Area colleges getting bigger to feed call for more science

By Venice Buhain | The Olympian • Published August 06, 2007

“I think I’m the only one — or maybe there’s one other student — who is taking the class just out of interest,” she said. “Everyone else is taking it as part of a vocational program.”

She said the early morning summer class was full — she was only able to enroll in the summer laboratory program after someone else dropped their registration.

At Evergreen

Evergreen’s renovation of the Lab I building will provide new laboratories, including four for microscopy and two for biology, which also benefit health sciences, school spokesman Todd Sprague said.

He said an increasing percentage of programs at Evergreen, which does not have traditional majors, incorporate science, putting demand on the science facilities. About 30 percent of programs in 2001-02 incorporated math or science. In 2005-06, the most recent figure available, 53 percent of programs incorporated math or science.

While Evergreen students preparing for medical school will be able to benefit from the new space, other students interested in fields such as nutrition, midwifery and athletic training also need access to lab and science classes, he said.

Students aiming for careers in teaching also are driving up the demand because of an increasing emphasis on science at the elementary, middle and high school levels, Saint Martin’s University spokeswoman Anne Kirske said.

“There’s a renewed interest in teaching the sciences,” she said.

‘High demand’

In the Washington Learns report, which was released last November after a committee’s examination of the state’s education needs, the committee said science — and health-related certificates and degrees —would lead to careers in “high demand” and recommended that the state help colleges expand such offerings.

The report also recommended increased and improved science instruction for students as young as preschool, to prepare them for upper level science classes that will prepare them for science, technology and medical careers.

Fast-growing careers

A recent analysis by the state’s Employment Security Department showed that nursing and computer science will be among the fastest-growing jobs in the state in the next few years. That projection is based on data about the growth and aging of the population, advancing technology and the population’s needs, and national trends, said department spokeswoman Caitlin Cormier.

Student demand also has driven an increase in college resources statewide.

In the past six years, the state has funded 11 new science buildings or additions at technical and community colleges statewide, and there are five or six more scheduled in the next two years.

“Student demand is driving a lot of it,” said Charles Earl, executive director of the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges. “It’s a policy priority for the state, and math and science is required in the higher-level science and in the health care professions.”

There also have been local efforts with local medical facilities and educators to increase resources for training health care professionals, to ensure that there are enough qualified workers to meet future demand, said Lisa Moylan, chief nursing officer at Capital Medical Center, which has an associated nursing degree program with South Puget Sound Community College.

“It’s imperative that we address the shortages of educational opportunities for training new healthcare professionals with programs like the ADN program at South Puget Sound Community College,” she said in a prepared statement. “These are genuine concerns and effect the future provision of health care in the community.”

Venice Buhain covers education for The Olympian. She can be reached at 360-754-5445 or vbuhain@theolympian.com.