbiology major Chantal De La Cruz shared her experiences so far in the biotechnology program as well as her hopes for her future in the program and beyond.
“I feel like I’ve grown confidence joining this program not only in my skills, but also within myself,” De La Cruz said. “And I hope that these skills will be used in the biotechnology and bio manufacturing industry.”
De la Cruz also expressed her appreciation for the program and the opportunities it will open up for her and many new generations of students coming into Pierce.
“A lot of students come from backgrounds where they don’t have financial aid, or they don’t have the support of their parents financially,” De la Cruz said. “And having this degree will open many jobs for them.”
This new baccalaureate program is just one of many new programs that LACCD is hoping to get approval for. The goal is to have more opportunities available to community college students to be able to get different degrees and certificates based on their goals.
“We want to produce a baccalaureate pathway that along the way, these students can pick up stackable degrees, certificates, skills that they will need to meet the needs of the industry,” Vela said.
They currently have about 30 programs that are waiting for approval, and if those programs go into effect a lot more students will have the option to finish their school without stepping into a university.
“This raises the image of Pierce College throughout the area,” Sherman said. “This is not just a place that grants certificates and associate degrees. This is now a college that grants baccalaureate degrees. Everything Cal State Northridge can do can be done here, at least at the baccalaureate level.”
Aside from the funds for the program, Congressman Sherman also gave a special gift to Aguiar – a flag that had been flown over the United States capital, to hang on the flag poles of the Center for Science building. Along with it came a certificate of authenticity.
“What I need to do as a member of Congress is to get a flag that’s flown over the Capitol in Washington DC and present it to an organization that is of outstanding service to us here in the San Fernando Valley,” Sherman said.
