FCC Groundbreaking for $46m First Responders Center Held

Feb 15, 2022 — The long-awaited First Responders Center is becoming a reality.  After years of planning, the site has been purchased and construction is beginning.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the new First Responders Center was held  February 17  at 3300 W. North Avenue (northwest corner of North and Willow avenues). The  event is avaibable on Facebook and YouTube.

The center will bring together all first responder programs, academies for police, fire, and EMT, into one 40-acre location.  Currently, the FCC Fire Academy is located at the Career & Technology Center on Annadale Avenue and the Police Academy is located on the main campus behind Ratcliffe Stadium.  The new facility will include fire training structures, a scenario village for police training, simulation spaces. a running track, and a driving pad. Funding for the $46.1 million project comes from Measure E ($45m) and Measure C ($1.1m). Measure E was approved by the voters in 2016 and Measure C in 2002.

Both the directors of the Fire Academy and the Police Academy are excited that they will have a state-of-the-art training site to prepare future first responders to best serve our community.

“The ability to put all our programs on one site will allow for several things. The two most important will be the building of relationships between programs at our level and second being able to interact with the community as a group and not three separate programs on three campuses,” said Peter Cacossa, Fire Academy Director.

Police Academy Director Gary Fief agrees.  “The Police Academy is looking forward to having a facility to train our law enforcement, fire and emergency medical students serving our community so that they are well prepared for the challenges ahead of them,” he said.

The project is expected to be completed by late summer or early fall 2023. The center was designed by SIM-PBK Architects. The modular building construction contract was awarded to American Modular Systems.

Streaming:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FresnoCityCollege/live_videos/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjTrss2ryrI

Two CVHEC Members Conducting Presidential Searches

Presidential searches are underway at two CVHEC-member institutions: Fresno City College and Fresno Pacific University with public forums and interviews held this week.

At FCC, virtual public forums were held April 19 with four finalists in the search to fill the position vacated by the appointment of Dr. Carole Goldsmith to chancellor of SCCCD last year.

They are Dr. Cory Clasemann, Vice President for Student Success at Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana; Dr. Lataria Hall, FCC Vice President of Student Services; Dr. Madjid Niroumand, Vice President of Student Services at Orange Coast College; and Dr. Robert Pimentel, FCC Vice President of Educational Services & Institutional Effectiveness. A decision is expected by ______, ? said Kathy Bonilla, FCC public information officer.

At Fresno Pacific, semifinalist interviews were held April 18 and 19 in the search for a 14th president to succeed Dr. Joseph Jones who announced his retirement effective this summer  (or: ____ actual date?). The date for finalist review will be determined after the university’s May 7 commencement, reports Wayne Steffen, FPU associate director of Publications and Media Relations.

Fresno State Earns Prestigious Seal of Excelencia Certification

Fresno State is one of just 10 institutions nationwide to earn the Excelencia in Education 2021 Seal of Excelencia certification this academic year, ensuring an unwavering commitment to intentionally serve Latino students, while serving all.

“This designation validates our ongoing commitment to closing education equity gaps for our talented students, through intentional efforts and proven services,” said Fresno State President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval.

Excelencia in Education, the nation’s premier authority on efforts accelerating Latino student success in higher education, announced the certification last fall. The organization promotes Latino student achievement, conducts analysis to inform educational policies, and advances institutional practices while collaborating with those committed and ready to meet the mission. Launched in 2004 in the nation’s capital, Excelencia has established a network of results-oriented educators and policymakers to address the U.S. economy’s needs for a highly educated workforce and engaged civic leaders.

See the FresnoStateNews.com press release.

CCC Sets Groundbreaking Set for the New Applied Technology Building

The groundbreaking for Clovis Community College’s new state-of-the-art Applied Technology Building will be from 10 to 11 a.m. Monday, May 2, at the campus in Fresno (10309 North Willow Ave.).

