Halifax Community College signed a bilateral agreement today with East Carolina University’s Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences to offer Criminal Justice students an innovative path to a four-year degree that would start at the community college.
The new partnership offers graduates of HCC’s associate in applied sciences degree in Criminal Justice Technology a clear pathway into a bachelor’s degree at ECU with 60 credits guaranteed to transfer from HCC to ECU.
Students who graduate from HCC’s Criminal Justice program can complete a bachelor’s with two additional years of study. The agreement will go into effect during the fall semester.
To be eligible for participation in this articulation agreement, students must successfully complete the AAS in Criminal Justice Technology, meeting the graduation requirements at HCC with a minimum 2.0 GPA. A grade of C or better is needed for courses to transfer from HCC to ECU.
“Unlike most articulation agreements, what makes this transfer pathway so unique is that Criminal Justice students will be able to take courses in their major that will transfer to the four-year program,” said Dr. Allen Guidry, interim vice provost for academic affairs at ECU. “Most agreements limit students to taking general education courses and electives before transferring, which essentially requires students to wait two years until they can begin studying the courses they are interested in as their major.”
HCC Vice President of Academic Affairs Jeffery Fields said, “With this agreement, students can take courses such as corrections, criminology and criminal law during their first two years at HCC while also taking general education courses alongside those core classes.”
Fields said, “This option offers the best of both worlds and allows students to get their foot in the door of their careers right away.”
Planning discussions have been underway for almost a year to coordinate specifics of this partnership.
“As an ECU graduate, I’m excited about the potential for many HCC students to transfer to ECU to pursue a criminal justice degree,” said HCC Criminal Justice Department Head and English instructor Gary Redding. “This partnership will hopefully also inspire these students in the Roanoke Valley to become criminal justice professionals.”
HCC students interested in learning more about the Patriot to Pirate CJC program should contact Redding at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..