PORT TOWNSEND — Peninsula College’s new four-year bachelor’s degree program in applied management is set to launch in the fall 2007 quarter to meet business owner and student needs, the college’s president said Monday.

“This is really about serving the people that live in our community,” said Tom Keegan, calling the Bachelor of Applied Science “a work-force type of degree.”

Keegan addressed about 30 people attending Monday’s Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce luncheon at Fort Worden State Park Commons.

Although the four-year degree program starts on the Port Angeles campus, Keegan said the second year of the program would use interactive video in Port Townsend to bring the classroom to students in Jefferson County.

The college president explained that the bachelor’s degree in applied management is intended to build on an existing associate degree, adding a junior and senior year to complete the four-year program.

Peninsula employers

“Our goal is to get them employed on the Olympic Peninsula,” Keegan said of the degree developed with the help of 200 Peninsula employers.

Many of those employers, Keegan said, are committed to use Peninsula College four-year graduates after the first ones complete the applied management program in 2009.

He told the chamber audience that between 30 and 35 students are expected to enroll in the first four-year class, with more expected subsequently.

Students in the program are intended to be educated for employment in front-line or middle-management positions with Peninsula employers, he said.