(Cobleskill, N.Y. – Sept. 12, 2017) SUNY Cobleskill President Marion Terenzio and SUNY Empire State College President Merodie Hancock today announced an agreement to open a seamless new pathway for business students to earn a graduate degree.

The articulation agreement allows qualified Bachelor of Business Administration students at SUNY Cobleskill to transfer smoothly into the Master of Business Administration in Business Management program at SUNY Empire. The agreement immediately enables SUNY Cobleskill BBA students to cross-register for up to nine credits of SUNY Empire MBA coursework, and establishes a framework for developing a combined BBA-MBA program registered jointly by both institutions.

“SUNY Cobleskill is dedicated to creating learning pathways tailored to continuous and suitable student progress from secondary school through to their desired goals,” said Terenzio. “This new partnership with SUNY Empire State College gives our business students a valuable opportunity to continue seamlessly to a graduate degree program.”

“Today’s agreement with SUNY Cobleskill is all about getting students to complete their MBA in the most convenient, time- and cost-efficient manner possible, while at the same time, ensuring students receive the high-quality SUNY education they expect, need and deserve,” said Hancock. “My thanks go to President Marion Terenzio, Provost Susan Zimmermann and their hard-working staffs for making today’s agreement possible, and I look forward to offering additional opportunities, and even greater access, to our graduate programs for more Cobleskill students.”

To qualify for cross-registration, SUNY Cobleskill BBA students must have successfully completed at least 75 credits of coursework and have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or above. The combined BBA-MBA program, outlined by the agreement, will allow SUNY Cobleskill BBA students to apply for the program after completing 60 credits of coursework with a cumulative GPA of 3.2 or above at the time of admission. Application fees, application essays and letters of recommendation will be waived for successful applicants.

About SUNY Cobleskill

With an emphasis on experiential education, SUNY Cobleskill prepares students for successful careers, advanced studies and engaged citizenship. SUNY Cobleskill is an accredited, baccalaureate, residential college, with a rich academic tradition that spans 100 years. Today, more than 2,500 students are enrolled in the 56 baccalaureate and associate degree programs offered through the School of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the School of Business and Liberal Arts and Sciences. Students live and learn on a modern, 902-acre campus that features outstanding educational facilities, including a contiguous farm with an equestrian center and 200-cow dairy facility, cold and warm water fish hatcheries, a USDA-approved meat lab, 14 greenhouses and a conservatory, specialized classrooms and laboratories, two state-of-the-art culinary arts teaching kitchens, a student-run restaurant, child development and child care centers, a new Design Center and an art gallery. More information about SUNY Cobleskill is at Cobleskill.edu.

About SUNY Empire State College

Empire State College, the nontraditional, open college of the SUNY system, educates nearly 18,000 students worldwide at eight international sites, more than 30 locations across the state of New York, online, as well as face to face and through a blend of both, at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

The average age of an undergraduate student at the college is 35 and graduate students’ average age is 40.

Most Empire State College students are working adults. Many are raising families and meeting civic commitments in the communities where they live, while studying part time.

In addition to awarding credit for prior college-level learning, the college pairs each undergraduate student with a faculty mentor who supports that student throughout his or her college career.

Working with their mentors, students design an individual degree program and engage in guided independent study and coursework on site, online or through a combination of both, which provides the flexibility for students to choose where, when and how to learn.

The college’s more than 80,000 alumni are active in their communities as entrepreneurs, politicians, business professionals, artists, nonprofit agency employees, teachers, veterans and active military, union members and more.

The college was first established in 1971 by the SUNY Board of Trustees with the encouragement of the late Ernest L. Boyer, chancellor of the SUNY system from 1970 to 1977.

Boyer also served as United States commissioner of education during the administration of President Jimmy Carter and then as president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

More information about the college is available at www.esc.edu.