ECU adds pathways for tech transfer students
East Carolina University celebrated partnerships with four community colleges during bilateral agreement signing ceremonies in the Science and Technology Building.
Designed to enhance opportunities for transfer students, the agreements cement partnerships that guarantee admission to the university’s Bachelor of Science in industrial technology (BSIT) program for qualified graduates from James Sprunt Community College in Duplin County, Wayne Community College in Goldsboro, Alamance Community College in Graham and Vance-Granville Community College in Henderson.
The agreements underscore opportunities for those graduates to advance their careers with a four-year bachelor’s degree from ECU, opportunities that may not exist with their two-year degrees. Those higher-paying jobs for program graduates produce benefits that ripple throughout the region’s economy.
“The BSIT program was intentionally designed to turn the Associate in Applied Science into a powerful springboard to something beyond a four-year degree for working adults and technical professionals,” said Dr. Stephanie George, interim dean of ECU’s College of Engineering and Technology. “We celebrate these agreements that create clear, affordable and achievable pathways for students, pathways that strengthen North Carolina’s workforce and support economic vitality across our state. At the heart of this signing is student success, and that’s truly what’s at the heart of our college here at ECU, helping these talented individuals transfer seamlessly from their community college experience to bachelor’s degrees and beyond.”
ECU’s BSIT program offers seven concentrations — architecture design technology; bioprocess manufacturing; distribution and logistics; industrial management; industrial engineering technology; information and cybersecurity technology; and mechanical design technology. Five of those concentrations can be completed fully online, allowing students with jobs and families to complete their four-year degrees on a schedule that’s right for them.
Dr. Allen Guidry, ECU’s associate provost for learner operations, told representatives that what’s not written in the agreement is the care and support community college transfer students receive at ECU.
“You’ve taken and you’ve nurtured these students, and you’ve gotten them to a certain point that you’re handing them off to a four-year university that isn’t just trying to use them to enhance a number, but one that will value them, one that will support them and one that will nurture them to become whatever it is the next step is for them to be,” Guidry said. “That’s what we really are committing to you when we put pen to paper on days like this, is that we value and we will care for these students. That’s my team’s job. It’s the job of every single person within the college, and it’s a very real commitment. So thank you for that trust. Thank you for the partnership. Please know we value it greatly.”
ECU recently has signed similar BSIT agreements with community colleges in Pitt, Martin, Cumberland, Lenoir, Henderson, Transylvania and Wilson counties. ECU offers a slew of other transfer options for community college students throughout the state, including Pirate Promise, which guarantees ECU admission to associate degree graduates who have been accepted into the program.
Wayne Community College
Administrators, faculty and staff with Wayne Community College and East Carolina University gather for a bilateral agreement signing ceremony.
Wayne graduates with an Associate in Applied Science in one of 12 technical or business fields with at least a 2.0 GPA are eligible for guaranteed admission to ECU’s BSIT program, with up to 75 credit hours transferred. Those programs include:
- Automotive systems technology GM ASEP
- Automotive systems technology MM ATEP
- Aviation systems technology
- Business administration
- Business administration – operations management
- Computer-integrated machining technology
- Industrial systems technology
- Information technology – cybersecurity
- Information technology – IT support and services
- Information technology – software development
- Mechanical engineering technology
- Mechatronics engineering technology
“You’re impacting students in two of our major divisions on campus, and you’re giving them opportunities,” said Dr. Patricia Pfeiffer, president of Wayne Community College. “And that’s what we want for students, opportunity. And the opportunity for advancing through education is like none other.”
Pfeiffer has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from ECU as well as a degree from Wayne CC, where she has worked since 1994.
“I understand the importance of going from one to another and advancing your opportunities in life. And ECU gave me opportunities,” Pfeiffer said. “I would say I’m kind of like a unicorn in the community college system because I graduated from the same college that I’ve only ever worked at. I’ve been at Wayne Community College for 32 years. ECU was there when I was a student. ECU is there now with our students. We have this lifelong relationship with ECU, so we value your partnership.”
James Sprunt Community College
Administrators, faculty and staff with James Sprunt Community College and East Carolina University pose for a picture during a signing ceremony.
