Red tape cut in transferring credit from Pima to AIC

Brian Foster Arizona Daily Wildcat AIC Provost Celestino Fern‡ndez (right) and PCC Senior Vice Chancellor Carol Gorsuch sign a contract yesterday at Pima Community College's west campus. This contract, the first of its kind in Arizona, will enable all college credits from Pima Community College to transfer to AIC.

The contract, signed by AIC Provost Celestino Fernández and Carol Gorsuch, PCC's senior vice chancellor, guarantees that all credits accumulated by PCC students will be recognized by AIC.

"In our state there has been an issue about articulation of credits," Fern‡ndez said. "We want to make sure students who want to make the transfer can do it in the shortest, smoothest way possible."

The contract also secures junior status for all transfers from the community college who have completed their two-year associate of arts or associate of science degree.

That waives the requirement that transfers must repeat general education and lower division courses, thus freeing them to pursue upper division courses, Fern‡ndez said.

"It's a continuum," he said. "Students who begin at a community college and want to complete a four-year program can make a smooth transition."

The agreement also benefits AIC students, Gorsuch said.

"If an AIC student comes here and takes a course they can be assured it will transfer," she said.

An agreement like that has never been reached before in Arizona, Gorsuch said.

"It was done as an overture to us and I want to commend Dr. Celestino Fern‡ndez and AIC," Gorsuch said.

J. Graham Smart, president of Pima Community College West, hailed the contract as the start of a partnership between the two colleges.

PCC students, however, are still, like other applicants, subject to the same standards of admission to AIC set by the Arizona Board of Regents, Fern‡ndez said.

"Students still have to meet the same admissions criteria," he said. "Admission is not automatic."

Donald Shropshire, former board of regents president and a Pima Community College governing board member, hailed the agreement.

"I think it's a perfect match," he said, "It's a good move forward for AIC."

Debbie Lorray, a PCC art sophomore hoping to attend AIC next year, was already considering taking advantage of the agreement even as it was being signed.

"It's excellent - it's wonderful," she said. "There's no way you can go wrong."