Funded by Measure C with matching funds from the state bond program (CA Prop 51), the project is scheduled for completion in fall 2023. Seals Construction has been awarded the contract to build the facility and Darden Architects designed the building.

Various Career Technology Education (CTE) programs will be housed in the building including Mechatronics, Occupational Therapy Assistant, Digital and Commercial Music and more. Measure C funding is providing new and modernized buildings for all State Center Community College District colleges and centers.

RSVP by Wednesday, April 27, at: bit.ly/May2CCC.

INFO:  Stephanie Babb, director of Marketing and Communications, 559-325-5242 or Stephanie.babb@cloviscollege.edu.

Founder Welty Returns for CVHEC Summit and 20th Anniversary

For the 2022 CVHEC summit panel “Celebrating 20 years of CVHEC in the Valley”, Dr. John D. Welty (right) was joined by two co-founders: Dr. Frank Gornick (left), chancellor-emeritus for West Hills Community College District; and Dr. Benjamin Duran, president-emeritus of Merced College and current CVHEC executive director who moderated the panel held May 6 in Fresno.

CVHEC: ‘a seamless higher education system

that would be vital to the valley’s future’

 

BY TOM URIBES
CVHEC Communications/Media Coordinator

(APRIL 27, 2022) — In 2000, then-Fresno State President John D. Welty lamented that the Central Valley lagged behind the rest of the state in the number of students who attain baccalaureate and graduate degrees.

So he, along with other area leaders in higher education, set out to make history.

Dr. John D. Welty, President-Emeritus –  Fresno State

They created the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium (CVHEC), a non-profit organization that summoned the chief executives of all 23 institutions of higher education in the Valley’s nine-county region from San Joaquin to Kern counties for a rare, united mission: to jointly improve the quality of life by increasing the college-going rate for Central Valley residents —  “a seamless higher education system” that would be vital to the valley’s future, Welty said at the time.

This year, the Consortium will observe its 20th anniversary – now with 29 member-institutions of higher education from Stockton to Bakersfield whose presidents and chancellors make up the CVHEC Board of Directors – at its Higher Education Policy and Legislative Summit from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, May 6, at the DoubleTree Hotel in downtown Fresno.

This year’s summit theme is “Post Pandemic World: Recovering with Equity and Inclusion in the Central Valley.”  The deadline to register for the free CVHEC Summit is May 2 at https://bit.ly/CVHEC2022Summit.

And, President-Emeritus Welty, who retired from Fresno State in 2012 when he also left the CVHEC board, will return to serve on a historic panel and celebrate the 20th anniversary, Dr. Benjamín T. Durán, CVHEC executive director, announced.

The summit will draw nearly 150 higher education leaders from Central Valley colleges and universities; philanthropic, legislative, and state and national policy partners; and friends and advocates from throughout the region invested in creating an environment for students to succeed and complete their education in a timely manner.

Congressman Jim Costa will provide a federal update at 11:10 a.m. followed by a legislative panel at 11:30 a.m., “Broadband for All,” when he will be joined by Stan Santos, legislative chair for Communications Workers of America (Coastal Valley Council), and Lisa Lawrenson, acting superintendent/president of  San Joaquin Delta College. Dr. Frank Gornick, former CVHEC president and chancellor-emeritus for West Hills Community College District, will facilitate the panel.

 

Much to celebrate, much to do still

The CVHEC Board of Directors will hold its quarterly meeting the day before – its first in-person meeting since the pandemic shutdown two years ago – followed by a Cinco de Mayo-themed reception for summit attendees that first night. They will have much to celebrate such as, among other accomplishments since the last summit in 2019, how they banded together virtually almost weekly in the early days of the shutdown to share challenges and solutions to that crisis.

But on Friday, with state and national legislators, policy makers and practitioners in the house, they will delve head-long into the theme of the summit to tackle such issues as equity, dual enrollment, transfer pathways and broadband disparity and access.

