Porterville College may soon be home to a four-year degree program in a specific field — with an accompanying teaching credential thrown in as a bonus.

College officials on Thursday announced that a survey targeting students and community members is now taking place to gauge their interest in a locally available baccalaureate program.

The better the response to the survey, college officials said, the greater the likelihood of establishing a four-year program at PC beginning as early as next year.

Community response to the proposed baccalaureate program at PC was positive.

“Isn’t that awesome?” Donnette Silva Carter, president and CEO of the Porterville Chamber of Commerce, asked while discussing the college’s plans. “It’s exciting.”

“There’re a lot of good things happening in Porterville on the horizon.”

Carter said the city and the chamber have been working for several years with a coalition of interests trying to bring expanded opportunities for higher education to the South County.

“There’s been something of a history associated with a baccalaureate program,” Porterville City Manager John Longley said.

The initial plan included offering baccalaureate degrees at PC under direct supervision by a four-year institution, similar to programs found in other parts of the country, Longley said.

“That was sort of DOA at the Legislature,” he said.

A year later, Assemblyman Bill Maze, R-Visalia, built a coalition around proposed legislation thatÂ’s similar but more expansive than whatÂ’s on the ground today, Longley said, and gained strong support in the state Assembly. Longley said support in the state Senate, though, was not nearly as strong as that in the lower house of the Legislature.

The compromise legislation allowed for the type of planning thatÂ’s taking place today at PC.

Carter said the distance to a four-year college — the closest are in Bakersfield and Fresno — has been a point of concern among area residents for quite some time, with the time and driving requirements to live here and attend college in either location a hardship on many people.

“So if you can make that available right in your backyard, we anticipate that more people will take advantage of the opportunity to get a higher education,” Carter said. “Seeing the opportunity actually come to fruition in Porterville is exciting for our residents.”

Longley credits PC President Rosa Carlson for taking the initiative to get the ball rolling on a baccalaureate program at PC.

“It is a vital item, we believe, because you have to develop the skill sets in your workforce to upgrade the job opportunities in a community,” he said.

The planning process, Longley said, is a step in the right direction, one of several that are necessary to improve the education and skills available to employers and to enhance local employment opportunities. In that light, he said the work being done now by college officials is encouraging.

“It’s that dedication, to me, that’s the real reassuring thing,” he said.

AB 1280, authored by Maze and signed into law Oct. 4, 2005 by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, authorized two annual award grants to a collaborative, composed of at least one community college and at least one baccalaureate degree-granting institution, for the purpose of offering a baccalaureate degree.

The legislation gave preference to areas with the lowest college attendance rates and the lowest rates of earning baccalaureate degrees. The lowest such areas at the time included Tulare and Kings counties.

Porterville College applied for a grant, and received funding. The College of the Sequoias in Visalia also applied for and received funding.

Steve Schultz, vice president for student affairs at PC, announced the latest developments this week to the college community. Now word is spreading to the community at-large.

Porterville College and California State University, Bakersfield have been working together for several months on planning, developing and offering a baccalaureate degree on the PC campus, Monte Moore, the collegeÂ’s spokesman, said Thursday in a prepared release.

The two colleges have been working toward the implementation of a child, adolescent, and family studies degree through CSUB, with all courses being offered on the PC campus, Moore said.

The degree program would also allow students to complete their K-6 teaching credential in addition to the degree in the child development field.

As part of the planning process, PC officials are reaching out to the community — both on and off campus — to gather input that could lead to a successful four-year degree program being offered at the local level.

“The more students who show interest,” Moore said in the release, “the better chances the degree and credential program will be offered.”

Tentative plans include implementing the degree program starting in fall 2008. Schultz said this would fulfill the requests over many years to be able to get a baccalaureate degree without having to leave Porterville.

Anyone interested in offering their input is asked visit the collegeÂ’s Web site at and complete the survey.

For more information about the proposed baccalaureate program, call 791-2218.

Contact The Recorder newsroom at 784-5000, Ext. 1040, or gfaison@portervillerecorder.com.