OCC, SUNY Potsdam sign 2+2 partnership agreement

ONONDAGA — Onondaga Community College (OCC) and the State University of New York (SUNY) at Potsdam today announced a 2+2 partnership agreement, the sixth such agreement OCC has signed.

It allows students who earn their associate degree at OCC to transfer to SUNY Potsdam with junior status, where they can complete a bachelor’s degree, according to Casey Crabill, OCC president.

Crabill and Dennis Hefner, interim president at SUNY Potsdam, inked the agreement during a short ceremony in Recital Hall of the OCC’s newest building, Academic II.

OCC chose a recital hall for its signing ceremony with SUNY Potsdam “because of the new connection of this 2+2 partnership within the music department and SUNY Potsdam’s world-renowned Crane School of Music. Our students will now have a seamless pathway to a four-year degree at Potsdam, both in music as well as other academic programs,” Crabill said.

Besides music, the 2+2 agreement covers six additional degree programs at OCC, including computer science, childhood education, and criminal justice. A total of 53 degree programs at SUNY Potsdam are also part of the arrangement, including biology, business, mathematics, and physics, Crabill said.

OCC and SUNY Potsdam advisers will provide academic advising to students enrolled in the 2+2 program, the schools said in a joint news release about the announcement.

With the signing, OCC now has similar agreements with six colleges and universities, including Syracuse University, Le Moyne College, St. John Fisher College, the University at Buffalo, and SUNY Alfred, the community college said. 

SUNY Potsdam has similar transfer agreements with North Country Community College and Clinton Community College.  It is working on transfer agreements with Jefferson Community College and SUNY Canton, according to the news release.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com