NEWS RELEASE

Contact: Di Saunders, OUS; Cell: 503-807-5539; Office: 503-725-5714

Gene Evans, ODE; Office: 503-378-3600, x2237

Joint Boards Approves Statewide Transfer Module to Aid Oregon Students

2- and 4-year college faculty collaborate to design student-centered transfer approach

SALEM, February 3 – In an unprecedented collaboration between Oregon’s community colleges and universities, the Joint Boards of Education today unanimously voted to accept a new system that will help Oregon college students overcome transfer barriers that slow their movement through college. Meeting at Chemeketa Eola Northwest Viticulture Center in Salem, the Joint Boards accepted the Oregon Transfer Module, a portable one-year curriculum that will facilitate student movement between and among Oregon’s 2- and 4-year public colleges.

With full collaboration between public community college and university faculty in the state and through several months of diligent efforts, the Oregon Transfer Module (OTM) was developed and approved by faculty in less than one year, beginning in the spring of 2004. The OTM is a one-year “module” which fulfills a set of general education courses and which students across the state can then transfer to any public college or university in Oregon without losing credits. The OTM will be introduced on all 17 community college campuses and at the seven OUS universities this fall for the 2005-06 academic year.

“This is truly a student-centered approach to addressing the issue of lost credits when transferring from a community college to a university, or even within the same 2- or 4-year sector,” said Gretchen Schuette, president of Chemeketa Community College and chair of the Excellence in Delivery and Productivity Working Group of the State Board of Higher Education (SBHE). “When students lose credits, they also lose valuable time, money, and momentum towards a degree. The Oregon Transfer Module retains the value of hard-earned credits, helping Oregon’s diverse students reach their college goals faster, better and at less cost,” added Schuette.

The OTM is equivalent to three academic quarters, or a standard academic year, and students must have a grade of “C-” or better and a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0 at the time the module is posted. The Module includes courses in college-level composition/writing; speech/communication; mathematics; arts and letters; social sciences; science/math/computer science, including at least one biological or physical science with a lab; and electives, to bring the total credits to 45.

Bob Turner, president of the Interinstitutional Faculty Senate of the Oregon University System and associate professor of Biology at Western Oregon University, said, “The beauty of the Module is that is aligns with the student enrollment patterns that we are seeing across the state. It is rare these days for students to get a degree at the same institution at which they began their studies. Instead we see multi-directional movement, with students taking some courses at community colleges, some at 4-year institutions, and also using distance learning options from campuses hundreds of miles from their homes,” Turner added.

Providing the impetus behind the development of the Module was an initiative developed by new members of the higher education board, appointed by Governor Kulongoski one year ago. The new board created strategic “working groups” to tackle serious postsecondary issues in Oregon, particularly those related to access, affordability, excellence, and economic development. The working group led by Schuette quickly established an aggressive agenda to make immediate, positive changes that address barriers to students getting into and through postsecondary degree and other programs.

“This Module development and approval process is significant and reflects a change in way that postsecondary sectors work together in Oregon,” said Schuette. “We’re very proud of the community college and university faculty for taking a big step towards helping our students complete their college goals.”

Comprised of members of the State Board of Education (SBE) and the Oregon State Board of Higher Education (OSBHE), the Joint Boards address statewide K-16 education issues that affect students and communities.