Dr. Kristen Clark, chancellor of the West Hills Community College District and president of the CVHEC board said the summit underscores the uniqueness of CVHEC: bringing together educators, legislators and advocates to focus on enhancing student success efforts across the Central Valley.

“Our panelists will introduce practices and initiatives taking place nationally, statewide and locally that are designed to provide greater access to more students, improve the completion rate and reduce time to degree,” Chancellor Clark said.

This is what Welty envisioned 20 years ago and Duran said CVHEC is honored that its founding president will return to Fresno for the summit.

“It is only fitting that two decades of productive work by the consortium and its member campuses be highlighted by our founder,” said Duran, a Merced College president-emeritus who served on the founding board of directors with Welty. Duran retired as Merced’s chief executive in 2015 and was called back into action as executive director of CVHEC in 2016.

He said 20 years of ongoing dedication to achieving its mission has vaulted CVHEC into a rare position: it is one of the few organizations of its kind in the nation that brings the chief executives of a region’s higher education institutions together to speak with one voice and act collectively on issues and challenges facing Central Valley college students.

“This summit and CVHEC are a rarity nationwide,” Duran added. “While it is a natural occurrence for colleges to be in competition for students in their respective regions, CVHEC fosters a unified voice dedicated to positively impacting the educational and social well-being of ALL students in California’s Central Valley as we pursue our mission to increase access, persistence and certificate and degree completions.

“Along with others, John Welty’s vision paved the way for this successful venture.”

 

A national leader in higher education

During his two-plus decades at the helm of Fresno State, the president-emeritus was recognized as a leader in the 23-campus CSU and an authority in national higher education issues. He chaired and served on multiple national boards and has testified before Congress.

He also served as trustee professor of the California State University for two years after retiring from the Fresno State presidency and holds professor status in Fresno State’s Kremen School of Education and Human Development. He is past chair of the California Health Sciences University Board of Trustees and continues to serve on the CHSU board.

 

 ‘… A seamless higher education system’

Welty also was a leader in establishing several University partnerships and initiatives such as the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium in 2000, obtaining a one-year $110,000 grant from The James Irvine Foundation to support the consortium and its members’ efforts to boost the college-going rate in the San Joaquin Valley.

Joined by then-UC Merced Chancellor Carol Tomlinson-Keasey and area community college officials to create CVHEC, Welty called it “a seamless higher education system” for valley students.

“It is critical that we increase the educational attainment of the residents of our region if we are going to enhance economic development and the quality of life in the Central California Valley,” the Fresno State president said at the time.

In the 20 years since it incorporated, the CVHEC has undertaken such initiatives as The College Place, College Next, Corequisite Support, Transfer Pathways, Guided Pathways and broadband access. The Consortium has also created the CVHEC Equity Task Force to pursue equity and social justice issues in higher education as well as the Central Valley Dual Enrollment for Equity and Prosperity (CVDEEP).

The CVHEC Cinco de Mayo Reception on May 5, open to all registered participants, will feature Las Hermanas Medina, a trio of sisters from Hanford who grew up performing and teaching for the Kings Cultural Center and are all either college alumni or current students, including CVHEC-member institutions.

Additional event information is available at CVHEC Summit 2022 .

Tom Uribes served as a public affairs specialist for California State University, Fresno for his 30-year career there, including 20 as the University’s public information officer most of it with President Welty. He joined the CVHEC team in 2020.

See:

CVHEC Summit 2022 Bio: Dr. John D. Welty April 26, 2022

CVHEC turns college age! (August 5, 2020)

SAVE THE DATE: CVDEEP Convening – March 17, 2022

(UPDATE – the CVDEEP Convening has been rescheduled to March 17. Details will be available in the upcoming February issue of the CVHEC e-newsletter).

