Streamlining Transfer Process From Columbia College To UC Merced

(from left to right) Dr. James Zimmerman, UC Merced Special Assistant to the Provost on Transfer Initiatives; Dr. Chad Redwing, MJC Interim President; Dr. Don Davis, YCCD Trustee Area 1; Dr. Marjorie Zatz, UC Merced Interim Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost; Mrs. Jenny Nicolau, YCCD Trustee Area 4; Mr. Antonio Aguilar, YCCD Trustee Area 7; Dr. Henry C. V. Yong, YCCD Chancellor; Dr. Lena Tran, Columbia College President; Mrs. Leslie Beggs, YCCD Trustee Area 6; Dr. Juan Sánchez Muñoz, UC Merced Chancellor; Dr. Milton Richards, YCCD Trustee Area 3; Dr. Charles Nies, UC Merced Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs

Columbia, CA — The Yosemite Community College District and UC Merced are celebrating an agreement signed this week by leaders from the schools.

YCCD includes both Columbia College and Modesto Junior College. The agreement, known as the “Merced Promise Pathway” memorandum of understanding streamlines and improves the transfer process between YCCD and UC Merced.

“With this agreement, our students’ futures are now brighter and more promising,” says YCCD Chancellor Henry Yong.

UC Merced Chancellor Juan Sanchez Munoz adds, “In signing this agreement, we honor the original purpose that impelled the UC system to place its newest campus in the Central Valley (founded in 2005). A vote to increase college -going rates among the valley’s population, and a promise of progress and a better life.”

Details are below:

· Review pathways to facilitate an orderly and smooth transition from MJC and/or Columbia to UC Merced.

· Attract, track, and retain qualified YCCD transfer students to UC Merced with an aspirational goal to increase transfers to 100 students by 2025.

· Target first-year YCCD students for program participation who applied to UC Merced as high school seniors but were not granted admission.

· Develop an online program mapper, a clear, simple-to-use tool that will allow students to select a program of study and accelerate their progress toward completion.

· Develop opportunities for summer undergraduate research projects for community college students on track to transfer to UC Merced.

· Develop a Yosemite Promise Scholars program for students who met specified criteria and for UC Merced to offer a financial scholarship package to attend the university as part of a transfer pathway