Wilberforce University, the historically Black educational institution in Ohio, has signed an agreement with Seattle Central College that will provide for guaranteed admission to Wilberforce for any student who earns an associate’s degree at Seattle Central. Students will be able to transfer to Wilberforce and enter as juniors with all their credits accepted toward a bachelor’s degree.
Seattle Central College enrolls about 6,500 students. African Americans are only 9 percent of the student body.
Sheila Edwards Lange, president of Seattle Central College, told the African American-owned Seattle Medium newspaper, “I want them [our students] to have a broad range of alternatives to consider when trying to obtain a bachelor’s degree. I think there is something that our students can get from an HBCU that they may not get from [places like the University of Washington] that allows them to come out and provide the leadership that our community desperately needs right now.”
Dr. Lange was named interim president in 2015 and president of Seattle Central College in 2016. Earlier, she was as vice president for minority affairs and vice provost for diversity at the University of Washington. Dr. Lange is a graduate of the University of California, Irvine. She holds a master’s degree and a doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies from the University of Washington.
Will the students be offered the option of taking classes at an extension location in the Seattle area? I am a graduate of the Wilberforce CLIMB program and benefiting greatly from the ability to take classes in the evening outside my work hours.
This is a great opportunity for African American students. Thank you Dr. Lange for the amazing work and opportunities you provide for our students and community.
Kudos to you Dr. Lange! Your community college president peers should follow your bold move but unfortunately many won’t! Keep that innovative thinking because that will minority student to bacculaurate degree attainment! You’re the kind of leader that
I am also recent graduate of the Climb program at Wilberforce University. I also want to extend my gratitude and appreciation to Dr. Lange for taking this leap of faith for African Americans afford the opportunities to attain a college degree.
Congrats Dr. Lange. You may be working closely with my former colleague and current friend Cynthia Roseberry.
This is a great opportunity for students. I hope that other community colleges will adopt this idea, especially ones in the Miami Valley Area.
Lisa