"The presidents of Amarillo College and Texas Tech University on Nov. 16 will sign a unique articulation agreement aimed at successfully propelling future Horticulture majors at AC to degrees in Plant and Soil Science at Texas Tech.
Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart, AC president, and Dr. Lawrence Schovanec, president of Texas Tech, will formalize the agreement at 10 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 16 on the second floor of the College Union Building at AC’s Washington Street Campus.
Much more than a conventional transfer agreement, this innovative pact is designed to establish a working partnership that generates meaningful, reciprocal interaction between faculty and students at both schools.
AC’s new associate degree program in horticulture will become available for the first time in fall 2018, and by then it will be supported by a grant-funded greenhouse and new laboratory facilities currently under construction on the Washington Street Campus.
The articulation agreement between AC and Texas Tech will open the doors for collaborative research among faculty and students of both schools, projects to be jointly undertaken at the AC greenhouse, at University facilities in Lubbock, or elsewhere.
Amarillo-area high school students will have the opportunity to join introductory research activities at AC before deciding on a higher educational pathway, and the agreement will help facilitate credit-bearing industry internships for AC’s students of Horticulture.
AC graduates will not only be familiar with Texas Tech’s Plant and Soil Science faculty before they even transfer to the Lubbock-based University, but they also may choose to pursue a bachelor’s degree at Tech completely online – remaining in Amarillo and fulfilling lab requirements at the AC greenhouse.
“We are forging a relationship beyond what a community college and a university normally have,” Dr. Claudie Biggers, chair of AC’s Biology Department, said. “This will create a pipeline for student success by the very robust nature of the relationship, and we expect it to lead our students not only to bachelor’s degrees, but in many cases to master’s degrees and beyond.”"
-Amarillo College
