Program Description

Bachelor of Applied Science with a Major in Technology Management (B.A.S.)

See also:  Admissions & Graduation Requirements  |  Program of Study  |  Course Descriptions

The Bachelor of Applied Science (B.A.S.) degree program prepares graduates to move into supervisory positions in businesses and industry, retail environments, law offices, and travel or tourism related businesses.  Courses in management, marketing, and accounting help students blend their specific expertise with new technology skills. The curriculum combines experiential learning opportunities in the A.A.S. degree with vital topics such as using technology to enhance management, marketing, personnel relations, professionalism, and quality control.

Many individuals with Associate of Applied Technology (A.A.T.) and Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S.) degrees are interested in entrepreneurship.  By starting their own businesses, they expand the economic base of the community including many areas of Georgia with persistently high poverty levels.  The Bachelor of Applied Science degree program meets the University System of Georgia goals of expanding participation by increasing access, enhancing diversity, improving service to non-traditional students, and accelerating Georgia’s economic development by providing needed graduates. 

History:  Postsecondary occupational education, including A.A.S. degree programs, increased dramatically between 1960 and 1970.  According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, 43% of all associate degrees awarded in this decade were occupational in nature.  By 1980, according to the National Association of Community and Junior Colleges, this figure had risen to 62.5%.  The A.A.S. degree, or similar occupational degrees, had become the degree of choice of the majority of community, technical, and junior college graduates.

Gainesville State College has been a leader in developing joint programs with the Vocational Technical Colleges.  The first joint program, the Associate of Applied Science in Secretarial Science, was approved by Board of Regents Chancellor George L. Simpson in December of 1971.  This degree, offered cooperatively between Gainesville Junior College and Lanier Area Technical School, was so successful in meeting the educational and career needs of students, it was expanded to other institutions and programs. 

The State Board of Education and the Board of Regents formally approved an Associate of Applied Science Degree from GSC in the vocational area of study at Lanier Technical College in July 1976.  These programs were also approved to transfer to the University of Georgia in a Career Ladder Program in the Bachelor of Science in Education.  The Career Ladder program was discontinued by the University of Georgia in the 1990’s.  The Cooperative Associate of Applied Science Degree program was expanded to include 18 degree program areas from all of the State Board of Technical and Adult Education in June, 1989. 

Need for Occupational Education and Human Resource Development: There is an increased recognition of the importance of education as an integral component of our mobile economic society.  Increasingly, the ability to think, reason, compute, communicate and adapt to change are essential skills if one is to remain employable and cope with the expanding knowledge base.  Higher education includes human development in civic, consumer, environmental, and social responsibilities and provides the basic foundation for more advanced occupational goals.

The career educational requirements for many areas of technology management have increased. In many fields, a degree at the bachelor’s level is required for taking licensure examinations.  The Georgia Department of Labor estimates that 25% of all new jobs created will require a minimum of a Bachelor degree.  As reported in the 2000 Census, 20% of the population in Georgia currently holds a Bachelor’s degree.  This program will assist in filling this gap between the educational level of the labor force and the needs of the Georgia economy.

For more information, contact Katie Simmons (KSimmons@GSC.Edu). 

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