The following story was published Wednesday, May 25 in UANews, a service of the Office of University Communications, following a signing ceremony and announcement by Northrop Grumman of the Sierra Vista Innovation Campus.

The University of Arizona and Cochise College signed a new transfer agreement today with more than one dozen undergraduate degree options being offered. 

Students can begin their studies at Cochise College before transferring to UA’s main campus or UA South, which is located in Sierra Vista, without interruption and without the threat of losing completed credit hours.

UA President Robert N. Shelton and J.D. Rottweiler, the Cochise College president, were central to the forming of the Pathways agreement, said Jim Shockey, campus executive director for UA South.

“The signing of the agreement represents each schools’ commitment to creating a culture of efficient transfer,” Shockey said during a signing ceremony held at UA South announcing the partnership.

The agreement is driven by demands to increase the percentage of undergraduate degree recipients in Arizona, to strengthen the community college-to-university transfer and also serve students in their home communities.

The signing coincided with another announcement – “Innovation Campus,” a new collaboration with the higher education and K-12 systems and Northrop Grumman Corp., a global company that maintains an aerospace systems sector in southern Arizona. The partnership is designed to help drive more Cochise County students toward engineering-related careers.

Just as Innovation Campus students will be able to complete their coursework in Sierra Vista, so will those taking advantage of the Pathways agreement.

As it is written, the agreement Shelton and Rottweiler signed “is intended to be an overarching, flexible and responsive mechanism” for creating Pathways agreements between the college and University.

The 14 new undergraduate degrees are:  

  • For a bachelor’s of science, the programs are in commerce, computer science, family studies and human development, mathematics and psychology.
  • For a bachelor’s of arts, the programs are in anthropology, history, political science and psychology.
  • And for a bachelor of applied science, the programs are in human services, intelligence studies, network administration, supervision and also supervision with a logistics emphasis. 

Students pursuing a bachelor’s of art or a bachelor’s of science can expect to complete about 60 units at each institution with bachelor of applied science students having the option to complete up to 75 units at Cochise College and 45 or more units at UA South.

To qualify for the Pathways agreement and participate in one of the 14 programs, students must be enrolled at Cochise College and jointly admitted to the University. Students also must maintain a 2.0 grade-point average.

Upon completing an associate’s degree at Cochise College, students can then transfer to the University – provided that they meet UA’s admissions requirements – to complete their coursework toward an undergraduate degree. 

Shelton said he was especially excited at the opportunity of offering students more options for higher education.

“We know that UA main campus is not always the best option for all students, therefore our partnership with Cochise College and other community colleges is both strategic and critical,” Shelton said during the event. “This is just the beginning.”