4-year biotech degree wins key OK

Utah college students could soon have the option to earn a bachelor's degree in biotechnology in an effort to supply a growing demand for biotech workers in a state where life sciences are seen as a keystone to economic development.

The Utah Technology Commission unanimously gave a favorable recommendation Wednesday to creating a four-year biotech program at Utah Valley State College that students could pursue there or at Salt Lake Community College.

No school in Utah currently offers a bachelor's degree in biotechnology, although Salt Lake Community College offers a two-year associate's degree and Utah State University offers a concentration in biotechnology.

The Governor's Office of Economic Development is promoting biotechnology — an applied biological science often used by pharmaceutical companies — as part of its economic development plan.

"This (bachelor's) program is important for us in relation to Utah industry and our branding for this state," said Martin Frey, business managing director for the governor's office.

The average biotech worker in the United States makes $73,000 a year, and Utah needs to stay competitive with other states spending hundreds of millions of dollars courting biotech industries, said Ned Weinshenker, director of Utah's life sciences economic cluster. An economic cluster is a group of similar industries that collaborate with each other, government and educators to expand their type of business.

About 20 biotechnology companies already employ about 13,700 Utahns, according to the Economic Development Corporation of Utah. Several hundred more are employed by venture capital firms in the biotech field.

In the next few years those companies are going to need a lot more workers, said Tami Goetz, SLCC's biotechnology director.

Merit Medical technical training manager Milton Witt wrote Goetz a letter saying he expects his company to hire 300 to 500 workers in the next three to five years. Goetz received similar letters from BD Medical Systems and Myriad Genetics. Most of her two-year program students become lab technicians, but companies and students are asking to have more lab experience and business skills that could be acquired in a four-year program, she said.

Goetz said by creating four-year programs at Salt Lake Community College and Utah Valley State, about 240 students would be enrolled within the next five years.