University of Tennessee and AcademyOne Awarded 1st Place in Best Practices Competition for State-wide Reverse Transfer System

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The Board of Directors of PESC is pleased to announce the University of Tennessee and AcademyOne as 1st Place Winners of PESC’s 17th Annual Best Practices Competition for its “Reverse Transfer System.”

The award-winning submission received high praise from the Board for its open and broad collaborative approach, sophisticated automation and technology employed, and for the positive results and outcomes it immediately produced. Included in the joint project are AcademyOne, the University of Tennessee System, Tennessee Board of Regents, and the Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association.

“The reverse transfer program has been an exciting process to watch grow from its original policy concept to full implementation. We’d like to thank the Tennessee Higher Education Commission and Lumina Foundation for support of the project,” said India Lane, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Student Success at the University of Tennessee. Tennessee took the unique approach of creating a statewide reverse transfer technology solution, rather than relying on isolated institutional agreements. “The amount of collaboration among and within institutions has been amazing from the get-go,” said Gloria Gammell, Project Coordinator with the University of Tennessee. “Nearly every campus in the state has made contributions to the process – the commitment is there because it is the right thing to do for our students.” Tennessee awarded over 800 reverse transfer degrees in the first year of implementation.

“Tennessee’s ability to generate cooperation between its higher education governing bodies, and their respective public and private member institutions, is a great example of how strong executive sponsorship can drive outstanding outcomes,” said Mike McIntyre, President and COO of AcademyOne. “With the various constituencies all working towards the same goal, implementation of a centralized solution was made possible. From a technology perspective, using the PESC standards in the extraction,
management and analysis of data from close to thirty institutions and a variety of student information systems was instrumental in the automated work flow we created to support the reverse transfer process. An additional benefit is the foundation built for the reverse transfer project now serves as a key component in the State’s adult degree completion initiative. This synergy shows how a comprehensive approach to data can be leveraged for a variety of purposes. We are proud to have been Tennessee’s
technology partner.”

“The Reverse Transfer System is a shining example of success and we hope many look to it as a blueprint,” PESC President and CEO Michael Sessa praised. “When you combine Tennessee’s political wisdom, AcademyOne’s innovative technology, and a collaborative team of stakeholders, all focused on a common goal, the results and positive student outcomes are conclusive. We call that unlocking the power of data,” Mr. Sessa stated.

The award-winning submission made by the University of Tennessee and AcademyOne is posted on the PESC website with prior winners at http://www.pesc.org. An Awards Ceremony will be held during the General Sessions at PESC’s Spring 2016 Data Summit being held April 13 – 15, 2015 in Washington DC at the Embassy Row Hotel.

Registration is still open for PESC’s Spring 2016 Data Summit and all information including registration and program are posted online at www.PESC.org.

PESC’s Education Record User Group is the permanent authority within PESC governing registrar and admissions PESC Approved Standards. As part of its mission, all PESC approved standards are available to the education community online and free of charge. For more information about PESC, the Annual Best Practices Competition and the Education Record User Group, please visit www.PESC.org. For questions or concerns about PESC and/or about PESC events and activities, please contact Jennifer Kim, PESC’s Membership Services Director, at 202.261.6516 or jennifer.kim@pesc.org.