See list of Department Chairs on the Personnel page.
Program Description
The AAS Degree prepares you to provide respiratory therapy to patients and educate them in their continuing care. In our off-campus scheduled clinical hours, you will provide respiratory therapy for patients under the supervision of preceptor or clinical instructor who is a licensed and credentialed respiratory therapist.
A respiratory therapist can provide care to patients by gathering patient data, performing a physical assessment, and making a diagnostic clinical treatment plan, which can include oxygen therapy, airway clearance therapy, aerosol therapy, medication delivery, airway management, arterial blood sampling, and most importantly invasive and non-invasive mechanical ventilation.
Because of the high level of personal and profession responsibility required of a respiratory therapist, you must have integrity, maturity, individual motivation, good interpersonal skills, excellent manual dexterity, and a solid science and general studies academic background to be successful in this program. We are firmly committed to fostering your intellectual growth and to developing well-qualified respiratory therapists with high professional standards and ethics.
The Respiratory Therapy program has a selective admissions process. The link for the online program application and admission requirements are posted on the Respiratory Therapy webpage now—June 1. All Health & Public Safety programs have essential functions to help you be successful in the program and career.
Note: You must undergo a background check and drug screen before we can officially admit you into the program. A felony, loss of license, administrative disciplinary proceeding for negligence, malpractice, recklessness, or willful or intentional misconduct may prohibit entrance into the program and/or eligibility to sit for licensure exams.