Northeastern Technical College and Coker College signed an articulation agreement on June 7 that will facilitate an easy progression for students from NETC’s associate degree in criminal justice program to Coker’s bachelor’s degree in criminology.
The signing ceremony took place at Coker’s Lawton-Wiggins House.
Attending the ceremony were Coker College President Robert Wyatt, NETC President Ron Bartley, faculty members from Coker and NETC and city officials from Hartsville.
“The memorandum of understanding between Coker College and NETC, which we officially sign and warmly celebrate today, confirms the long-held commitment of both institutions to serve the Pee Dee region by providing our students with the rigorous academic programs they demand,” Wyatt said.
“Over the past several months, as we discussed details about advising and course planning, I am proud of the fact that our administrative teams looked beyond the nuts and bolts of transcripts and credit transfer policies,” said Wyatt. “Foremost, we held ourselves to the higher priority of ensuring that students in the Pee Dee have unfettered access to the human and physical resources of both institutions. I am appreciative of President Bartley’s leadership in making this bridge possible.”
“We, at NETC, appreciate all that Coker College has done to build pathways for our students to continue their education and pursue careers like this one,” Bartley said. “Thanks to Dr. Wyatt and his team for all that they have done for both the NETC and Coker College community to make this transition possible.”
According to NETC’s Online Coordinator Mark Weiss, the majority of NETC’s criminal justice majors take classes online, but classes are also offered on campus. Certain classes are required to be taken on campus as opposed to online.
Coker presently has 82 criminology majors. NETC has approximately 60 declared criminology majors.
Coker has already received its first application from an NETC graduate who plans to pursue a bachelor’s degree in criminology.
According to a 2011 report of the American Sociological Association, demand in academia for criminology and related subfields is rising. In fact, the report showed that the number of assistant professor and open-rank positions in the field had increased by 32 percent over the previous year.
Facilitating the progression from an applied program to a bachelor’s degree is intended to strengthen the preparation for practitioners and open doors to graduate programs for those who desire a deeper foundation in the theory and literature of the discipline.
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