SHSU Signs Agreement With Weatherford College
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Joe Birmingham, left, and David Payne,
sign an agreement between Sam Houston State and Weatherford
College. It was the 11th such agreement between SHSU and
community colleges.The pupose of the agreements is to make
it easier for transfer students to attend SHSU.
--Photo by Linda Brooks Bagwell |
Sam Houston State University has extended its community college
agreement program to include Weatherford College, located some
30 miles west of Fort Worth.
While Weatherford College may seem a long way from SHSU, there
are typically 250 to 300 students attending SHSU with transfer
work from Weatherford.
David Payne, provost and vice president for academic affairs,
signed the agreement Wednesday with Weatherford president Joe
Birmingham.
Agreement features include online articulation, joint admission,
reverse transfer for the associate degree, and joint advising
(including the ability of Weatherford advisers to access Weatherford
transfer transcripts and degree plans directly off the SHSU system
via the Web).
It was a reunion of sorts for Payne and Birmingham. They worked
together in Kansas when Payne was at Emporia State and Birmingham
was at Labette Community College.
David Burris, who sets up the community college agreements,
said they allow students to transfer course work from SHSU back
to the community college to complete requirements for the
associate degree, should they leave the junior institution 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.
Another feature is that students will help in deciding what
classes to take before transferring. Burris said advisers at
Weatherford College will be able to access SHSU degree plans
to help students decide make those decisions.
“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.
With the joint admission agreement between the two schools,
students will be able to utilize facilities and programs offered
jointly by SHSU and Weatherford College. 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.
The agreements are part of SHSU's efforts to meet the state's
Closing the Gaps initiative to encourage more Texans go get college
degrees. Institutions with which SHSU has completed agreements
include Alvin Community College, Angelina College, Austin Community
College, Blinn College, Hill College, Houston Community College,
Lee College, Navarro College, North Harris Montgomery Community
College, and San Jacinto College.
—END—
SHSU Media Contact: Frank
Krystyniak
Weatherford CC Media Contact: Linda Brooks Bagwell
June 1, 2006
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