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The Wildcats meet the Tigers;
Cowley signs
transfer agreement with K-State at Salina
Looking for a way to provide its technical students
with additional opportunities to use their knowledge for further education,
the Career and Technical Education Department at Cowley College signed
a transfer agreement with Kansas State University at Salina April 11
at the school’s
Southside Education Center in Wichita.
Cowley technical students will have the opportunity to capitalize on these agreements
by using the skills they have attained at Cowley to move on for a four-year degree
through KSU.
“It’s an absolutely great partnership for students, so they know
when they begin with us where they can end,” Cowley College vice president
for academic and student affairs Sheree Utash said. “I am a huge believer
in letting students know what it will take to meet their goals on day one.”
Bruce Crouse, Cowley’s Department Chair for the Career and Technical Education
Department, along with Sandy Randel, coordinator for the Career and Technical
Education Department, made contact with Kansas State University at Salina in
October 2006.
Discussion began regarding the integration of how Cowley’s technical areas
could compliment and integrate into their technology management, electronic and
computer engineering management, and mechanical engineering technology programs.
The addition of Cowley’s mechatronics program also precipitated additional
conversation on collaboration.
This will be the first agreements made with the Engineering Technology Management
Departments at K-State at Salina.
“From a department head’s point of view I think it is an excellent
opportunity, not just for Cowley students, but for Kansas State University as
a whole,” K-State at Salina head of the department of engineering technology
John E. DeLeon said. “I believe we are providing a pathway that is very
much needed in this state and in the nation.”
Dixie Schierlman, associate dean of student life/director of college advancement
at Kansas State at Salina, said it is part of the Board of Regents initiative
to work with other colleges in the state to make opportunities available for
college students to obtain bachelors degrees.
According to K-State at Salina’s Raju Dandu, who serves as an associate
professor in the Mechanical Engineering Technology Department, student’s
that graduated from Kansas State’s technology programs over the past few
years had a 100 percent employment rate.
“This is a great opportunity for students of Cowley who want to pursue
a bachelor’s degree,” Dandu said. “This will provide a quality
of life for the students and the community.”
“We are hoping when they step in the doors of Cowley College as freshmen
their end goal will be to transfer into our program and get a bachelor degree
at K-State,” Schierlman said.
“We share kind of the same mission with K-State at Salina as they look
at putting their students to work in business and industry,” Crouse said. “This
is a two-way street, where we can end up recruiting for K-State, and they will
also help us by encouraging students to come through the Career and Tech Ed and
to follow this four-year path.”
Along with the partnership with K-State, Cowley is also planning a partnership
with Southwestern College with its new Leadership Degree, along with the EMS
emphasis in that degree.
“This is the future of education for us, for universities, and for our
students,” Utash said.
