GTCC and Bennett sign co-admission agreement
(pictured above: Bennett President Rosalind Fuse-Hall shakes hands with GTCC President Randy Parker.)
The leaders of Bennett College and Guilford Technical Community College (GTCC) signed a co-admission agreement in the spring, giving GTCC students a clear pathway from an Associate in Arts (AA) degree to a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) degree from Bennett College. The co-admission agreement is expected to take effect in the 2014-2015 academic year.
The signing by Bennett President Rosalind Fuse-Hall and GTCC President Randy Parker occurred prior to the start of a recent Bennett Board of Trustees’ meeting. Representatives from both institutions were also present.
After assessing the first major to include in the agreement, both colleges recognized the rising demand and interest in the social work field at their respective institutions and wanted to ensure that a student graduating from GTCC would have every opportunity to continue their education and further their career at Bennett College.
“Students graduating with a bachelor of social work degree can work in various settings throughout their career, and they are not pigeon-holed into a certain box. Social workers can work with children, families, health care entities, and state and federal government,” said Dr. Jan Laughinghouse, assistant professor and coordinator of the Social Work Program at Bennett. “Social workers are people workers and we see them in such positions as public policy advocates, case managers, therapists, and mediators.”
This is the first co-admission agreement between GTCC and Bennett College and the second co-admission agreement GTCC has signed with an area educational institution within the last year. In March 2013, GTCC signed a co-admission agreement with North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University’s College of Engineering.
“Today’s co-admission agreement further supports one of GTCC’s major initiatives to increase completion and graduation rates for students through Completion by Design, a Bill & Melinda Gates initiative that GTCC is leading across the nation and the state,” said Parker. “This co-admission agreement opens more doors for our students and provides them with a clear pathway to a bachelor’s degree at Bennett College and an opportunity to pursue a promising and fulfilling career in the social work field. GTCC is committed to delivering quality educational programs through our partnerships with institutions like Bennett.”
Under the new agreement, select students will be co-admitted to both GTCC and Bennett College simultaneously and will offer a variety of benefits.
Furthermore, Guilford County Schools’ graduates who are accepted to the co-admission program also will have the opportunity to apply for GTCC’s Completion by Design scholarship provided they meet the required criteria. The Completion by Design scholarship was designed specifically for Guilford County high school graduates who have been accepted to participate in GTCC joint admission programs.
