Contact: Melissa Reifert
April 27, 2007

MECC, UVA-Wise Partnership Enables Simple Transfer for AIMS Students

Representatives from Mountain Empire Community College and The University of Virginia’s College at Wise formally signed a partnership agreement today that will create a simple means for students to move between the two institutions and serve the region by creating opportunities for increased access to higher education.

The dual admission Appalachia Inter-Mountain Scholars (AIMS) Higher Program Partnership Agreement enables students who enter MECC as AIMS Higher scholarship recipients to later transfer to UVa-Wise, where they will pursue and complete a four-year degree.

MECC President Terrance Suarez and UVa-Wise Chancellor David J. Prior signed the partnership agreement on April 27 on the MECC campus.

“This program is an excellent example of how the public schools, Mountain Empire Community College and UVa-Wise can collaborate to enhance educational opportunities for students throughout Southwest Virginia,” Chancellor Prior said.

“This concurrent admission agreement is another step forward for the public schools, MECC, and UVa-Wise,” stated President Suarez. “Our partnership will help to create, as Delegate Bud Phillips so aptly described, a ‘culture of education’ in Southwest Virginia.”

The AIMS Higher Scholarship Program encourages Virginia-resident high school students in Dickenson, Lee, Scott, and Wise Counties and the City of Norton to complete a challenging curriculum, and to pursue higher education. In order to qualify for the scholarship, students must achieve a grade of at least “C” or better in each of the 17 approved high school courses, maintain a 95% school attendance rate throughout high school, have no out of school suspensions, and complete 20 hours of community service over a four-year period.

“By creating a laddered program from high school, to MECC, to UVa-Wise, we are giving students and their families a clear and supportive blueprint for success,” Prior said.

AIMS Higher Program participants who want to take advantage of the partnership agreement with UVa-Wise must demonstrate full-time enrollment at MECC, complete the necessary coursework to receive an associate degree in a transfer program within three years, demonstrate at least a 2.5 grade point average, earn no grade below a “C” during the period of enrollment at MECC, demonstrate sound character and remain in good standing while enrolled, and participate in all program events.

Eligible participants will, in addition to concurrent admission to both schools, enjoy a number of benefits, including full tuition assistance.

Representatives from UVa-Wise and MECC, as well as Norton City Schools Superintendent Lee Brannon, met on April 27 for the official signing of the AIMS Higher Program Partnership Agreement, which will create a simple means for students to move between the two institutions, and serve the region by creating opportunities for increased access to higher education.

(Front row, left to right) MECC President Terrance Suarez and UVa-Wise Chancellor David J. Prior

(Back row, left to right) Bill Wendle, UVa-Wise Director of Financial Aid; Gilmer Blackburn, UVa-Wise Provost and Senior Vice-Chancellor; Rusty Necessary, UVa-Wise Vice-Chancellor for Enrollment Management; Lisa Butcher, MECC Director of Student Services; Donna Stanley, MECC Vice-President of Institutional Advancement; Carolyn Reynolds, MECC Dean of Arts and Sciences Division; and Lee Brannon, Norton City Schools Superintendent

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