Submitted by Saint Martin’s University
A partnership that authorizes Saint Martin’s University to offer baccalaureate degree programs to students at Tacoma Community College while they remain on their home campus will be launched in June.
“We are very excited to offer a program to meet the needs of students at Tacoma Community College,” says Joyce Westgard, Ed.D., Saint Martin’s associate vice president of institutional effectiveness and dean of the University’s College of Education and Counseling Psychology. “This brand new partnership will offer TCC students Bachelor of Arts degree programs from Saint Martin’s in both elementary education and special education, with additional course articulation in early childhood education.”
Westgard authored the memorandum of understanding for the partnership. The agreement was formalized recently when officials from both institutions attended a ceremony on the Tacoma Community College campus to sign the MOU. In addition to Westgard, those in attendance were Roy F. Heynderickx, Ph.D., president of Saint Martin’s University; Pamela Transue, Ph.D., president of Tacoma Community College; Molly Smith, Ph.D., provost and vice president for academic affairs at Saint Martin’s; and Tod Treat, Ph.D., executive vice president for academic and student affairs at Tacoma Community College.
The partnership provides for a “two-plus-two” program under which students attending Tacoma Community College spend their first two years as TCC students and then their final two years as Saint Martin’s students, taking Saint Martin’s courses on the Tacoma Community College campus.
Mike Flodin, dean for mathematics, science and engineering and who also manages TCC’s Education – Transfer program says, “We are looking forward to implementing this new program with Saint Martin’s, both to directly benefit the students enrolled and to strengthen the transfer pathway between our institutions.”