James Sprunt graduates with an Associate in Applied Science in one of four technical fields with at least a 2.0 GPA are eligible for guaranteed admission to ECU’s BSIT program, with up to 75 credit hours transferred. The programs include:
- Diesel and heavy equipment technology
- Electrical systems technology
- Information technology – information systems
- Information technology – network management.
“For those students who begin at a community college and then will matriculate here to East Carolina, I couldn’t be more excited for those individuals,” said Dr. Shannon Hair, president of James Sprunt Community College.
Hair has served as president of the Duplin County college for just about a month. He was quick to credit the work of his faculty and staff for making the agreement possible.
“This is not about me today at all,” he said. “It is truly about one, two, three, four, five, six, the seven of them with me today and those thousands of students who we have on the campus of James Sprunt Community College.”
He called the agreement more than just a partnership, saying it’s a relationship that’s “critical for the success of our students who will be in and live in Duplin County.”
Alamance Community College
Faculty, staff and administrators from East Carolina University and Alamance Community College gather for a bilateral agreement signing.
Alamance graduates with an Associate in Applied Science in one of 13 technical or business fields with at least a 2.0 GPA are eligible for guaranteed admission to ECU’s BSIT program, with up to 61 credit hours transferred. Those programs include:
- Air conditioning, heating and refrigeration technology
- Artificial intelligence
- Automotive systems technology
- Biotechnology
- Computer-aided drafting technology
- Computer-integrated machining
- Electrical systems technology
- Industrial systems technology
- Information technology – business support
- Information technology – systems security
- Mechanical engineering technology
- Mechatronics engineering technology
- Welding technology
“I get asked regularly, ‘What is our focus at the community college,’ and I say it’s really simple,” said Ken Ingle, president of Alamance Community College. “At the end of the day, it’s about connecting our community to the workforce and doing that as effectively as possible to make sure there’s economic mobility for every person. And we know that a huge part of that is transferring into a four-year education program that gets them to a degree, a pathway that makes sense for them.”
Ingle said what makes the signing even more important is knowing that the College of Engineering and Technology and the university provide a welcoming and supportive environment for transfer students.
“We know that when they come here, they’re getting a tremendous experience that is focused on them being able to learn the skills that they need, being able to be prepared for their future, whatever that may look like,” he said. “We’re really appreciative of that. We want to know that when we hand one of our students who we care for deeply off to a four-year partner that they’re going to have what we think is as good of an experience as we hope we provide them, that personal, one-on-one experience. We’re in their corner, and we know you are as well. We’re incredibly appreciative of that and so excited to sign this and put these partnerships in place for what we know will be the success that comes from it.”
Vance-Granville Community College
Faculty, staff and administrators from East Carolina University and Vance-Granville Community College gather for a bilateral agreement signing in the high bay lab of ECU’s Science and Technology Building.
Vance-Granville graduates with an Associate in Applied Science in one of seven technical fields with at least a 2.0 GPA are eligible for guaranteed admission to ECU’s BSIT program, with up to 61 credit hours transferred. Those programs include:
- Automotive systems technology
- Biotechnology
- Electronics Engineering Technology
- Information technology
- Mechatronics engineering technology
- Supply chain management — global logistics technology
- Welding technology
Dr. Rachel M. Desmarais, VGCC president, pointed to examples of successes through ECU’s BSIT program, including her own husband who works as an architect.
“These are people who started late in life, went back to get their associate’s degrees as adults, were working in the field, and you provided a way for them to get there,” she told ECU administrators and faculty during the ceremony. “We just appreciate your willingness to partner with us, and we’re really excited.”
Dr. Allen Guidry, ECU’s associate provost for learner operations, said the agreement is part of ECU’s overall mission to help transform regions through student success and workforce development.
“It’s really important that in places like the Vance-Granville region that we provide workforce pipelines, we retain that workforce in the area, and we provide opportunities and we bring incentives for industry to come and to grow. And I think this partnership is really important to me for that reason,” he said. “I think that’s the beauty of the transfer pathway. We provide an opportunity for students to start where they’re comfortable, to stay where they’re comfortable and hopefully to remain where they’re comfortable through the duration of their careers if that’s what they want to do. That’s an important part, I think, of workforce development.”