Listen to this article:

This interview has been edited for time

The Community College of Aurora (CCA) will soon offer a Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS) in Behavioral Health, which will officially become the first bachelor’s degree offered by the institution. In contrast to a traditional community college degree or credential, this option will give students an opportunity to complete their four-year degree in one location, as opposed to having to transfer to a four-year university or move directly into the workforce. School leaders say this is a unique opportunity that will continue CCA’s mission of providing its students with the potential for social and economic mobility by filling essential roles in Colorado’s workforce. CCA’s Mike Mestas sat down with the Dean of Academic Success of Online and Blended Learning, Dr. Jenn Dale who played a pivotal role in bringing this program to CCA. Read a transcript of the interview below, and click the play button to hear the interview. 

Tell me about the Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Behavioral Health and what it will offer to students.

The BAS in Behavioral Health is CCA’s Bachelor of Applied Science degree, and we are so excited about this program. It is the final step of a fully stackable credential pathway from certificate through AAS, and now the BAS. Students will have the opportunity to take a variety of classes, including general education credits and career and technical education credits, ensuring that it’s truly a skill-building degree that is directly aligned to industry need and those job positions, as well as contributing to the development of the field in Colorado.

Coursework will include psychology courses, science courses, and of course, behavioral health courses focusing on a variety of critical components of the field, such as understanding trauma and PTSD, whole person care, case management, crisis intervention, and therapeutic communication skills, amongst many others. The BAS will also build on the experiential learning from the AAS and include practicum and internship hours, making it one of the first clinical bachelor’s degrees where students will have the opportunity to work directly with clients earlier than they typically have, building that skillset and capacity earlier on.

Having said that, what does this mean for CCA to offer a bachelor’s degree? And what does that say about the school’s growth and potential offerings?

I think it says a lot about how we serve our students and our community. In this pathway, students will no longer have to transfer to a different school for their bachelor’s. That would be further from home, with a higher cost and scheduling options that don’t meet their needs. CCA being able to offer a bachelor’s level in this field allows students to stay at the college they’re currently enrolled in, that they know they’re successful in, and within the community they live. It also welcomes new students who didn’t realize they could get a bachelor’s degree here within their own community. This new BAS reflects a strong commitment to social and economic mobility.

What can someone who earns a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Behavioral Health expect out of college when they start their career?

So what they can expect with the BAS in Behavioral Health is a degree designed with our students in mind. They will have taken coursework developed in collaboration with industry partners, taught by practitioners within the field, gain exceptional behavioral health skills, build industry connections, and get experience out in the field as part of their curriculum. When they complete this BAS, they’ll be able to either move up if they’re already in the field or enter the field at a mid-level position. Students can expect a degree that is directly aligned to the industry needs and truly impacts their growth opportunities within the field.

Did you lead the effort to get this bachelor’s degree offered at CCA? And what sort of work does it take to get a program like this offered at a community college?

Yes, I joined the work almost three years ago when I was the Behavioral Sciences department chair here at CCA. There was actually a systemwide work group through CCCS in partnership with Education Design Lab, in which we were exploring the creation of micro-credentials or entry-level certificates in Behavioral Health. EDL helped that CCCS group of seven initial schools develop those and then have continued to be an essential partner as we built out the statewide curriculum for the entire program, from those micro-credentials, certificates, to the AAS, and now the BAS.

Partway through that, I was brought on by the system office as a lead subject matter expert to lead the development of the full statewide academic pathway and curriculum from those certificates through the BAS. And this was definitely done in collaboration with a wonderful curriculum design team, which includes members from six different schools within the system, including CCA and our own Christina Ciarlo, who is the department chair for Behavioral Health here.

There have also been critical system-level staff as well. And of course, CCA and our amazing executive leadership team who have been absolute champions of the program since that initial phase of the project. And we are very proud that CCA is one of the four schools offering the BAS as of Fall ’25. I would say that the work it takes to get a program like this done includes statewide collaboration, funding, support, and innovation.

Senate Bill 22-181 was passed during the time we were building the entry-level certificates, which allowed for funding and actually called for a stackable educational pathway in Behavioral Health by CCCS to ensure that we are increasing access to care across the state, especially in areas that are underserved in Behavioral Health. This fueled the project and curriculum development in partnership not only with industry partners, but also our state regulatory agencies.

And CCA is such an innovative institution. So that is what allowed me to participate in the group willing to truly rethink the pathway into this field. Historically, the pathway is long. It’s typically six years of education full time, plus two years of hour accrual so that you can be licensed. So it is a long and expensive traditional pathway. And while that pathway is critical, we need those master’s level trained clinicians. This new pathway can come alongside and help reshape how we do behavioral health so that not all aspects of care are put on those master’s level clinicians, to say, hey, we’ve got a pathway for students to become entry-level, mid-level,  and master’s level practitioners that could create a behavioral health care team with different skill sets, different levels of care, and different levels of access for our Colorado residents.

Thank you, Dr. Dale, I appreciate you giving me all this information. I’m sure our students are going to look forward to this program when it starts. Thank you very much. I appreciate your time.

To learn more about CCA and all of its programs, click HERE.