Mar 28, 2024  
2015-2016 Catalog 
    
2015-2016 Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Public Safety Administration [8004] ‡


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Bachelor of Applied Science

(120 Credit Hours)

Program Director

Barry Puett
941-752-5656 Bradenton
941-408-1300, ext. 65656 Venice
puettb@scf.edu

Program Description and Goal

The Bachelor of Applied Science in Public Safety Administration Program provides associate degree graduates in areas such as law enforcement, paralegal, fire science, emergency medical services, emergency management, or an Associate in Arts with an educational pathway that leads to a bachelor’s degree with workforce skills desired in the government and the private sectors. Coursework includes the areas of public safety, homeland security, management, administrative law, crisis and disaster issues, and terrorism prevention. Employment options include positions such as fire chief, deputy chief, battalion chief, fire inspector, fire marshal, emergency management coordinator, training officer, captain and lieutenant (fire and law enforcement), emergency management officer, state trooper, emergency management communications center chief and mitigation coordinator. Work settings include fire and rescue departments, law enforcement agencies, emergency management operations and facilities, planning and utilities departments, and private companies as security officers or emergency coordinators. In addition, the Public Safety Administration Program is ideal preparation for further study in graduate school for programs in law, emergency management or public policy.

Separate Application


‡ Degrees/programs will require a separate application and acceptance notification from the specific department before enrollment in the desired program.

Admission Requirements


Admission requirements include:

  1. A 2.0 GPA on a scale of 4.0;
  2. Completion of 45 semester hours. Included in this must be ENC 1101  and MAT 1033  (or a course at that same or higher level).
  3. Successful completion of at least 50 percent of the required 42 credit hours of electives (listed below).

Public Safety Administration Program Requirements


General Education Courses: 36 Credit Hours


General education courses from Areas I - V. 

Lower/Upper Level Electives: 42 Credit Hours (21 lower level/21 upper level)


Fire science, criminal justice and emergency medical services degrees from regionally accredited colleges and universities.

Any A.A. elective over and above A.A. general education requirements. To meet the requirement of A.A. elective, any course that has (A.A.) after the course title in the catalog course description or any of the following courses or course prefixes: ACG, AML, ANT, BCH, BCN, BSC, BUL, CGS, CHM, CIS, COP, ECO, ETG, EUH, FIN, FRE, GEA, GEB, GEO, GER, GLY, HSC, INP, INR, ISC, JOU, MAN, MET, MMC, PLA, SLS, SPC, SPN, STA.

21 upper level credits (seven courses) from the following list:

Graduation Requirements for Bachelor’s Degrees


The following general requirements for graduation from SCF must be met by all candidates for the Bachelor of Applied Science and Bachelor of Science degrees. Additional requirements may exist for individual programs.

  1. Students must satisfactorily complete 120 credit hours. For residency purposes, a minimum of 30 credit hours required for graduation must be completed at SCF. All other specific degree requirements also must be met. Developmental education (formerly college preparatory) instruction may not be counted toward fulfilling the total number of credit hours required for residency purposes or graduation.
  2. For purposes of conferring the bachelor’s degree, students must complete at least 30 credit hours of courses numbered 3000 level or above. Of these, at least 15 credit hours must be taken at SCF.
  3. Students must achieve a cumulative grade point average of 2.0 or higher on a 4 .0 scale for all work completed at SCF and a 2.0 grade point average or higher for combined coursework with SCF that includes all transferable credits.
  4. Students must earn a grade of C or better in all upper division program requirements.
  5. Students must complete the general education requirements (36 credit hours) as defined in the Associate in Arts degree. Students who transfer to SCF with either an Associate in Arts degree or a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution are considered to have met the general education component of the degree. Courses will be reviewed for equivalency for students who transfer without an Associate in Arts or bachelor’s degree.
  6. Students must have completed Florida’s foreign language requirement prior to the completion of the bachelor’s degree. Students may meet this competency by:  A) successful completion of two years (four semesters) of the same foreign language officially documented on a high school transcript; or B) successful completion (grade C or better) of two semesters of the same foreign language at a college or university officially documented on a college/university transcript; or C) education completed outside the United States as documented on an official foreign high school transcript that reflects a primary language other than English; D) or Successful completion of two foreign language equivalents through Advanced Placement (AP), College Level Examination Program (CLEP), International Baccalaureate (IB), Cambridge Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE), or UEXCEL exams.  One or more of these exams can be in combination with successful completion of college/university credit in the same foreign language subject area.  Official transcripts from a high school, college and/or university and/or official examination results must be submitted to the educational records office.
  7. For students wishing to pursue another bachelor’s degree, the student must complete a minimum of 15 additional credit hours beyond the first bachelor’s degree as well as any other degree requirements and graduation requirements listed above for the second program. 

SCF reserves the right to make changes in the regulations, offerings, requirements and any provisions announced in this Catalog at any time as circumstances require.

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