Bay Mills Community College (BMCC) continues to provide educational opportunities to students across the country. On May 5, BMCC penned an agreement with Nebraska Indian Community College, which will allow NICC students with an associate’s degree in early childhood education to seamlessly transfer into BMCC’s bachelor’s degree program.  BMCC anticipates students to start taking advantage of the articulation agreement as early as this fall.

NICC officials visited the campus for the signing, as well as a tour of the BMCC campus. The articulation signing included NICC president Michael Oltrogge, NICC dean of academics Kristine Sudbeck, BMCC president Duane Bedell, and BMCC vice president of academic affairs Samantha Cameron. Also joining were NICC Education Division head, Viji Rajasekar and BMCC Early Childhood Education (ECE) Department chair, Heather Stelzer.

“This articulation is the first step-in a long-lasting relationship between NICC and BMCC’s Early Childhood Departments. We are excited to support shared students in their educational journey from one TCU to another,” said Stelzer.

ECE is for students who are interested in working with young children, birth to eight years of age, and their families. Students acquire an understanding of developmental patterns in such areas as social and emotional development; language and literacy; cognition; and perceptual, motor, and physical development. A secondary focus is imparting an understanding of Native American culture as it applies to children in early childhood programs.

This is the second articulation agreement for the BMCC program. The ECE Department has articulations with Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College and a transfer guide with Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College.

The college received approval to offer the ECE degree, BMCC’s first bachelor’s degree completely online, beginning in the fall of 2018.  The Bachelor of Arts degree in ECE is intended to assist in the preparation of teachers and administrators of Native American Head Start/Early Head Start facilities nationwide. BMCC also offers an Associate of Arts and a Certificate of Completion in ECE completely online and has been providing students with online education opportunities for more than 20 years. There are presently 301 students in the program.