Butler County Community College’s new health care science associate degree program is now the college’s third highest program in enrollment.

The 60-credit program allows students to transfer to a selective-admission bachelor’s degree program in a health care profession at a four-year college or university.

They can also be considered for selective-admission career programs at BC3 in medical assistant; nursing, R.N.; physical therapist assistant; or in technical trades-massage therapy management option.

“This provides a strong foundation to prepare students for a health care profession, and it has good transferability,” said Dr. Patty Annear, dean of the college’s Shaffer School of Nursing and Allied Health.

The curriculum includes many courses required in BC3 selective-admission career programs in medical assistant; nursing, R.N.; physical therapist assistant; or in technical trades-massage therapy management option.

The college’s new program also includes courses in human growth and development, medical law and ethics and principles of nutrition.

The program “responds to the needs of the community in that we are providing the foundation for those health care careers that are so abundant in the area,” Annear said.