More transfer degrees OK’d at Glendale Community College

Glendale Community College officials approved hosting three more associate-transfer-degree programs last week, bringing the total number of programs to 20 after more than a year’s effort to create improved transfer pathways from the Glendale campus to Cal State universities.

The college’s trustees voted to host a transfer-degree program in studio arts, journalism and art history, adding to 17 other programs the school already offers, such as psychology and business administration.

Back in 2010, legislation called on community colleges to create transfer-degree pathways to better enable students to transfer into the Cal State University system.

Part of the goal is to have students complete their degrees in a timely fashion and without duplicating courses, potentially wasting time on the way to earning a bachelor’s degree.

By June 2013, Glendale Community College had established only four programs, but college officials have since been working to expand on them, and they’re not done yet.

Mary Mirch, the college’s vice president of instruction, said additional courses will be added to the curriculum, once state college officials who are working with the Cal State campuses approve more of them.

Once students enroll in the transfer programs at Glendale Community College, they must complete 30 units in the subject they’re studying to be given “preferential admission” to Cal State campuses, Mirch said.

“It may or may not be your local [Cal State campus], but, if the Cal State is impacted, then this is one of the things that will help you to gain admission into that particular program,” she added.