The Associate of Applied Science degree in Histotechnology prepares students for careers as Histotechnicians. This program includes a combination of both basic prerequisite and technical courses. In the technical portion, students will learn to prepare tissue, blood, and fluid samples for histologists or pathologists to examine under a microscope, and look for signs of abnormality or disease. The program offers two formats: a face-to-face program for students meeting pre-requisite requirements, and an online option for students meeting pre-requisites and currently working in a histopathology laboratory. The courses comprising the technical portion will be taken in Fort Worth at the Richard C. Schaffer Educational Building for the face-to-face program and online for the online option. Clinical experiences are completed at affiliated clinical hospital sites.

Jump Right In

Acceptance to the HT program is on a competitive basis. Students must successfully complete prerequisites prior to entering the technical portion of the program. Students interested in completing the online option should be currently employed in a histopathology laboratory or have access to training in a histopathology laboratory through their employer.

After successful program completion, students will be eligible to take the histotechnician exam, which is administered by the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) Board of Registry. Upon passing the exam, students will be ready to start their career as a certified Histotechnician.

Designed With You in Mind

Our department faculty members are certified Histotechnologists with advanced degrees and/or specialty certifications and have various clinical experiences that offer a diverse academic presentation. Additionally, our staff is assisted by pathologists and medical laboratory scientists from several affiliated clinical laboratories.

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Not what you were looking for? Tarleton State University offers over 100 different degrees and certifications that may be of interest to you, including:

Plan Your Future

Career Opportunities

HT graduates are employed in numerous hospital and reference laboratory locations across the North Texas region, throughout Texas, and the nation. Graduates are frequently employed by their clinical practicum affiliate such as:

Baylor Medical Centers across the north Texas region
Texas Health Resources hospitals
HCA hospitals
JPS Health Network
Parkland County hospital facilities

As well as numerous clinical and reference sites in Austin, and much more!

Get Certified

Our Histotechnology program has an 84% completion rate. Students who complete the histotechnology program have a 96% first-time pass rate on the Histotechnology National Board of Registry exam administered by the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP). Our program is fully accredited by the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences (NAACLS). 98% of our graduates find employment in histotechnology laboratories within six months of graduation.

Student talking to an employer at a job fair.

Career Services

Career Services offers a variety of professional development opportunities that can translate into careers. A few of these programs include:

Resume assistance
Handshake
Job fairs
Mock interviews

And much more!

Coursework Outline

Prerequisites

Class	Number	Class Name
BIOL	2401 or 2402	A & P I or A & P II
HPTC	3350	Microbiology for Allied Health Professions
CHEM	1407	Fundamentals of Chemistry
PYSC	2301	General Psychology
ENGL	1301	Composition I
MATH	1314 or 1332	College Algebra or Contemporary Mathematics
		Humanities or Fine Arts Elective

Required Histotechnology Courses

Class	Number	Class Name
HLAB	2182	Introduction to Medical Laboratory Sciences
HLAB	2285	Capstone Cases and Review
HLAB	2364	Immunohistochemistry & Advanced Techniques
HLAB	2335	Histotechnology III
HLAB	2414	Introduction to Histotechnology
HLAB	2415	Histotechnology I
HLAB	2424	Functional Histology II
HLAB	2425	Histotechnology II
HLAB	2495	Clinical Histotechnology I
HLAB	2496	Clinical Histotechnology II
HLAB	2497	Clinical Histotechnology III

For more information on course, please refer to the university catalog.

Please note that all required Histotechnology courses (37 credit hours) will be taken at the Fort Worth campus.

Facilities and Features

Affiliates

Located in the central hospital district of Fort Worth, the department has current affiliations with hospitals such as:

Baylor Scott & White All Saint’s Hospital
Baylor University Medical Center
Cook Children’s Medical Center
Medical City Plano
Medical City Fort Worth
UT Southwestern Medical Center
Texas Health Resources: DFW Metroplex and surrounding areas
Veterans Affairs Hospital, Dallas
Several private reference laboratories in the DFW Metroplex

Facilities

The Richard C. Schaffer Educational Building, located in the central hospital district in Fort Worth, consists of three lecture rooms, six laboratories, a computer lab, and a library. Laboratories housed in the Schaffer Building include:

Hematology, hemostasis and urinalysis/body fluids
Chemistry
Histology
Immunohematology and immunology/serology
Microbiology/parasitology /mycology
Molecular diagnostics: Amplification, pre-amplification/nucleic acid extraction, NGS
Protein laboratory: Blotting techniques

Consortium Colleges

Colleges from which prerequisites courses are currently being accepted from include:

Central Texas College
Cisco Junior College
El Central College
Grayson County College
Hill College
McLennan Community College
Navarro College
North Central Texas College
Vernon College
Tarrant County College
Temple College
Weatherford College

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A.A.S. in Histotechnology

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