Articulation gives students course options

By Lesley Nickus
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer

Since 2000, the amount of students enrolled at Cal State Long Beach has skyrocketed, making it more difficult for incoming freshman to gain admittance and transfer students to register for classes. Articulation makes it easier for students to get the classes they need in order to graduate by establishing an agreement with two-year colleges. It is like a contract between four year universities and community colleges that guarantees certain classes will transfer into the general education curriculum and, in some cases, upper division curriculum.

The evaluative process for getting a class approved for articulation is rigorous and requires the cooperation of the Articulation Coordinator, the College Articulation Officers and the Department Chairs as well as cooperation from community colleges. The Office of Articulation recently lost its articulation officer to retirement, leaving the responsibility in the hands of Cecile Lindsay, the associate vice president for graduate and undergraduate programs. "[Articulation] is really important to transfer students," she said. "This way we can avoid having students take classes at community college and not have them count because they aren't articulated."

Most classes that are articulated through the university are lower division. Each individual department in conjunction with the articulation coordinator determines courses that transfer as upper division, or satisfy a major requirement.

Janice Johnson, the articulation officer and counselor for Grossmont College in San Diego, supports articulation. "It is imperative for students who are transferring to know that the courses they take [at community colleges] will not need to be repeated at the university," she said. "Without articulation, it is extremely difficult for students."

Johnson, who has been in the field before articulation agreements were even created, said the biggest challenge she has in coordinating articulation agreements is getting cooperation from the universities. She said it is difficult to get cooperation from articulation coordinators at other colleges.

CSULB has articulation agreements with many community colleges throughout California. The amount of articulated classes is so large that a database has been created to guide students through the process of determining which courses will transfer and which will not, depending on the community college the student is attending. Students can search this database at www.assist.org.

"[Having an articulation agreements is] a huge relief because I know that no matter what, I can be a part of a nursing program," said nursing student Lauren DiGiacomo. She plans to transfer to the nursing program at Saddleback College in Orange County in the spring in order to graduate sooner and be part of a program closer to her hometown.