RCC to offer bachelor's in criminal justice

By: From staff reports | GoDanRiver.com
Published: February 18, 2009

An agreement between Rockingham Community College and Greensboro College allows students seeking a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice to earn it on the RCC campus. The college already offers a four year degree in elementary education.

“Criminal justice is one of the fastest growing programs at the two-year level,” RCC President Robert Keys said in a news release. “Therefore, offering it at a four-year level made sense.”

Those seeking the four-year degree will take general education and entry level criminal justice courses from RCC instructors, the release said. Upper level courses will be taught by Greensboro College and RCC instructors. These include kinesiology, ethics, court procedure, constitutional law, community policing, criminalistics and more.

“This agreement represents another great stride in bringing additional career options to the people of Rockingham County,” said Keys said. “The cooperative efforts of Greensboro College and Rockingham Community College are continuing to expand for the mutual benefit of both colleges, but mostly for the students wishing to pursue four-year degrees without the expense and inconvenience of leaving Rockingham County. We look forward to exploring additional cooperative programs in the future.”

GC President Craven Williams echoed the sentiment. “We are thrilled to have this continuing partnership with Rockingham Community College,” he said. “We hope more opportunities will be forthcoming for local citizens to get a four-year degree without leaving Rockingham County.”

Tuition for the third and fourth years will be comparable to that of state institutions and will be paid to Greensboro College.

“We feel that we have a number of current students and alumni who will benefit from this new program,” said Sandi Gann, RCC’s dean of business and technologies division. “We are delighted that our students will be able to continue their education in a familiar, local facility with small classes and individual attention.”

The four-year program will begin at RCC in August 2009.

For more information, call Anne Wade at 342-4261, ext. 2145.