USF brings health care degree program to Santa Rosa

Educators at the University of San Francisco say they’re trying to fill a community need with a new bachelor’s degree program that will help advance and keep health professionals in Sonoma County.

The new Bachelor’s of Science in Health Services program starting next month at the Santa Rosa campus is the brainchild, however, of a local junior college dean who wanted his students to be able to seek educational and professional advancement closer to home.

“There’s a real community need,” the Rev. Stephen A. Privett, USF President, said during a meeting with local press Thursday.

“I feel like this is a really good partnership,” said Ezbon Jen, Health Sciences dean at Santa Rosa Junior College. “...I’m able to finally respond to my students.”

The junior college only offers associate degrees to students who study in the allied health fields like radiology, dental hygiene, phlebotomy, medical assisting and many others.

Forced to go to metropolitan centers for continuing education, students “tend to stay there, and not go back to the ‘villages.’”

But just a year after broaching the idea of a bachelor’s degree with USF, the university is launching its first class Feb. 23.

The 27-month, 43-unit program is geared toward working adults, with four-hour classes held one night a week at the North Bay Regional Campus on B Street in downtown.

Students take 15 classes in subjects like epidemiology, financial management, healthcare law, statistics, leadership and management.

A needs assessment survey conducted last year produced “an overwhelming response” from potential students, said Judy Farrell, assistant director for the Santa Rosa campus.

Local demographics and existing need mean demand for health professionals will only continue to increase, even as the rest of the economy stalls, Director Rosa Turner said.

“It’s going to be an employment issue for Sonoma County,” she said.

The total health services program carries a price tag of about $33,540, plus about $1,000 for books.

But USF staffers said they’re accustomed to guiding students through financial assistance paperwork for loans, scholarship and grants.

It’s an investment that doesn’t lose its value, said Judith Karshmer, dean of nursing at USF.

“It’s the perfect solution, I think, for an associate degree-prepared person,” she said.