CVHEC’s Central Valley Dual Enrollment for Equity and Prosperity (CVDEEP) is now planning to re-convene in person Friday, March 17 at the DoubleTree Hotel in downtown Fresno for the first time since the pandemic shutdown two years ago.

Open to secondary and postsecondary educators and community leaders interested in dual enrollment opportunities for high school students.

See details and registration info:  https://www.cvhec.org/cvhec-dual-enrollment-convening-march-17/

 

• See story about the 2020 CVDEEP Convening.

CVHEC BLOG: ‘WHAT THE CV-HEC IS HAPPENING’ (Dec. 2021)

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The opening panel discussion at the CVHEC/UC Merced Transfer Project convening Nov. 4 in Merced included Shirley Asher, Jennifer Johnson, Karissa Morehouse, Sonya Christian, Gregg Camfield and Chenoa Woods.

 

The beat – serving student success – goes on!

An inside look at the CVHEC/UC Merced Transfer Pathways Initiative and Mapper

By Tom Burke
CVHEC Transfer Project Coordinator

(Photo Gallery below)

In June, when I stepped down as chancellor of the Kern Community College District, many thought I would embark on the typical “retirement” life of fishing, hunting, traveling and just resting after a 40-year career.

While I did enjoy some of that, I also soon found myself right back in the saddle in a “new” role with KCCD as Deputy Chancellor and as a coordinator with the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium. So for those of you wondering: no I’m not officially “retired!”

Rather I am happy to report that the past few months have been quite a rewarding whirlwind as I plunged headlong into a new “assignment” as coordinator of CVHEC’s Transfer Project with the intent to enhance what has been my life’s work: serving students in general and in this case specifically, helping build effective pathways to our community colleges for a smoother, efficient transfer experience.

To that end, these past 45 days alone have seen the fruition of two great milestones.

First was the public celebration of the completion of Phase I of a joint program, the CVHEC/UC Merced Transfer Pathways Initiative, at a convening Nov. 4 on the UCM campus with community college partners Bakersfield and Merced Colleges.  Secondly, at that historic event, we also launched Phase II of this project that includes the participation of four more CVHEC member institutions: Porterville College, Reedley College, Clovis College and West Hills College-Lemoore.

 

Revolutionizing Positive Outcomes

The Transfer Pathways Initiative is the result of a $500,000 grant from the California Educational Learning Lab to Bakersfield College, Merced College and UC Merced for the development of 2+2 transfer maps that streamline and guide the transfer of community college students to the University of California system.

Last month’s convening, “Charting Better Maps to Degrees – Developing Transfer Pathways to UC Merced,” demonstrated how we can revolutionize positive outcomes across enrollment, completions and equity for students while emphasizing UC Merced’s commitment to significantly expanding transfer pathways for community college students within the San Joaquin Valley to UC Merced.

With about 172 participants representing all three segments of higher education, the hybrid convening itself was a hallmark of sorts being the first major gathering convened by CVHEC and its partners since the pandemic shut down the world in March 2020. The energy from seeing and hearing our colleagues in the flesh was very evident throughout the six-hour event that was also presented virtually via Zoom (130 virtual and 42 in person).

CVHEC member community colleges were well represented at the convening where we discussed how in Phase 1, our partner teams completed 14 Transfer Pathways from Merced College and Bakersfield College to UC Merced as well as Transfer Pathway work with California State University, Bakersfield.

The convening also further introduced interested colleges to the Pathway Mapper software program, particularly its ability to enhance the student transfer experience as well as early student success results from institutions utilizing the Pathway Mapper. Participants also received information on future Program Mapper software enhancements that are scheduled.

The topics of four breakout sessions portrayed the breadth and depth of our mission:

  • The Tech Behind Program Pathways Mapper
  • Student Impact of Program Pathways Mapper – On-path Percentage, Student Engagement
  • Getting Started with Program Pathways Mapper: Cleaning and Loading Your Curriculum
  • The Technology of Collaboration – How to set up effective intersegmental discipline faculty teams and develop 2+2 transfer Documentation of process and guidelines.

