GCC opened four new associate degree majors this academic year, allowing students to enroll in programs such as environmental conservation, human services, justice studies and a pathway for allied health students to transfer into a four-year program.

“We have a lot of great health and helping professions programs here — medical assisting, EMT, paramedic, etc. — but we’ve never had a transfer pathway that would allow allied health students to go into a four-year degree program,” Vice President of Academic Affairs April Parsons said. “Our faculty worked, especially in conjunction with [the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s School of Public Health & Health Sciences], to create a pathway that would prepare students to transfer.”

In spring 2025, the college will graduate students who opted to pursue its first-ever human services major, which originated from a common liberal arts focus. Parsons explained the human services major is tailored to students wishing to pursue a vast array of careers, such as entry-level counseling, drug and alcohol recovery support, and case management positions across fields.

“We have a certificate in drug and alcohol addiction support that students can work to acquire in conjunction with this,” Parsons added. “Any kind of human services agency that the state supports for families, some students can graduate and get entry-level jobs in those agencies now; whereas, others may go on to get a bachelor’s degree in social work or a counseling degree, depending on what their tracks will be.”

Meanwhile, the justice studies program branches off from GCC’s criminal justice studies program, broadening the field beyond law enforcement, according to Parsons.

“We wanted to build up a program that was more of a transfer pathway and a more holistic vision of the field of justice studies,” Parsons said. “That way students could not only train to be police officers, which is a valuable career, but also prepare for career transfers in political science, social work, social justice studies to become co-responders [or] work in other justice-related advocacy programs.”

The new environmental conservation major combines environmental science, biology, chemistry, math and economics with elective options in biology, chemistry, geology, math, astronomy, physics, meteorology and soil science.

“All of these programs were initiated by faculty members who saw needs for our students and directed the curriculum in a way to support those needs and support future student opportunity,” Parsons said. “The faculty here are incredibly responsive to student needs and setting students up for success.”