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During a visit to the Finger Lakes region, SUNY Chancellor John King joined with SUNY Geneseo president Melinda Treadwell to announce the new Community College Honors Pathway program.
Starting this fall, the program will give honors students at five community colleges access to educational resources through Geneseo, New York’s designated public honors college, and will streamline the transfer process to the four-year institution.
“Through this Honors Pathway, SUNY is making it easier for the high-achieving honors students in our community colleges to continue their success and pursue the education of their dreams at SUNY Geneseo,” King says.
“Geneseo is proud to partner with community colleges across the state to expand access to our public honors college experience and to recognize the talent, ambition, and excellence of these distinguished students,” adds Treadwell. “These efforts advance our equity-centered vision by removing barriers, strengthening pathways, and opening doors to transformational educational opportunity.”
The five initial participating community colleges for the program’s first year are Monroe Community College, Onondaga Community College, Hudson Valley Community College, Westchester Community College, and Suffolk County Community College.
“Monroe Community College is honored to be part of this partnership and grateful to Chancellor King and SUNY Geneseo for providing a seamless transition for our students to continue their higher education journey,” says MCC President DeAnna Burt-Nanna. “The Honors Pathways Program allows students like these to maintain the momentum of their success, leading them to bright futures.”
Eligibility for MCC’s Honors Institute includes satisfying at least one of the following requirements: a high school GPA of 87 or higher; graduating in the top 15 percent of high school class; earning a 3.0 GPA or higher at MCC or another college; or obtaining a recommendation from an MCC instructor.
In fall 2024, 91 students were in MCC’s Honors Institute.
“MCC has a robust and prestigious Honors Program, as evidenced by 15 students who were recognized earlier this month with the Distinguished Delegation Award at the annual National Model United Nations Conference in New York City,” Burt-Nanna adds.
SUNY says that up to 100 students will be selected for the Honors Pathway initial cohort. Students will receive an undisclosed monetary stipend, access to academic enrichment, advising services, mentorship opportunities, an annual campus visit, and guaranteed direct admission with junior standing after successfully completing their associate degree.
The pathway program aligns with SUNY’s overall push to streamline transfers, first outlined in King’s 2024 State of the University Policy Agenda. At the end of that year, the SUNY Transfer Task Force released its recommendations, which provided a systemwide road map for improving the transfer process.
So far, a guaranteed pathway agreement has been established between Westchester Community College and SUNY Purchase, while Hudson Valley Community College and Columbia-Greene Community College have dual admission partnerships with SUNY Albany.
In addition, two policies intended to maximize transfer credit and degree applicability for SUNY students moving between campuses were presented by senior leadership at the SUNY Board of Trustees meeting last month. They are currently open for a period of public comment, after which they will be presented to the board for final approval later this spring.
Jacob Schermerhorn is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer and data journalist.
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