MCCCD and NAU partnership
creates easy path to bachelor’s
The Connection is an important partnership between the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) and Northern Arizona University (NAU), designed to help students finish their associate's degree through MCCCD and then complete a bachelor’s degree with NAU.
This partnership was created by Dr. Rufus Glasper, chancellor of Maricopa Community Colleges, and Dr. John Haeger, president of NAU. With visibility on all MCCCD campuses, the partnership has created a stronger NAU presence throughout the Valley.
The Connection also provides MCCCD and NAU faculty with the opportunity to collaborate on articulation to strengthen the transfer process for MCCCD students and make the transition to NAU much easier.
To learn more about the Connection Partnership, visit http://www.maricopa.edu/connection/index.php.
What’s New?
Coming to MCCCD Fall 2009:
BS in Elementary Education-Early Childhood Emphasis:
Estrella Mountain
90-30 Public Management:
Estrella Mountain
Paradise Valley
Scottsdale
South Mountain
NAU scholarship awards student success
NAU is offering a $1,000 transfer scholarship for the 2009-2010 academic year to a newly admitted MCCCD transfer student. Applications are now being accepted.
Deadline to apply is July 1, 2009.
Learn more about the NAU/MCCCD Transfer Scholarship at
www.maricopa.edu/connection/apply/scholarship.php
Kayleigh Wright is a recent recipient of the $1,000 NAU/MCCCD Transfer Scholarship.
A current student in the NAU Hotel & Restaurant Management program, Kayleigh says she found the perfect fit combining the food and beverage industry with her passion to work with people.
Kayleigh transferred from Scottsdale Community College (SCC) to the NAU Bachelor of Science program in fall 2008. She appreciates the flexibility of taking NAU classes at SCC, since she works full time at NYPD Pizza and is still able to maintain a 3.0 GPA.
Kayleigh says working full time allows her to gain invaluable work experience in the restaurant industry that she is able to share with other students in her program.
After graduating, Kayleigh wants to work as a restaurant manager, and ultimately become a regional trainer. She knows hard work and long hours are ahead of her, but says watching food and beverage managers and restaurants succeed makes her investment worthwhile.
“My education and work experience have built a good foundation for me to grow upon and start my career in the hospitality industry on the right foot.”
Kayleigh Wright
NAU HRM student
Tim Kendall motivated by classmates’ perseverance
Tim Kendall is currently a senior in B.S. Speech Communication at NAU.
Tim Kendall was a Glendale Community College (GCC) student taking a course in Intercultural Communication when he heard about the NAU B.S. Speech Communication program from instructor Dr. Jim Reed.
After looking into the program, Tim chose to pursue the NAU Speech Communication degree for two reasons. First, it fit into his work schedule. He works full time and the program’s flexibility allows him to excel in both his professional life and his educational career. Secondly, Tim chose this program on the basis of NAU’s faculty reputation.
Tim says his most memorable moment at NAU was seeing the first group of students give their capstone presentations and graduate. Tim envisioned his graduation in just a few months and it put completing his degree in perspective.
“Very often students become lethargic and drained of motivation during the last two years,” said Tim. “Seeing my fellow classmates graduate gave me the confidence to work toward graduation, with the ability to start a new life with my communication degree. It became tangible at that moment.”
Tim is thankful for the teaching, mentoring and friendship of professors Dr. Jim Reed and Dr. Marie Baker-Ohler. He says the hands-on approach taken by his instructors gave him an invaluable experience.
“Whether it is at home with family and friends or in the workplace, having this skill set is something that is not only essential to building and sustaining healthy relationships, but can act as the hammer that chips away at the communication walls blocking us from reaching our goals in life.”
Tim Kendall
NAU Speech Communication Student
Faculty Profile
Dr. Jim Reed communicates benefits of Connection
In 2005, Dr. Jim Reed and the Glendale Community College (GCC) Speech Communication Department met with Doug Small, NAU Assistant Dean, and two colleagues from NAU, to discuss a bachelor’s degree in speech communication at GCC. Over the next year, the group developed the program’s structure and recruited students. By fall 2006, the partnership was off and running and today celebrates its third year of operation.
Dr. Reed says, “GCC and NAU have a vibrant partnership at the Glendale campus. The program was designed for students to complete an associate’s degree and then finish the final two years at NAU, while staying at GCC. It’s really not a 2+2 program but a seamless partnership – just like you have been at NAU the whole time. Classes tend to be in the evening so the schedule is flexible for working students. The eight week courses allow students to concentrate their efforts into a shorter period as well.
“As a community college instructor, I was visited time and again by students who wanted a letter of recommendation, or maybe some help in going into grad school or getting that first job. When I asked ‘why me,’ they usually answered that their professors for the last two years really didn't know them. That does not happen here in our NAU program. We enjoy our juniors and seniors spending time having these discussions in our offices; that's the fun of being involved in this program. Last year we celebrated our first graduating class; this year we have good-sized classes and more than 70 students ready for fall 2009,” Dr. Reed said.
As for Dr. Reed, he joined the GCC faculty in 1986 after a career in marketing and motivational speaking. He served on the faculty of California State University – San Luis Obispo - prior to his appointment at GCC. He says his greatest joy is in watching a student present a paper or hearing about one of their numerous accomplishments.
Dr. Reed currently serves as the president of GCC’s Department of Communication and World Languages. He is in his third term as president of GCC’s Faculty and serves as advisor to the Associated Student Government. He’s been on MCCCD’s Communication Instructional Council for more than 20 years, and represents MCCCD each year as a member of the Statewide College/University Articulation Task Force.
Currently Dr. Reed teaches courses on interpersonal and intercultural communication, public speaking, as well as voice and articulation. He describes himself as a teacher who researches, not a researcher who teaches and stresses there is a big difference.
Professionally, he’s served as a reviewer for Quarterly Journal of Speech and as an officer for a number of communication organizations. Specifically, he served as president of both the Arizona Communication Association and the Western States Communication Association’s Community College Division. Dr. Reed received GCC’s President’s Award for Instructional Excellence, and more recently he was recognized as ACA’s Outstanding Communication Professor in Arizona.
Dr. Reed received his B.A. from Point Loma University where he majored in English and minored in psychology and philosophy. He earned his master’s in English Language and Literature and his Ph.D. in Communication (Psycholinguistics) both from Southern Illinois University.
GCC and NAU take home innovation award
The GCC/NAU Bachelor of Science in Speech Communication program was selected as GCC’s 2008-2009 Innovation of the Year Award.
Criteria for the award included quality of teaching and learning, efficiency/effectiveness, learning, creativity, timeliness, collaboration and replications.
The coordinated program offers students a seamless Community College–University degree path on the GCC Campus. Unlike a 2+2 model with discrete cohorts, Communiversity students maintain social and academic advantages of traditional programs that are frequently absent from nontraditional degree programs.
Project members included:
- Jean Ann Abel, GCC, VP for Academic Affairs
- Pam Joraanstad, GCC, Communication Assistant Department Chair
- Marie Baker-Ohler, GCC/NAU Faculty & Program Advisor
- Norma Peru-Ray, Program Coordinator, Brandt Short, NAU Professor of Speech Communication
- Jim W. Reed, GCC, Communication Department Chair
- Doug Small, NAU, Assistant Dean Distance Learning
With their win the GCC/NAU Bachelor of Science in Speech Communication team moved on to the district-wide innovation awards, where one team from each MCCCD campus participates. The district wide winner will be announced at the Innovation of the Year Awards Program on Tuesday, April 14, 2009, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at the Rio Salado College Conference Center.