Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences (BAAS)

All Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences tracks are designed to seamlessly incorporate an associate degree and/or vocational-technical credit from an accredited institution of higher learning into a bachelor’s degree. The Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences (BAAS) degree program at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC) is a unique program that offers students the opportunity to apply up to 42 vocational or technical credits towards the completion of a bachelor’s degree. The program tracks are designed to meet the needs of students in the region with vocational-technical experience who seek to expand their knowledge, skills, and career opportunities in a variety of fields. With 8 different tracks to choose from, students are able to tailor their degree to meet their career goals.

Bachelor of Applied Arts & Sciences

The Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences (BAAS) degree program at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC) is a unique program that offers students the opportunity to apply up to 42 vocational or technical credits towards the completion of a bachelor’s degree.

The BAAS Applied Leadership degree assists students with identifying leadership traits on an individual basis to leadership of an organization. In this degree, students will not only examine different styles of leadership, but also the far-reaching implications leadership can have on organizations, communities and regions. They will also learn how leadership styles can uniquely impact a crisis. Students will gain hands-on practical experience in addition to classroom learning and will work with community agencies to solve real life problems. Students will learn how to present their classroom-based knowledge to the community through a variety of modalities, including written, oral and digital.

Applied Leadership Course Rotations

The Community and Mental Health track is designed for those students who wish to seek entry level positions in social service agencies or in child or elderly care facilities. It is also designed for those hoping to further their education in graduate school, as students wishing to provide mental health counseling in the state of Texas must be licensed. Graduate schools will provide the coursework, internship, and practicum opportunities necessary for licensure.

For those students who wish to work as an Adult Protective Service Worker, a Child Care Licensing Inspector or a Residential Child Care Licensing Inspector, a bachelor’s degree is required. A bachelor’s degree meets one of the minimum education requirements for a Child Protective Service worker.

Students who would like to work as a Nursing Facility Administrator must have at least a bachelor’s degree in any subject, plus 15 hours in long term care administration or equivalent.

The BAAS Community and Mental Health degree allows students to not only earn a bachelor’s degree, but also has several electives available for students, which can be used to tailor the degree to meet the needs of a specific career, graduate school or agency.

Community Mental Health Course Rotations

The BAAS Criminal Justice track is designed for those students who wish to work in law enforcement, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice or Texas State Parks and Wildlife. It also provides a solid foundation for students who are interested in pursuing a further degree in a law related area.

In order to be a police officer in Texas, you do not need to have a bachelor’s degree; however, many of the police departments require their officers to have a minimum of 45-60 college credit hours in order to qualify for entry level position. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, jobs for police and sheriffs in Texas are projected to grow by 16% over the next 5 years.

Students who hope to work for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice as a Parole Officer and those students interested in a career as a Game Warden with Texas State Parks and Wildlife must have a bachelor’s degree.

Criminal Justice Course Rotations

The BAAS Early Childhood Education track is designed for students who are, or wish to become, child-care providers and seek additional qualifications. In the state of Texas, it is not necessary to hold a bachelor’s degree to be child-care worker in a day care setting. However, if you wish to provide care for more than 6 children in your home, or if you wish to be a Director of a licensed child care center, one of the minimal education requirements is a bachelor’s degree with 12 college credit hours in child development and 6 college credit hours in management. The BAAS Early Childhood Education track provides the opportunity to not only receive a bachelor’s degree and fulfill the child development requirement, but it has enough room in electives that a student can easily add in the management courses as well. In addition, all licensed child-care centers must provide their workers with annual professional development in child growth and development, age appropriate curriculum, and serving children with special needs. With a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education, students can explore becoming a trainer and leading workshops for child-care centers.

The Environmental and Occupational Safety/Emergency Response track prepares students who plan to work as environmental safety officers, management of workplace safety issues, or in an emergency response field. Students who wish to work for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality should be aware that a large majority of their jobs require a bachelor’s degree. For those who plan to move directly into the oilfields or refinery work after earning their bachelor’s, this track provides students with professional certifications meeting industry standards.

In ESCI 4370, students receive 4 professional certifications (ICS 100, ICS 700, HAZWOPER, and HAZWOPER Supervisor.) The course satisfies the 40-hour off-site employee training requirements for U.S. OSHA Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) regulations as specified in 29 CFR 1910.120 as well as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA) and Section 126 of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA). This course qualifies students to support, and supervise, emergency response operations at the local, state, and federal level.

Students receive 3 professional certifications in ESCI 4430 (ICS 100, ICS 700, (or ICS 200 and 800)) in addition to the 40-hour training HAZWOPER for Oil Spill Response. The course meets the off-site training requirements for U.S. OSHA Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) regulations as specified in 29 CFR 1910.120 and qualifies students to support oil spill response operations at the local, state, and federal level.

Environmental and Occupational Safety/Emergency Response Course Rotations

The BAAS Information Technology track provides students with a broad understanding of basic computer languages, systems, software and hardware, giving them a firm foundation for a variety of careers such as personal computer technician, network administrator, database manager, information security technician, and computer technology manager within commercial, industrial, educational and government organizations.

The BAAS Technical Communication track is designed for students who seek preparation for careers that demand excellent communication skills such as a working as an editor, writing technical manuals for companies, providing text for social media pages, or promoting a company’s message. The written word continues to be prevalent in today’s society. There are 4.1 billion Internet users in the world today, with over 5 billion Google searches a day. While print newspapers continue to decline, digital news is on the rise; 1 in 5 readers turn to social media for their news rather than an online version of a traditional newspaper and there are approximately 2.77 billion people using social media.

The BAAS Legal Studies track is designed for students who seek advancement in private law firms, federal or state governmental agencies, legal departments or corporations, banks, insurance companies, mortgage companies, law libraries, legal services/legal aid offices, and special interest groups or associations.

While it’s true that in Texas a paralegal does not need to have a bachelor’s degree, the State Bar of Texas recommends that attorneys hire paralegals who meet certain educational requirements, one of which is holding a bachelor’s degree in any subject area. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics reports that Texas has the 4th highest employment level of paralegals and legal assistants in the United States.

Admission:

Students must meet the regular admission standards for Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi; for Admission requirements please see https://admissions.tamucc.edu/. In addition, students must have successfully completed at least 3 credit hours of vocational-technical training to be admitted into the BAAS program. Students can transfer in up to 42 hours of vocational-technical credit. Students using vocational-technical credit to meet either credit hour or gpa requirements for admission, and do not meet admission standards any other way, will not be allowed to change their major for one full year after admittance. Students who wish to graduate with honors must have completed at least 45 undergraduate semester hours at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.

If you would like to apply, please:

Submit an application to the university by going to https://www.applytexas.org/adappc/gen/c_start.WBX.

Select “Applied Science” as your major.

Send transcripts from all colleges you have previously attended to:

Office of Recruitment and Admissions
6300 Ocean Drive, Unit 5774
Corpus Christi, Texas 78412-5774

You can check the status of your application: https://goapplytexas.org/

Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences (BAAS)

Bachelor of Applied Arts & Sciences

Applied Leadership

Community Mental Health

Criminal Justice

Early Childhood Education

Environmental and Occupational Safety / Emergency Response

Information Technology

Technical Communication

Legal Studies

Admission:

Program Contact Information:

Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences (BAAS)