Lone Star College-CyFair and University of Houston-Downtown (UHD) recently celebrated a three-year partnership that has now graduated 68 new teachers, 65 of whom teach in the Cy-Fair community.

Presidents Dr. Audre Levy of LSC-CyFair and Dr. Bill Flores of UHD joined college and university staff at a Dec. 2 dinner to celebrate the success of this ongoing partnership and the commitment to students interested in the teaching profession in this community, said LSC-CyFair’s Vice President of Student Learning Dr. Feleccia Moore-Davis.

UHD’s Interim Executive Director of Distance Education Louis Evans said “So far all our students have found jobs, even in this economy. We have another 70 who have entered the professional sequence of classes, which means they will graduate as teachers within three semesters.”

This college and university partnership began in May 2006 with a teacher education articulation agreement that now provides seamless transition from LSC-CyFair’s Associates of Arts in Teaching (AAT) into the UHD Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies (BAIS) program focusing on teacher certification.

AAT students take all their courses toward Early Childhood through fourth-grade teacher certification, primarily through LSC-CyFair’s Weekend College, and then complete their degrees through UHD. These students conduct field work within the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District.

Collaboration with CFISD provides a steady stream of qualified teacher applicants with whom the ISD will have already become familiar, as well as CFISD paraprofessionals who are also be able to obtain teacher certification through this program. While CFISD has hired the majority of students, three were hired in Houston, Spring and Tomball ISDs.

For information on the AAT/BAIS joint enrollment program, e-mail Constantinek@uhd.edu or call 281-290-3435.

Cutline for photo above: Celebrating a successful Lone Star College-CyFair and University of Houston-Downtown partnership that provides seamless transition from LSC-CyFair’s Associates of Arts in Teaching into the University of Houston-Downtown bachelor’s program are from left:  Bob Wolfe, Lone Star College Trustee; UHD’s Dr. Beth Pelz, Dean, College of Public Service and President Dr. Bill Flores; LSC-CyFair’s President Dr. Audre Levy, Dean of Business, Education and Transitional Studies Anne Albarelli; Vice President for Student Learning Dr. Feleccia Moore-Davis and  Vice President for Administrative Services Dr. Robert Williams.