Aviation university teams up with SPJC

SPJC's partnership with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University means students will be able to earn bachelor's and master's degrees in aviation.

By EDIE GROSS

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 12, 2000

One of the country's oldest and most prestigious aviation schools is joining St. Petersburg Junior College in January to offer aviation- and aerospace-related degrees.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, which has campuses in Daytona Beach and Prescott, Ariz., will offer bachelor's degrees in professional aeronautics and management of technical operations through the College University Center at SPJC's Seminole campus. The university also will offer a master's in aeronautical science through SPJC's Clearwater campus.

Officials from both schools announced the partnership Wednesday at St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport, which has agreed to provide classrooms and hangar space for airplanes if needed, said SPJC president Carl Kuttler Jr.

"This is not just a St. Petersburg-Clearwater-Pinellas thing. This is for the west coast of Florida," Kuttler said. "There is a crying need for people with bachelor's and master's degrees in aviation."

Graduates of the program can go into fields ranging from airport management to aircraft manufacturing and maintenance, said Karen Shehi, associate dean for administration at Embry-Riddle.

"It's not just flying," she said. "It's much more than that."

The aviation courses, like many of the other programs offered through the 1-year-old College University Center, are geared toward non-traditional students -- those who have earned their associate's degree or have experience in the field.

For 30 years, Embry-Riddle has offered degree programs on satellite campuses for students unable to come to Daytona Beach or Prescott, Ariz. More recently, the school has begun offering Web-based courses, which is how classes in Clearwater will begin.

This is Embry-Riddle's first partnership with a Florida junior college, although it has worked with community colleges outside the state, Shehi said.

"To see the partnership you folks have built in Pinellas County between the business community and the educational community, it's an outstanding endeavor. This has to be one of the finest facilities I've ever seen," Shehi said of the College University Center. "We take it very seriously that not everyone can go to school during the traditional years and live at a campus. You have to bring education to the people."

SPJC and Embry-Riddle also plan to offer flying courses, but the details have not been worked out. SPJC offered a two-year degree in flight until four years ago, when the college decided it was too expensive to continue. Embry-Riddle, a private school with a long list of famous graduates, does not have the same kind of resource shortages, Kuttler said.

The College University Center, which opened in fall 1999, offers 22 bachelor's programs, seven master's programs and one doctoral degree program. The school already partners with two private schools, Saint Leo University and Eckerd College, as well as seven public schools: Florida State University, University of Central Florida, the University of Florida, Florida International University, Florida A&M University, Florida Gulf Coast University and the University of South Florida.

Embry-Riddle was started in 1925, 22 years after the historic flight of the Wright brothers. The school has more than 22,000 students worldwide, and some of its most well-known graduates are Susan Still, the second woman to pilot a space shuttle; Greg Feith, a senior investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board who examined the ValuJet Flight 592 crash in the Everglades; and Scott O'Grady, the Air Force pilot who was shot down over Bosnia in 1995 and survived six days by eating ants, drinking rainwater and skillfully eluding his would-be captors.

SPJC officials did not know Wednesday how much tuition for the aviation courses would be. But students enrolled in off-campus Embry-Riddle courses have paid up to $172 per credit for undergraduate courses and up to $450 per credit for graduate courses in the past.

The school will offer two information sessions next month for students interested in those courses.

"It just expands the opportunities that much more for the working professionals in this area as well as the traditional students," said Lars Hafner, SPJC's associate vice president in charge of the College University Center. "To bring a quality institution, and we're talking a world-renowned institution, to our partnership is just a phenomenal opportunity for residents of the Tampa Bay area."

To learn more

St. Petersburg Junior College has scheduled two information sessions for those interested in seeking aviation degrees through a program sponsored by the college and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. The first session will be Nov. 8 at SPJC's Seminole campus, 9200 113th St. N. The second will be Nov. 9 at the Clearwater campus, 2465 Drew St. Both sessions are from 5 to 7:30 p.m. For more information, call SPJC's College University Center at 341-3104.

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