West Virginia University at Parkersburg serves as the state's only public community college accredited to offer bachelor's degrees. The degree offerings include business administration, bachelor of arts in elementary education and bachelor of applied technology. Students also earn certificates and associate's degrees in such fields as pharmacy technology, home health, paramedic practice, criminal justice, game and other computer-related design, journalism and machinery. West Virginia University at Parkersburg stands as the Mountaineer State's fourth largest institution of post-high school education and its largest community college.
Founded in 1888, Mountain State College states, "We build careers." Programs prepare students for such work as accounting and management, transcribing medical notes and records, assisting attorneys with preparing legal documents and interviewing clients and diagnosing computer issues. The college offers a Dependency Disorders Technology program that prepares students to deal with addictions under professional supervision and work in hospitals, rehabilitation centers, shelters and drug-treatment facilities.
National College has 26 campuses across six states in the Midwest and Southeast United States. The Parkersburg location has laboratory instruction in medical and information systems, keeping pace with the Parkersburg area's economic expansion beyond oil and gas to health care and chemical compounds. National College also provides Parkersburg students with bachelor's degrees in business administration and health care management; associate's degrees in business administration accounting and management, information systems, medical assistance and office technology; and diplomas in business, medical and technological fields.
As an arm of Spreading Truth Ministries, Parkersburg Bible College provides doctorate, master's, bachelor's and associate's degrees. Fields of study consist of theology, Christian counseling, Christian education, religious administration and divinity. As basic courses, the college offers doctrine, monotheism (the belief in one deity), Jewish studies, ministerial ethics, Church history and government, sociology and dispensations, or periods of time examined in relation to a plan or purpose of God. The Book of Romans and the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Numbers) are included in the core curriculum.
Churches of Christ members chartered Ohio Valley University in 1958. The school, located in nearby Vienna, proclaims as its mission the integration of biblical faith, serving God and people and higher education. Bachelor degrees are offered in business, education, sports management, criminal justice, journalism, psychology, the Bible and ministry. The psychology major consists of pre-professional courses, Christian counseling and human services. Ohio Valley University collaborates with West Virginia University at Parkersburg to offer an Associate of Applied Science in nursing. Ohio Valley University's associate's programs also include pre-professional, pre-dental and pre-medical.