SHSU/Alvin Community College Sign Agreement

David Payne, Sam Houston State University provost, right, and A. Rodney Allbright, left, president of Alvin Community College, signed an agreement recently that will provide services beneficial to students of both schools. Also present for the signing were Shirley Brothers, left center, a member of ACC's board of trustees, and Glenda Dawson, right center, a distinguished alum of SHSU who represents the Alvin area in the state legislature. Features of the agreement include joint admission, reverse transfer, and online articulation agreements. Similar agreements have been signed with North Harris, Montgomery, Blinn, Angelina, Navarro and Houston community colleges.

By Matt Pederson/Staff Writer
The Huntsville Item

Sam Houston State University and Alvin Community College have signed an agreement to make it easier for students to carry class hours between the two learning institutions.

The articulation agreements between SHSU and ACC will allow students to transfer a significant amount of course work completed for the associate degree at the community college to the bachelor's degree at SHSU.

“The community college's associate degree is typically around 60-66 hours,” SHSU articulation coordinator David Burris said. “What we have done is put down deals, and we tailor them by school so that students can properly transfer, from an associates degree, up to 60 hours.”

The two schools also came to an agreement on reverse transfer, which will allow students to transfer course work from SHSU to ACC to complete some requirements for the associate degree, should they leave ACC before that degree is completed.

“If a student leaves the community college before they reach (their associate degree), which is the most frequent thing, we're making it possible for them to transfer work from Sam Houston back and count it towards the degree, so that they can still get their associate's degree in addition to the bachelor's degree,” Burris said.

Students will not have to work by themselves when they decide to transfer. Burris said advisers at ACC will be able to access SHSU degree plans to help the students decide which classes to take after switching colleges.

“They can play with a degree plan program that dumps the courses they have taken into the degree plan program and it shows them where they would stand in specific degree plans,” Burris said. “In addition to that, we've got a deal where if they are in the joint admissions program, their advisor at the community college can pull their information up.”

With the joint admission agreement between the two schools, students will be able to utilize facilities and programs offered jointly by SHSU and ACC. Students will now be able to attend both schools simultaneously, get an SHSU picture ID, have student access to SHSU sporting events and access to SHSU computers, including an SHSU e-mail account.

Once accepted, students will have to meet all admission requirements for both institutions to retain their eligibility.

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Matt Pederson can be reached at 936.295.5407 ext. 3023 or by e-mail at mpederson@itemonline.com

SHSU Media Contact: Frank Krystyniak
Nov. 28, 2005
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