Brandyn Krampert
In Motion Staff Writer
In late March, Daytona State College and the University of Central Florida held a joint press conference to announce that DSC has been accepted into UCF’s Direct Connect program.
“What does this mean for our students? Direct Connect presents a clear path for DSC students to be accepted into the university of their choice, UCF. In fact, the great majority of our students choose the University of Central Florida,” said DSC President Thomas LoBasso.
He further explained that over 65 percent of DSC’s A.A. graduates transfer to UCF to obtain their Bachelors degree.
Direct Connect is a partnership started by UCF with state colleges in the central Florida area, which included Eastern Florida State College, Lake-Sumter State College, Seminole State College and Valencia College in 2006. It ensures students from state colleges to gain acceptance into bachelor degree programs at UCF and are given priority over other transfer students concerning admission. It also gives them flexibility to complete their degrees at either the regional campuses at their state college or to attend classes at UCF’s main campus in Orlando.
And to make it easier for students to transition whenever they transfer, advisors from UCF are placed at the schools.
The Board of Trustees of DSC have had a continued interest to join the program and the colleges exclusion was one reason the board didn’t renew Carol Eaton’s contract as president last November. Although Eaton made continued efforts to facilitate that.
During January’s board meeting, Eaton read highlights of a letter written by UCF president John Hitt which explained that Eaton was not at fault and it required the approval of the member schools in order for them to join and was going to be discussed with the member schools in March.
Once LoBasso was appointed interim president, he hastily made attempts to speed up the process by personally meeting with UCF Trustee Alan Florez and Vice Provost of the Regional Campuses Jeffrey Jones and then sent letters to each of the presidents of the member schools to express DSC’s interest in joining the program.
Mori Hosseini, a patron to DSC and chairman of the public university systems board of governors had a hand in the process as well.
Others spoke at the conference as well such as DSC Board of Trustee’s Chairman Lloyd Freckleton, president John Hitt and Hosseini. Hitt anticipates the move will cause an increase to transfers to UCF from DSC and make it easier for students to graduate on time. There were nearly 200 in attendance at the conference.