From funeral services to ambulance operators, Alabama’s community colleges have a variety of programs to fit industry’s needs
Venus Smith is the program coordinator for the Funeral Service Education Program at Jefferson State Community College. Photo by Joe De Sciose.
By Gail Allyn Short – April 1, 2025
Alabama’s community colleges provide an affordable education and workforce development that prepares students for in-demand careers, from accounting, nursing and cosmetology to computer information systems and manufacturing.
Besides these traditional fields, community colleges also offer some innovative and even surprising courses of study.
Here are details about just a few.
Funeral Services
At Jefferson State Community College in Birmingham, a cohort of students are learning how to care for the dead and those in mourning.
The Funeral Service Education Program curriculum at Jefferson State includes the mortuary sciences, law and ethics, the social science of grief and loss, service management, embalming, restorative arts and thanotochemistry, which is a basic study of inorganic, organic, biological and embalming chemistry.
Students also are required to complete embalming and restorative arts labs and an apprenticeship at a funeral home in the state where they want to practice, says Venus Smith, program coordinator for the Funeral Service Education Program at Jefferson State Community College.
“We want students to work in funeral homes while they’re going to school so they can gain hands-on experience and hopefully guarantee themselves a job once they get through school,” Smith says.
Students who complete three consecutive semesters can earn a non-accredited, 27-hour certificate or a 30-hour certificate if they live in states that require more hours of study for working in funeral homes.
But students desiring to become licensed funeral directors or licensed embalmers must complete four consecutive semesters to earn an associate of applied science degree in funeral service education.
Afterward, students have two choices. They can pass the National Board Exam with the International Conference of Funeral Service Examining Boards and become licensed to practice in Alabama and in other states or pass the state exam to practice only in Alabama.
Jefferson State funeral services students gather in the lab with program director Venus Smith (fourth from left) and instructors Randy Anderson (white shirt) and Dr. Jzyk Ennis (vest).
Derek Glenn, from DeFuniak Springs, Florida, says his father owns a funeral home in his hometown, and for years, he often pitched in to help.
But after working funerals, earning a Master of Divinity degree and spending several years in ministry, Glenn says he enrolled in Jefferson State’s funeral services program to earn a degree and join his father’s business full time.
“I would say the chemistry class has been the most challenging for me personally,” says Glenn, “just because my background is in theology. We never had to cover anything in that realm, so, it was just kind of new.”
But as a remote student, Glenn says he was able to complete his apprenticeship at his family’s funeral home.
“In a real sense, the funeral industry is a form of ministry where we can serve people in times of need, where they’re at a low spot, we can come in and take care of things in a professional way.”
Continue to read the full Business Alabama article here.