 

Implementation teams of faculty, staff working hand-in-hand

The second great milestone is the launch of Phase II which actually got its start in the summer when a convening of representatives from all 15 CVHEC community colleges included an update presentation on the aforementioned Phase I completion of the 14 Transfer Pathways from Merced and Bakersfield Colleges to UC Merced.

At that June 16 convening, significant interest was expressed for participation in Phase II project implementation so in the early fall CVHEC reached out to interested member community colleges with a call to form and submit their implementation teams.

The four Phase II community colleges mentioned above — Porterville, Reedley, Clovis and West Hills-Lemoore — established teams and scheduled convenings to commence the development of curriculum transfer pathways to UC Merced. They will now be individually convening in the next four months with the first held Dec. 2-3 at Porterville College.

That recent convening was my first as a coordinator and I was impressed with the commitment and excitement by the Porterville College, faculty, staff and administrators to develop nine transfer pathways directly to UC Merced including a new pathway in Spanish.

Perhaps the pinnacle of that enthusiasm was to observe, when a potential curriculum issue arose, how UC Merced staff collaborated and interfaced with community college faculty and staff for solutions on the spot.  They collectively brainstormed and developed options for resolving the issue.

In particular, the level of commitment by host Porterville College to fulfill this mission for their students was further demonstrated by the active involvement and attendance in the two-day convening by the Vice President of Instruction Thad Russell, Vice President of Student Services Primavera Arvizu and President of the Academic Senate Robert Simpkins.  In addition, Porterville College President Dr. Claudia Habib made an appearance at the convening impressing upon faculty and staff the importance of their contributions to this project for their students’ success and thanked them for their work on the pathways.

Equally, I was impressed with the Transfer Project planning team, especially CVHEC colleague Stan Carrizosa, a former College of Sequoias superintendent/president, and James Zimmerman, senior associate vice provost and dean for Undergraduate Education at UC Merced.

We hope this level of partnership by all parties will be emulated by all our members, which I am convinced will only lead to a great reward: positive outcomes across enrollment, completions and equity for students.

And that will clearly make for happier fishing, hunting and traveling days along the way (when I can squeeze them in)!

Happy Holidays to all!

See UC Merced press release: https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2021/uc-merced-offer-simpler-transfer-pathway-central-valley-community-college-students

See Merced Sun Star story: UC Merced announces partnership to encourage Valley community college student transfers

Dr. Benjamín Durán, CVHEC executive director; Dr. Sonya Christian, Kern Community College District chancellor; Lark Park, director of the California Education Learning Lab; and Dr. Juan Sánchez Muñoz, UC Merced chancellor.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_images_carousel images=”6150,6118,6120,6119,6184,6171,6164,6162,6161,6147,6148,6149,6151,6144,6142,6141,6096,6140,6107,6170,6139,6138,6136,6135,6121,6122,6126,6127,6130,6131,6132,6133,6110,6109,6108,6143,6059″ img_size=”large” autoplay=”yes” title=”Gallery: CVHEC/UC Merced Transfer Pathways Initiative — UC Merced campus Nov. 4″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Los Baños Campus of Merced College Celebrates 50 Years Nov. 5

Merced College will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of its Los Baños Campus with a free celebration Nov. 5 from 4 to 6 p.m. in the outdoor quad of the campus (22240 West Highway 152).

“The Merced College Los Baños Campus 50th year celebration highlights our commitment to serving the community and the thousands of people on the west side of Merced County who have advanced their education and created better lives for themselves,” said Dr. Chris Vitelli, president of CVHEC-member Merced College.

Campus Dean Jessica Moran, a native of Los Baños and a graduate of its high school said, “We plan to welcome our community to showcase what we have accomplished over the past five decades.”

The celebration will feature free food including taco trucks and a volunteer barbecue crew led by Merced College Trustee John Pedrozo and Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke. Free entertainment will include carnival games.

