Clark State College president Dr. Jo Alice Blondin participated in a signing ceremony for the Ohio Consortium for Transfer Pathways to the Liberal Arts, held on December 7, at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio, committing to accessible, affordable, and flexible higher education for Ohio students.

The ceremony served as an opportunity to highlight the individuals and colleges who made this program possible as well as pledge that all partner institutions will continue to come together to work toward transfer student success.

The Consortium has united 14 independent colleges and universities and 11 community colleges in Ohio to remove obstacles and establish transfer pathways to a bachelor’s degree for students at community colleges now and in the future.

“Clark State is deeply committed to ensuring high-quality, affordable pathways to degrees, and this compact allows our students a smooth transition to excellent universities while maximizing their credits: in other words, a win-win for all,” said Blondin.

In signing the transfer pledge, participants committed to understand and honor their connected roles in enhancing and providing access for students across Ohio. The program accounts for the fact that students’ dreams, goals and educations often evolve course by course, semester to semester, and that courses can be combined to build degree programs. The value of transfer pathways is that they offer an assurance to students that each consortium member believes in and follows a common and proven path to increase student success.

Naomi Louis, dean of Arts and Sciences at Clark State said the Clark State currently holds state approved Ohio Guaranteed Transfer Pathways in multiple areas for our students including biology, English and psychology. 

“As a part of the Ohio Consortium for Transfer Pathways to the Liberal Arts, we have been able to extend the benefits of these defined pathways to our students who attend private universities and colleges as well,” said Louis. “We are excited to have had the opportunity to participate in this collaboration and to establish a more seamless transfer path for students attending these institutions, increasing the likelihood that they will complete a bachelor’s degree.”

The consortium was launched in the fall of 2021 and made possible through a grant from the Teagle Foundation and Arthur Vining Davis Foundations.

More information about the Consortium is available at: https://www.ofic.org/transfer-pathways