TAMUK, TSC, expand on collaboration through MOU signing

6 months ago 162

BROWNSVILLE, Texas – Texas Southmost College and Texas A&M University Kingsville have signed a memorandum of understanding to solidify their collaboration and enhance educational opportunities for students.

The MOU was signed by TAMUK president Dr. Robert H. Vela Jr. and TSC president Jesus Rodriguez at the TSC Performing Arts Center in Brownsville on Monday, February 12.

The two presidents said the signing expands the partnership already established between the two organizations. That expansion includes the addition of more articulation agreements, allowing for even more 2+2 academic programs between the institutions to be built.

Rodríguez said these programs will provide students with a more seamless avenue through which they can transfer to Texas A&M Kingsville once they have completed their first two years at TSC.

“Our students believe in themselves as much as we believe in them, and that belief is a shared value between TSC and Texas A&M Kingsville,” Rodriguez said. “Together, we have forged a new pathway for economic mobility to move our communities forward.”

Rodriguez said signing the MOU is a win-win for both institutions.

“Providing high quality affordable education remains a focus for both institutions. TSC is the most affordable institution of higher education in the entire Rio Grande Valley. A student can complete their (general education) or associates degree at one third the cost of a local university and then transfer to Kingsville and be confident that their credits have maximum transferability. They are earning time and money,” Rodriguez said.

TSC’s Board Trustees are always strategic in who they partner with, Rodriguez explained.

“We don’t partner for the sake of partnering, but we bring value added to our communities and the opportunities for their success and TAMUK represents that partnership for us.”

TAMUK’s Vela said TSC students will be eligible for his university’s Javelina Promise Program, which covers tuition gaps remaining after Texas grants and scholarships have been applied.

“Students need choices. Wherever they feel comfortable and feel like they can thrive, that’s the institution for them. We just want to be a part of that because we know the tradition that we have in this community is powerful,” Vela said.

“Texas Southmost College and Texas A&I University were the [originals] of South Texas. We were here for these communities when no one else believed in South Texas. There is an array of excellence that has come from (both institutions). When you can marry those values and you can bring what we do day in and day out and the commitment to strategize and figure out ways to make things easier for our students, there’s something special in the air with this partnership,” Vela continued.

State Sen. Morgan LaMantia was one of the people on-hand for the MOU signing. She praised the agreement and expressed its importance to South Texas.

“I wanted to highlight just how important both TSC and Texas A&M-Kingsville have been to both of our communities, to our histories, how they’ve impacted South Texas generation after generation,” LaMantia said.

“Whether they went to TSC or A&M-Kingsville or A&I, it’s that pride and that history that I think reverberates through all the students through all the professors and the administrators in both schools. And so, partnership between these two schools, seeing these two colors up here together, I think, makes more sense. I can’t believe it’s taken so long for it to happen, but so glad it has.”

LaMantia added: “I can’t think of two other schools that are more meant to partner together, to help our students propel even further.”