Present and past Los Baños Campus staff and students will be honored, as well as emeritus board member Gene Vierra and several adjunct instructors who have worked at the campus for many decades. Previous deans of the campus will be acknowledged including John Spevak, former Merced College president of instruction, who is now a coordinator for the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium.

Dean-emeritus Spevak contributed to this series of columns on the history of the Los Baños Campus published in the Merced Sun-Star:

See Merced College press release:  http://www.mccd.edu/news/press-releases/items/2021-10-19-los-banos-50-years.html

(CVHEC members are encouraged to submit items for this column: centralvalleyhec@gmail.com).

Charting Better Maps to Degrees

Historic UC Merced transfer initiative with Bakersfield, Merced Colleges launches Nov. 4

A hybrid convening at the University of California, Merced Nov. 4, “Charting Better Maps to Degrees,” will launch the historic UC Merced Transfer Pathways initiative between three Central Valley Higher Education Consortium member campuses and demonstrate how the new Program Pathways Mapper can revolutionize positive outcomes across enrollment, completions and equity for students.

UC Merced Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz will be joined by Bakersfield President Sonya Christian, Merced College President Chris Vitelli and CVHEC Executive Director Benjamin T. Duran. Also speaking will be Dr. Craig Hayward, dean of Institutional Effectiveness at Bakersfield College and  Wayne Skipper, president of Concentric Sky.

The pilot transfer project and the hybrid in-person/virtual event are the result of a $500,000 grant from the California Educational Learning Lab to Bakersfield College, Merced College, and UC Merced for the development of 2+2 transfer maps that streamline and guide the transfer of community college students to the University of California system.

During the event, which will be from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the UC Merced Conference Center, the grant team will unveil the UC prototype of the Program Pathways Mapper that will make online, interactive transfer maps freely available for current and prospective students.

The convening also will be digitally mediated allowing both virtual and in-person attendees to interact and participate together while providing a higher education bridge across the valley floor.

“UC Merced was created in the Valley to help serve the Valley and we are dedicated to fulfilling that mission,” said Chancellor Muñoz, who will welcome the participants at 9 a.m. followed by the community college presidents and Duran. “This project to simplify transfer pathways means that more young people from our region will recognize a UC education as an achievable goal, and will help students, educators and families chart a course to that goal.”

Duran will discuss CVHEC’s support for the regional roll-out of the Program Pathways Mapper for colleges and universities in the Central Valley. CVHEC consists of 29 colleges in the nine-county region from Stockton to Bakersfield with the presidents/chancellors of each member institution serving as the board of directors.

He said this groundbreaking project, which supports CVHEC’s core mission to improve college completion rates while also supporting the valley’s only UC campus in collaboration with member community colleges, is unique in the state.

“Nothing like this is taking place anywhere else in California that I’m aware of,” said Duran a former Merced College president. “This kind of collaboration, especially intersegmentally, just isn’t happening. This is a big win for the Central Valley.”

Work is well underway to implement the same type of partnership transfer agreements between CVHEC’s CSU member campuses at Bakersfield, Fresno and Stanislaus, he said, with the intent to make this new model available for community college transfers in other regions of the valley.

Members and prospective members of the Program Pathways Mapper community are invited to attend the free event that will include breakfast and lunch. Space is limited but registration is available at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/program-pathways-mapper-convening-tickets-168987649609.

For additional information and updates, including details on speakers and breakout sessions, see www.foundationccc.org/ChartingBetterMapstoDegrees.

Additional event questions may be directed to Lori Ortiz,  executive secretary for the Office of Institutional Effectiveness at Bakersfield College at lori.ortiz@bakersfieldcollege.edu.

