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Partnerships in Support of Student Learning
Internships and informal agreements with community organizations on an individual department basis enhance student learning. Students in business, chemistry, CIS, English, history, nursing, social work, and other programs have opportunities to work in the community through internships and placement in research positions. In addition, the Department of Nursing has extensive community partnerships resulting in approximately $300,000 in funding for its program, including the complete funding for its graduate program. These partnerships also have been instrumental in increasing enrollment numbers from 30 to 90 students admitted yearly in Nursing. Forty percent of the total program budget is from grant dollars. The Department of Music has successful partnerships with the Pueblo Symphony, Pueblo Chorale, Pueblo Children’s Chorale, area high schools, the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center, the Southern Colorado Theatre Company, and other arts groups. The Department of Mass Communication coordinates with Rocky Mountain PBS and the Pueblo Community College program to run digital video media labs. As mentioned above, the CCHE has created a structure for all Colorado institutions of higher education that supports a common core of general education classes that will transfer to other institutions. This and articulation agreements with community colleges allow for a smooth transition to the university for students who have attended two-year colleges.157
On-campus partnerships also offer opportunities to students. The FOCUS First-year Experience program, piloted for two years up to 2005-2006 and to be instituted campus-wide under a Title V grant in 2007-2008, is an illustration of developing partnerships among campus entities. With the First-Year Center in the library, students have access to many resources. In addition, English classes are paired with entry-level classes that are required for majors across campus. These classes are taught in conjunction with one another and share a one-hour lab time for instructors to work with students on joint projects. In the future, closer alliances between the library and SAS and the library and ITS will allow for more integrated support to enhance student success.
One area of potential on-campus partnerships that has not developed fully is team teaching. Additional possibilities for innovative team-teaching are inhibited by the university’s sometimes inflexible faculty teaching-load structure and the state mandate for programs to teach their curriculum within a 120-credit-hour limit.
157Information about the general education transfer agreement, gtPathways, and the articulation agreements for transfer from community colleges to universities in Colorado can be found at http://www.state.co.us/cche/academic/transfer/index.html Further details about university partnerships are provided below under Criteria 4 and 5.
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