CULLOWHEE – About 30 community college representatives from across Western North Carolina gathered Wednesday, Feb. 26, to discuss ways to simplify the transfer process for their students interesting in pursuing four-year degrees in teacher education at Western Carolina University.
 
The afternoon conference was sponsored by Western’s College of Education and Allied Professions and included administrators, faculty, staff, advisers and learning resources center employees from several community colleges.

Western has articulation agreements with numerous community colleges in the western half of the state, an arrangement designed to provide a seamless, uninterrupted flow of education to the people of the mountain region. Through the agreements, graduates of the two-year colleges can continue working toward their bachelor’s degrees at WCU in several academic programs, including teacher preparation.

“This conference is part of our on-going efforts to help address the severe shortage of qualified teachers not just in North Carolina, which is facing a shortfall of nearly 5,000 classroom teachers per year over the next decade, but across the Southeast,” said Michael Dougherty, dean of the College of Education and Allied Professions.

Participants in the conference at Western included representatives of Asheville-Buncombe Technical; Blue Ridge (Flat Rock); Cleveland (Shelby); Haywood (Clyde); Isothermal (Spindale); Mayland (Spruce Pine); Southwestern (Sylva); Tri-County (Murphy); and Western Piedmont (Morganton) community colleges.

For information about transfer programs at Western, contact the Office of Admissions at (828) 227-7317, toll-free at (877) WCU-4YOU, or click on the Web at www.poweryourmind.com.