TYLER, Texas — Tyler Junior College and UT Tyler leaders signed an agreement this week to ease the admissions process for TJC transferring students seeking to complete four-year degrees at UT Tyler.
TJC President Juan E. Mejia, UT Tyler President Kirk A. Calhoun, TJC Provost Deana Sheppard and UT Tyler Provost Amir Mirmiran signed the agreement at a ceremony Monday at TJC’s main campus.
According to an announcement from the colleges, the partnership creates priority deadlines for admissions and scholarship notification by UT Tyler to TJC transferring students. This will also help facilitate student services, scholarships and honors programs.
The grant-funded agreement is included in the Texas Transfer Alliance through the Dana Center at UT Austin. It features more than 40 fields of study between the two institutions to give students more career paths to choose.
According to UT Tyler and TJC, these educational routes include:
• Multiple pathways between TJC and the UT Tyler Soules College of Business, including options from TJC’s Business AA as well as a renewed partnership between the TJC Business Management AAS and UT Tyler’s Bachelor of Science in Human Resources Development.
• Pathways in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields including biology, chemistry, physics, computer science, engineering and mathematics.
• Healthcare pathways in nursing, occupational therapy and others.
• Social sciences pathways, such as psychology, sociology, social work, history, government and economics
• Fine and performing arts pathways in art and music
• Pathways to prepare educators in general education, kinesiology, art and music
• Development of pathways from Associate of Applied Science degrees to multiple options for Bachelor of Arts in Applied Science degrees at UT Tyler.
Dr. Juan E. Mejia, TJC president, said that providing everyone access to higher education is something that must be done in Tyler.
"One of TJC’s pillars from our strategic plan includes authentic partnerships. These are not partnerships where we win and someone loses, or vice versa, but where there is an environment of authentic win-wins, at scale, and where everybody wins. We must leverage synergistic opportunities leading to our communities becoming the overall winners," Mejia said. "We have an unwavering focus to provide a positive impact to degree attainment, economic development, social mobility and a great quality of life. Now, why is today of paramount importance? Because what we do will benefit generations to come, and we can truly affect change for the better right here, right now.”
Dr. Kirk A. Calhoun, UT Tyler president, added that UT Tyler is fortunate to collaborate with exceptional community colleges, such as TJC.
"Individually, we are each a great educational resource, but when we work together with the students’ best interests at heart, we are an extraordinary resource for East Texas," Calhoun said.