From the Malvern Daily Record

Roger Phillips Transfer Policy Act is featured during LR ceremony

By Mark Bivens — Editor & Press Releases
A press conference and photo event was held Thursday at the Clinton School in Little Rock regarding a new proposed Associate of Science in Business transfer degree.  The A.S. in Business transfer degree is among the agenda items the Arkansas Department of Higher Education's (ADHE) Coordinating Board is scheduled to act on at its meeting today.

The effort to develop an A.S. in Business transfer degree was led by Dr. Pat Bailey, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs, Arkansas State University-Mountain Home (ASUMH), Dr. Larry Davis, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Arkansas State University-Newport, and Karen Hopper, Associate Vice  Chancellor for Research, Special Projects, and Distance Learning, ASUMH.  

Dr. Bailey said, "With the passage by the Arkansas legislature of the state transfer agreement known as Act 182 or the Roger Phillips Transfer Policy Act of 2009, work began to develop the A.S. in Business transfer degree."

State Rep. Mike Burris was the author and lead sponsor of ACT 182 know as the “Roger Phillips Transfer Policy.”  It was named in honor of Roger Phillips, who worked in Malvern Public Schools, Glen Rose Public Schools and Ouachita Technical College for many years.

The Roger Phillips Transfer Act of 2009 guarantees that Arkansas two-year college students who complete Associate of Arts, Associate of Science, and Associate of Science in Teaching degrees have the right to transfer freshman and sophomore-level courses to any public four-year institution in Arkansas.  In addition, four-year public institutions of higher education in Arkansas are required to accept all hours completed and credits earned upon a student's transfer to a baccalaureate degree program and admit the transfer student with junior status.

Bailey reached out to her colleague  at the state’s two-year colleges and four-year universities for assistance to develop the agreements and led a series of meetings that has culminated with nine of the state's 10 eligible four-year institutions and 20 of the state's 22 two-year institutions pledging their support for the new transfer degree.

Bailey added, "The Roger Phillips Transfer Act demonstrated for all of us in Arkansas higher education that we need to take every possible opportunity to streamline the transfer process for our students.  The proposed A.S. in Business is the next step in what we hope will lead to further efforts for smooth transfers for Arkansas students."
Davis said, "We also want to send a strong message to Governor Beebe that we stand behind his vision of creating more bachelor degree trained Arkansans."

Governor Beebe has said, "Our state's future depends on increasing the number of citizens with degrees. The better educated our workforce is, the better equipped we will be to recruit high-tech, knowledge-based jobs. This means that the effort to increase college-graduation rates doesn't just help these students, it helps the prosperity of our state and our communities."

Bailey noted that while the A.S. in Business initiative is a win-win for the colleges and universities, it is the students at the participating institutions who will be the winners in the long run, as well as the state of Arkansas.

Institutions supporting the A.S. in Business initiative have asked the members of the Arkansas legislature to join them for the event, along with Dr. Ed Franklin, Executive Director of the Arkansas Association of Two-Year Colleges, and Dr. Jim Purcell, Director of ADHE.