Pilot CVHEC/UC Merced Transfer Project improves process for students  

Rollout of Program Mapper software app for transfers set for Nov. 4

A pilot program developed between the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium and three member institutions — UC Merced, Merced College and Bakersfield College — is showing promise for outstanding results that can enhance a community college student’s transfer experience including a new web-based software application, Program Mapper.

This new initiative, the CVHEC/UC Merced Transfer Project, was presented to the CVHEC Board of Directors, made up the presidents and chancellors of CVHEC’s 29-member institutions, at its quarterly meeting Sept. 3.

Tom Burke, chancellor-emeritus of the Kern Community College District, has been recruited to serve as the Transfer Project coordinator, Dr. Ben Duran, CVHEC executive director, also announced to the board.   

The specific aim of the initial pilot project is to increase the number of successful and timely transfers from the Central Valley member community colleges in CVHEC’s nine-county region to UCM, reports Stan Carrizosa, southern regional coordinator for the consortium.

And work is well underway to implement the same type of partnership transfer agreements between Bakersfield College and CSU Bakersfield with the intent to make this new model available for community college transfers to the region’s other California State University campuses at Fresno and Stanislaus as well, Carrizosa reported. Project resource teams are currently being solicited from each community college with the goal to eventually begin replicating the faculty convenings and admissions/articulation alignments developed through the pilot.

“All of CVHEC’s 17 community college members have accepted our invitation to participate in the process developed by the colleges in the pilot project with the tentative timeline for completion projected for the end of the spring semester and summer,” added Carrizosa, a former superintendent/president with College of the Sequoias. “This tentative timeline would position all final transfer admission pathways to be approved by UC Merced for full implementation beginning in the fall semester, 2023.”

Duran said this groundbreaking project, which supports CVHEC’s core mission to improve college completion rates while also supporting the valley’s only UC campus in collaboration with member community colleges, is unique in the state.

“Nothing like this is taking place anywhere else in California that I’m aware of,” Duran reported to the board. “This kind of collaboration, especially intersegmentally, just isn’t happening. This is a big win for the Central Valley.”

This new initiative builds on the 10-year effort by the state’s community colleges to expedite a successful transfer by implementing the Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT) agreement, specific lower-division course sequences for approval by the California Community College Chancellor’s Office and CSU campuses, to fulfill the 60-unit transfer requirements for various majors offered throughout the colleges in the CSU system.

Specifically for this pilot, UCM faculty were invited to review the CSU-approved ADT’s developed previously, and which are becoming more widely known by Central Valley community college students. They were asked to consider approval of selected ADTs to fulfill the lower division transfer requirements for these same discipline majors at UCM.

“To date, the work of the pilot project colleges is progressing nicely,” Carrizosa reported. “These intersegmental teams have reviewed and approved up to 15 different ADT discipline majors. They adjusted and aligned course syllabi where needed — to be approved by UCM faculty — to fulfill the lower division requirements for successful transfer admissions to UCM.”

In addition to the review and approval of the various ADT discipline majors, Carrizosa said the teams are also identifying the specific upper division courses required for students once admitted to UCM and aligning these with the ADT to show a four-year sequence to be called the “UCM transfer admission pathways for students.”

Once completed and approved, the courses are being uploaded into the new web-based software application Program Mapper.

“This application enables students to select the community college they are attending and identify the ADT they may be interested in being enrolled in,” Carrizosa said. “From there, Program Mapper will automatically display the required community college courses for their ADT and the required upper division courses for that major at UC Merced in the format of a four-year Transfer Admission Plan (TAP).”

Plans are underway to unveil the Transfer Project and Program Mapper application at a special event Nov. 4 at UC Merced. (Event details of the Program Mapper and launch will be forthcoming in the October CVHEC e-newsletter).

Funding for the Transfer Project is provided in part by the Fresno K-16 Collaborative with support from California Governor Newsome’s office and by the College Futures Foundation.

Contact Us

  • cvhecinfo@mail.fresnostate.edu

  • 559.278.0576

Join Our Newsletter