Thanks to a recently established agreement with East Tennessee State University, Southwestern Community College students who earn an associate degree have a plethora of new academic options to explore.
The agreement, which was signed by officials from both institutions last month on Southwestern’s Jackson Campus, allows SCC graduates to pursue 14 degree pathways at ETSU. The articulation agreement ensures an efficient transfer of credits from Southwestern to East Tennessee.
“What we have done here is mapped out the coursework that (students) take for two years at Southwestern Community College,” said Jill Leroy-Frazier, Chair of the Division of Cross-Disciplinary Studies at ETSU. “At the end of those two years, they’ll have earned about 67 to 69 credit hours toward that associate degree. And when they come to ETSU, they can apply most – if not all – of those credit hours toward the Bachelor of Applied Science degree.”
The new agreement, one of more than 20 SCC shares with four-year colleges and university across the region, expands upon a previously existing arrangement that only applied to graduates from a couple of SCC’s career pathways.
Six of the degree pathways covered by the new agreement are in SCC’s Career Technologies Division: Accounting, Business Administration, Entrepreneurship, Office Administration, Medical Office Administration and Culinary Arts.
The others are in Health Sciences: Emergency Medical Science, Social & Human Services (transfers into ETSU’s Human Services and Human Services with Trauma and Resilience Minor), Nursing, Occupational Therapy Assistant, Physical Therapist Assistant, Respiratory Therapy and Radiography.
Pictured here signing the recently enhanced transfer agreement between their two schools are, seated from left: Dr. Bill Flora, Associate Professor at East Tennessee State University; Dr. Don Tomas, Southwestern Community College’s President; and Dr. Barbara Putman, SCC’s Executive Vice President of Instruction and Student Services. Standing from left are: Dr. Phyllis Thompson, Ph.D., Department Chair, Counseling and Human Services at ETSU; Dr. Mark Ellison, SCC’s Dean of Students; Dr. Kristan Blanton, SCC’s Director of Enrollment Management; and Whitney Marlowe, ETSU’s Director of Transfer and Adult Student Outreach.
“We’re excited to add even more options for our students, and we’re very grateful to our friends at East Tennessee State University for working with us to make this possible,” Dr. Tomas said.
For more information about Southwestern and the career paths it offers, visit www.SouthwesternCC.edu, call 828.339.4000 or drop by your nearest SCC location.
For more information about the agreement between ETSU and SCC, visit: https://tinyurl.com/2b5k494z.
