TUALATIN, OR – The Oregon Alliance of Independent Colleges and Universities (The Alliance) has been awarded a three-year, $321,200 implementation grant by the Teagle Foundation and Arthur Vining Davis Foundations in support of their work on the Oregon Transfer Pathways to the Liberal Arts (OTP-LA) project.
The Alliance represents regionally-accredited, private, nonprofit colleges and universities across the state of Oregon. Together, with colleagues from ten of The Alliance’s liberal arts institution partners and Oregon’s 17 community colleges, they will build on a 2020 planning grant to develop clear, curricular pathways between Oregon’s community colleges and private, liberal arts institutions. The ten Alliance member institutions participating in the Oregon Transfer Pathways to the Liberal Arts work are: Bushnell University, Corban University, George Fox University, Lewis & Clark College, Linfield University, Multnomah University, Pacific University, University of Portland, Warner Pacific University, and Willamette University.
The Alliance and partners seek to create and build on existing consortium-level degree pathways that ensure students’ ability to transfer credits from a community college to an Alliance member institution in a clear, efficient, and consistent manner, paving the way to timely completion of bachelor’s degree programs. As part of this project, The Alliance and its members will establish a guarantee of admission to students who complete the Oregon Transfer Module (OTM) or earn an Associate of Arts Oregon Transfer (AAOT) or Associate of Science Oregon Transfer (ASOT) degree at an Oregon community college. This will help reduce the number of credits lost in transfer and create a clear path for students to enroll in an Alliance college or university. The first four disciplines that The Alliance and partners will focus on are biology, English/writing, mathematics, and psychology.
“We are grateful to The Teagle Foundation and Arthur Vining Davis Foundations for providing this opportunity for Oregon’s private, nonprofit colleges and universities to expand the quality and breadth of educational offerings for community college transfer students,” said Alliance President Brent Wilder. “We are eager to continue demonstrating the value and relevance of Oregon’s private colleges in a rapidly-changing higher education climate.”
With the confidence and support of The Teagle Foundation and The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, The Alliance and its partners look forward to strengthening efforts to facilitate transfer as part of the community college student’s successful journey towards earning their bachelor’s degree.
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The Oregon Alliance of Independent Colleges and Universities (“The Alliance”) is comprised of 12 private, nonprofit, independent colleges and universities in the state of Oregon. These institutions deliver high-quality experiential learning with high-impact teaching strategies. The Alliance is the collective voice of Oregon’s independent, nonprofit higher education sector. For more information, visit www.oaicu.org.