EWU and BCC to create university center on Bellevue campus

BELLEVUE, WASH.– Bellevue Community College (BCC) and Eastern Washington University (EWU) will sign an agreement April 1 that responds directly to the state’s need for greater educational capacity at the junior- and senior-year levels of higher education.

The two schools will formally commit to the creation of Eastern Washington University @ Bellevue, a university center on the BCC campus offering upper division courses that lead to EWU bachelor’s degrees.

The agreement formalizes and expands a growing partnership between the two schools and promises the creation of additional “2+2” degrees on the BCC campus. In these “2+2” degrees, students will take the first two years of their program as BCC students then complete their bachelor’s degree by taking junior- and senior-level classes under the auspices of EWU – but on the BCC campus.

In fall 2005, EWU intends to launch two new 2+2 bachelor’s degree programs at BCC – one in business administration and the other in early childhood education.

Under the terms of the agreement, EWU and BCC will pursue concurrent enrollment opportunities and work together in recruitment activities.

EWU also has begun leasing office space on the BCC campus.

“Our agreement with BCC is an important expansion of our growing cooperation and a crucial expansion of Eastern’s presence in western Washington,” said Dr. Stephen Jordan, EWU president. “We expect to use our location at BCC as a headquarters for all of our activities in western Washington.”

“With a shortage of upper division space for community college transfer students at the state’s four-year schools, we need to find creative ways to add to the baccalaureate capacity in western Washington,” said Jean Floten, president of BCC. “This agreement is one good way to help solve Washington’s capacity crisis in higher education: an efficient use of state resources that responds directly to the need.”

EWU already offers two degrees in BCC facilities – one a bachelor’s in computer network service, maintenance and support, and the other a bachelor’s in interdisciplinary studies, focused on social and behavioral sciences.

Eastern Washington University is a student-centered, regionally-based comprehensive university. Its main campus is located in Cheney, Wash., within the Spokane metropolitan area, with additional learning centers in the region and elsewhere in the state of Washington. Eastern provides strong liberal arts education underpinned by career preparation. It is a university of opportunity that prepares broadly educated, technologically proficient and highly productive citizens for a diverse world.

Serving more than 35,000 students per year, Bellevue Community College is the third largest institution of higher learning in Washington state. BCC offers associate degrees, certificates and continuing education programs in the traditional arts, humanities and sciences, as well as information technology, telecommunications, business, health sciences, social sciences, educational development and numerous other professional and technical fields.

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