Academic Affairs

Seamless transfer and articulated programs were mandated by the Tennessee Board of Regents in the late 1990s. Since that time, there has been extensive programmatic cooperation between ETSU and Northeast State Technical Community College.

Northeast State-ETSU Partnerships

• Seamless transfer programs are a major theme in ETSU’s Quality Enhancement Plan, developed as part of the university’s reaffirmation of accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

• For fall 2003, NSTCC was ETSU’s primary transfer feeder school, with 19 percent of first-time-at-ETSU transfers coming from NSTCC.

• Seventy-four articulation agreements exist in majors representing 23 ETSU departments.

• A National Academic Advising Association grant of $3,000 will allow us to study the impact of early advisement and the provision of student services on retention of transfer students. The participating institutions are Walters State Community College, Virginia Highlands Community College, Northeast State, and ETSU.

• The Office of Career Placement and Internship Services at ETSU is working with NSTCC to make cooperative education programs between the two institutions more seamless.

• ETSU sets aside an average of 23 Academic Performance Scholarships for NSTCC students who qualify.

• NSTCC shares office space and computer laboratories and holds a full schedule of classes at ETSU at Kingsport.

• ETSU and NSTCC offer a Weekend College program that is one-of-a-kind in the state. Some 10 classes, enrolling about 100 students, are offered each semester on Friday evening plus Saturday morning and afternoon at ETSU-NSTCC in Kingsport. Both institutions approve classes and instructors.

• ETSU Day is held at NSTCC. There students can talk with major departmental representatives, learn about articulation agreements, and check with the transcript analyst about course transfer equivalencies and admission concerns.

• Discipline-specific discussions are taking place between ETSU and NSTCC faculty and staff in order to make the process of transferring from Northeast to ETSU more seamless.

• The ETSU Admissions and Articulated Programs web sites have been revamped to be more user friendly, both to students and partnering community college personnel. For example, all NSTCC/ETSU articulation agreements are now posted on the web.

• The course numbering system between ETSU and NSTCC is now standardized.

• The ETSU libraries are accessible to NSTCC students via their ID cards.

• The orderly transfer of sub-baccalaureate programs in allied health has occurred from ETSU to NSTCC. This program transfer recognized student needs and community expectations while bringing the university and community college in line with the TBR’s vision for undergraduate education.

• Computer science students at each institution are doing their capstone work across NETRAN in networking, desktop support, and web site development.

• ETSU is offering to university-parallel students at NSTCC the last two years of the Information Technology degree through the Regional Center for Applied Technology in Kingsport.

• ETSU and NSTCC are conducting joint training for transfer advisors.

• ETSU provides NSTCC personnel data pertaining to transfer student performance each semester. Those data include student names, hours earned, entry term, major, ETSU only GPA, ETSU term GPA, and other relevant data that enhances communication between the institutions concerning learning outcomes and expectations and student academic performance.

Lessons Learned

• While TBR students may have different goalsor paths to their goals, they have many common aspirations.

• We all share a a number of common problems and have limited resources.

• All TBR students should be treated equitably with regard to the degree to which institutions commit to giving them every opportunity to succeed.

• It is critical that communication between administrators and faculty be open, honest, and continuous—and serving the interest of students should be central to that communication.