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For immediate release - Sept. 19, 2006

(DALLAS) – As students from the Dallas County Community College District finish their associate degrees, they want to explore more options before they transfer to four-year colleges and universities to pursue a bachelor’s degree. A new partnership between DCCCD and Sam Houston State University in Huntsville now provides one more option that they can consider – including both Web-based learning and on-campus classes, joint admission to both institutions and a reverse transfer agreement.

Officials from DCCCD and SHSU cemented that new partnership with a transfer (or articulation) agreement signing on Thursday, Sept. 14, at the district’s Dallas downtown office. Dr. Wright Lassiter, chancellor of DCCCD, and Dr. James Gaertner, president of SHSU, exchanged comments, duplicate documents and “official” pens.

“The Dallas County Community College District is excited to add another partner in higher education. Our agreement with Sam Houston State University gives us an opportunity to offer our students more options for their educational and professional growth,” said Lassiter. “We welcome Sam Houston State University as a partner with our district, and we look forward to the additional opportunities for our students that this agreement will provide.”

“We also welcome DCCCD students to SHSU’s family, and we look forward to working with them as they pursue their bachelor’s degrees,” said Gaertner. “We know that community college students from DCCCD and elsewhere do as well as or better than our ‘native’ students who started at SHSU as freshmen. They are dedicated students who have already proven their determination to earn a college degree.”

DCCCD and SHSU officials anticipate that they will complete more than 30 online transfer agreements linked to more than 40 bachelor’s degree programs at Sam Houston. Those agreements will maximize the amount of course work that students have completed for their associate degrees from DCCCD that can be applied to those SHSU bachelor’s degrees. Students and counselors also will be able to access information about the agreements via both institutions’ Web sites at dcccd.edu or shsu.edu.

A reverse transfer agreement between DCCCD and SHSU will allow students to transfer course work from the university back to the district’s seven colleges, enabling them to complete some requirements for the associate degree that – in today’s professional job market – is an advantage and that also indicates the student’s commitment to education and a career.

Joint admission will give DCCCD students a value-added experience because they have access to the facilities and programs offered by both the district’s colleges and SHSU; it also provides a seamless transfer of college credits earned for the associate degree to the bachelor’s degree. Under the agreement, DCCCD students can attend both schools simultaneously; hold an SHSU picture ID/bank card; attend SHSU sporting events; have a university e-mail account; have access to the university’s library and to computer facilities operated by SHSU; and enjoy other benefits.