MC and SUNY Announce Degree Articulation Agreement

Manhattan College announces a newly signed articulation agreement with SUNY Westchester Community College. @MANHATTAN.EDU/COURTESY

By Lauren Raziano, Multimedia Editor

Manhattan College and SUNY Westchester Community College (WCC) announced a transfer articulation agreement providing a seamless pathway to a bachelor’s degree for SUNY WCC students.

WCC individuals are guaranteed transfer acceptance into MC as long as they graduate with a 2.5 GPA or better and will transfer with junior standing at MC. There is a 60 credit maximum that will be applied toward completion of the articulated bachelor’s degree program.

The president of Manhattan College, Brother Daniel Gardner, FSC, is looking forward to welcoming more students to the MC community.

“We are proud to partner with Westchester Community College and look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship,” Gardner said during the signing. “We are happy to welcome these capable and academically prepared students into the learning community of Manhattan College. I’m certain that they will make distinctive and meaningful contributions to our campus.”

The initial term duration of this MC and WCC agreement is slated for four years with automatic renewals of two semesters each.

MC is offering merit-based scholarships to encourage students to continue their degrees. According to manhattan.edu, “Scholarships are renewable as long as students maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0, maintain full-time status and have satisfactory academic progress at MC.”

Manhattan.edu also states that, “The articulation agreement has pathways available to those who earn their associate’s degree in any of 21 selected liberal arts and science programs in business, communications, environmental studies, humanities or social sciences from SUNY WCC.”

Dr. Belinda S. Miles, president of SUNY Westchester Community College, acknowledged the agreement as a way to encourage students to maximize their investments in themselves.

“SUNY WCC is dedicated to the continued success of our students,” Miles said at the agreement signing. “This agreement with Manhattan College provides our graduates with the opportunity to seamlessly transfer to an excellent institution where they can continue their studies and develop the skills and knowledge that will help them enter the local job market.”

Cory Blad, dean of the School of Liberal Arts, developed the Transfer Core with SUNY’s curricular requirements to allow WCC students to have 60 transfer credits.

“This means that any Associate degree earner from any SUNY campus can begin in the School of Liberal Arts as a junior and progress through a major and our core curriculum with enough flexibility to perhaps even add a minor… all in two years,” Blad wrote in an email to The Quadrangle.

Blad continued to explain the importance of transfer students as part of the population in the MC community.

“Transfer students, particularly community college alumni, are incredibly important in several ways,” Blad wrote. “First, they are intelligent and dedicated – having proven both qualities at other higher education institutions. Secondly, there are a multitude of reasons why a community college may be a wonderful and productive choice for many students.”

The bachelors degree program will offer other community college students in the metro area the ability to join MC.

“Creating a pathway for those who would like to continue their Bachelor’s degree simply continues the mission-driven work of Manhattan College to provide higher educational opportunities for those that seek them,” Blad wrote. “I am proud that we are now able to actively recruit WCC (and other SUNY community college) graduates to join us at Manhattan and enrich our classes and campus, the more the merrier.”

In the future, MC is looking to expand articulation agreements with other community colleges including institutions from Rockland and Nassau counties.

“The success of the WCC articulation should provide encouragement and a blueprint for moving additional agreements forward,” Blad wrote. “With regards to the School of Liberal Arts, we are working on adding the entire CUNY system to our Transfer Core Pathway program and hope to extend the same opportunity to community college graduates throughout the entirety of the City and State of New York.”

Donald Gibson, dean of the O’Malley School of Business, worked with assistant dean Aileen Farrelly to assure business majors with a continued degree path.

“We are excited about welcoming additional SUNY Westchester Community College (WCC) students into our O’Malley School of Business majors,” Gibson wrote in an email to The Quadrangle. “With their two-year AA degree, these students will enter the O’Malley School as juniors, and be able to finish their degree in two years.”

Gibson hopes that this opportunity will increase the number of students who consider MC as a bachelor’s degree option.

“We don’t anticipate changes to our programs based on this agreement; rather we hope that this smooths the way for more students to think of Manhattan College,” Gibson wrote.