Historically Black Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina recently established partnerships with Pitt Community College in Winterville, North Carolina, and Edgecombe Community College in Tarboro, North Carolina, to create pathways for students at those institutions to earn bachelor’s degrees at ECSU.
The new agreements will allow students to be admitted to ECSU and either community college simultaneously, and move to the university after completion of their associate’s degree. African Americans make up 57 percent of the student body at Edgecombe Community College and 36 percent of the student body at Pitt Community College.
“We are demonstrating one of the many ways we can collaborate and provide career paths to the students we serve,” said Karrie Dixon, chancellor of Elizabeth City State University.
For both partnerships, the agreements highlighted three degree programs that will allow for seamless transition between the community colleges and ECSU. Two of those programs, criminal justice and business administration, include an online component in which participating students will complete their associate’s degree at their respective community college and then finish their bachelor’s degree online through ECSU. The other highlighted degree program was birth-to-kindergarten education, which will require students to complete two-years of hands-on class work at ECSU’s early childhood laboratory after earning their associate’s degree.
“At Edgecombe we are dedicated to fulfilling the needs of our students,” said Edgecombe Community College president Gregory McLeod. “We are working to move them forward and we look forward to a strong, successful and long-lasting relationship with ECSU.”
