PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Community College of Philadelphia (CCP) graduates will now be able to transfer their full program to Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey, to pursue a four-year degree in a STEM field.
Program-to-program transfer partnerships are agreements in which an entire curriculum or program of study is accepted, so graduates of these specific associate degree programs transfer with advanced standing into a specific bachelor’s degree program at the transfer college.
Oftentimes, students lose money and time when their credits are not accepted. This opportunity allows for a seamless transfer for students, minimizing costs and time.
Eligible degrees include biology, Black studies, chemistry, computer science, construction management, engineering science, sound recording and music technology, and mathematics. The transfer program also provides students an opportunity to look ahead to graduate studies in these areas.
“The college is partnering with Rowan University to provide an opportunity for students to move through from the two-year college transfer and be successful and earn a bachelor’s degree in STEM areas, with a particular focus on underserved students,” said Dr. Alycia Marshall, vice president of CCP’s Academic and Student Success.
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Marshall, a mathematician, said during the start of her coursework, she was in the minority. When she joined a similar program that exposed more students to STEM, it changed her perspective: She saw high-achieving people that also looked like her.
"As a result of that, I have always been an advocate for increasing participation and for supporting and providing programming that highlights people of color that are doing this great work,” she said.
Many of the eligible CCP students are active in the Greater Philadelphia Regional Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP), a national organization that encourages students from under-represented groups to pursue STEM degrees.
Launched in 1994, the Greater Philadelphia Regional LSAMP includes Cheyney, Lincoln and Delaware State universities — which represent historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) — as well as CCP, the University of Delaware, the University of Pennsylvania, and Rowan, Drexel and Temple universities.
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CCP has been a part of the LSAMP program for more than 27 years. Rowan joined the alliance for what is now Phase 6.
“The students will be able to go on Rowan’s campus and the clubs will be able to work with each other for the National Society of Black Engineers and the Society for Women Engineering and the other STEM clubs,” said Dr Linda Powell, head of CCP’s Biology Department and project director of the college’s LSAMP program.
She acknowledges that cost is a major factor for students — particularly underserved students — not fully pursuing a four-year degree.
“As a part of this agreement with Rowan,” she said, “Community College of Philadelphia students will be able to pay New Jersey in-state costs, which will bring in the cost of getting this bachelor’s degree far below many of our local institutions that are in the Philadelphia area.”