Fletcher Hall stands on University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.Officials at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga have thought for years about creating dual-admissions programs with area community colleges.
They got motivated to make the thought a reality by Tennessee Promise, the state’s new guarantee to cover the cost of two-year community or technical college for all high school graduates.
UTC Chancellor Steven Angle and Cleveland State Community College President Bill Seymour had planned to meet this morning to sign a dual-admissions agreement to ensure smooth transfer for Cleveland State students to UTC. Becaue of the weather, the event will be rescheduled.
“It’s really aimed at trying to get them integrated a little bit into the life of the [UTC] campus,” UTC spokesman Chuck Cantrell said.
Cleveland State students will be encouraged to use UTC’s library and come to the university’s sporting and cultural events, he said. Those are some ways the dual-enrollment program will differ from UTC’s current practice of accepting credits earned at two-year schools.
Students in the program must complete a two-year degree from Cleveland State before transferring to get a degree from UTC.
“We’re not trying to poach them [from Cleveland State],” Cantrell said. “They’ll get the regular four-year degree from us.”
UTC is in the process of developing similar agreements with other community colleges.
A dual-admissions program already exists between UTC and Chattanooga State Community College, but officials at those two schools want to make that relationship even closer.
“It’s been in place, but we’re working so [Chattanooga State] students can feel like full-blown UTC students,” said Brad McCormick, Chatt State’s assistant vice president for student affairs.
He said that officials from UTC and Chatt State want to model their relationship after the one between the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and Pellissippi State Community College, also in Knoxville.
“They have a really tight integration,” McCormick said. “We’re studying that to make sure we can achieve something similar.”
McCormick said his counterpart at UTC, Yancy Freeman, the assistant provost of enrollment services, is an advocate for more closeness between UTC and Chatt State.
“He keeps talking about blowing up Amnicola Highway and making us all one big campus,” McCormick said.
Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu @timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/tim.omarzu or twitter.com/TimOmarzu or 423-757-6651.