Bronx Transfer Affinity Group (BTAG)
Bronx Community College, Guttman Community College, Hostos Community College, Borough of Manhattan Community College and Lehman College created the Bronx Transfer Affinity Group to help facilitate the seamless transfer of students from the Associate degree to the Bachelor’s degree and beyond. CUNY has been enthusiastically supporting this initiative. The institution is committed to the following goals:
- Develop an institutional culture that embraces and nurtures transfer students, by creating meaningful programs and processes to increase transfer success and academic preparation, building transfer awareness internally and collaboratively via strategic partnerships.
- Foster a campus environment that is inclusive of all students and creates a sense of belonging for transfer students via specialized services and supports and student communities.
- Cultivate a campus-wide focus on academic momentum and achievement that encourages timely completion of an associate’s degree before bachelor’s degree as a key to a smooth transfer between institutions.
- Streamline the structures and processes for transfer to Lehman, thereby removing barriers to transfer student success and completion
- Create a clear model of improved Associate to Bachelor’s degree transfer that can be replicated across CUNY.
- Increase the number of transfer students successfully completing both Associate and Bachelor’s degrees at the BTAG institutions.
The Transfer Explorer (TREX) tool can be used to see how credits will transfer from the BTAG institutions, including any CUNY college, into Lehman. This tool can be used to help ensure students are taking courses that will most benefit them upon transfer to Lehman.
Upcoming Events
BTAG Monthly Meetings
BTAG meets on the second Friday of every month. Some meetings are online and others are in person. You are welcome to attend if you work at one of the participating colleges or are part of the Bronx Opportunity Network. Please contact ronald.banks@lehman.cuny.edu for additional information.
Past Events
The Bronx Transfer Affinity Group (BTAG) Summit has been reimagined as Transfer Tuesdays!
The Transfer Tuesdays PD series aims to provide advisors at all five BTAG colleges (Lehman College, Bronx Community College, Hostos Community College, Borough of Manhattan Community College and Guttman Community College) with a shared understanding of the issues impacting transfer student success and the resources available to aid students before, during, and after the transition to the senior college. We welcome participation from all CUNY and NYC community members. Please view Transfer Tuesday themes and session topics on the registration form.Lighting Strikes Community Coll. Alumni Panel
Jan 24, 2022
BTAG Transfer Tuesday, 5.4.2021 : Nursing Alternatives: Exploring other Healthcare-Related Degrees
Presentation #1: Many students enter college with little sense of how to link academic and career plans. We aimed to guide students’ decisions by providing an information session about degrees and careers in health-related sectors outside of nursing. Faculty from a variety of majors presented about majors and career paths. This session will discuss our collaboration and implementation process. It may serve as a model for others who want to provide programming for students around career exploration/readiness.
Presentation Materials: BTAG- Helping Professions- Alternatives to Nursing (PDF)
Presentation #2: Community college students interested in advanced health professions such as physician, dentist, pharmacist, optometrist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, veterinarian, genetic counselor, or podiatrist, have to plan for two transitions: first, to a senior college, and then to a professional school in their field. These students are thus particularly susceptible to transfer friction and transfer shock. In this session, the Director of the Pre-Health Program at Lehman will describe best practices for advising this population.
BTAG Transfer Tuesday, 4.13.2021: Plugging the Leaky Transfer Pipeline
Presentation #1: Panelists from the BMCC Learning Academy will summarize their work developing and teaching two different twelve-week, transfer-focused success seminars: Transfer Exploration, which covers transfer research, defining a "best fit" college, and navigating college applications; and Graduate Advantage, which is for students in their last semester at BMCC and covers more complicated transfer research, self-advocacy, help-seeking, and connecting to campus. The panel will feature a student who has taken the Learning Academy's transfer seminars.
Presentation Materials
- Graduate Advantage Program (PDF)
- Transfer Exploration Seminar (PDF)
- Transfer Success Seminar Syllabus (PDF)
Presentation #2: Guttman Community College launched its Transfer Bridge Program in 2017. The program aims to address two leakage points in the transfer pipeline: lack of actual transfer (transfer melt) and transfer shock. Accordingly, the Transfer Bridge curriculum focuses on campus climate shifts at the senior college, strategies for academic success, resource utilization, peer-support, and campus involvement. Four years later we are in the process of restructuring the program to better meet student needs in the face of continued barriers to transfer and completion. This interactive session will provide frameworks for developing Transfer Peer Mentor positions and constructing a Transfer Bridge Program that is tailored to your particular campus community.
Presentation Materials
2021 BTAG Summit
Join the Bronx Transfer Affinity Group (BTAG) for an important event recognizing the significant role of transfer students in CUNY and the Bronx.
This year, we are excited to formally welcome the Bronx Opportunity Network as the newest BTAG partner! The Bronx Opportunity Network (BON) is a partnership of seven Bronx-based organizations with long histories of performing social services in the South Bronx. BON’s mission is to enable underprepared Bronx students to improve their academic skills, overcome personal barriers, and enroll in and complete college. They are already working with students on most BTAG campuses and we look forward to collaborating with them on making the transfer process even more seamless for our students.
The summit will include opening remarks from each of the campus presidents, a keynote address by the Executive Vice Chancellor and University Provost, José Luis Cruz, and a panel of students who will discuss their transfer experience.
Transfer Tuesday: College beyond the Classroom: Engagement and Career Exploration
Presentation #1: Holistically Lit - How was your college experience? Were you part of a student club? There is more to college than studying and earning good grades. This session will explore the role of faculty/staff members as it pertains to students' on-campus experiences outside of the classroom. We will identify the importance of student engagement through workshops and other college-based initiatives. Students must build their support network to grow academically, professionally and personally while having fun before graduation. Presentation Materials (PDF)
Presentation #2: Preparing for "Major" and Career Success – This session will provide you with an overview of a collaborative effort/model between the Lehman College Academic Advising department and the Career Exploration and Development Center to help CUNY community college students explore appropriate majors and career paths while they pursue their Bachelors' degree. The model focuses on specific strategies and targeted career resources to help students increase their chances of academic and career success. Presentation Materials (PDF)
Transfer Tuesdays Session I, Feb 9 2021: Tech Talks
Presentation #1: CUNY's "Hip" Techie Dinosaur: T-REX - Thanks to grant funding from the Heckscher and Petrie Foundations, the ACT project has developed and is enhancing Transfer Explorer (T-Rex), a tool that makes it possible to view equivalencies from any CUNY college, to any other CUNY college. Presentation Materials (PDF)
Presentation #2: Helping Us Do Our Jobs Better: A Technology Review - Oftentimes, transfer discussions are seen as separate from academic advisement. With the vast majority of our community college students intending to transfer to earn a bachelor’s degree, it’s imperative to have the transfer conversation early and often. Presentation Materials (PDF)
Guaranteed Admission Agreements
- The Guaranteed Admission Agreement (GAA) is a document that provides a clear transfer pathway for students earning AA, AS or AAS degrees from a community college. Students who meet all of the terms of the agreement are assured transfer admission to Lehman College as described in the GAA. A Lehman College Pre-Transfer Advisor will be in residence at the community college on a regular basis as defined in the GAA.
Blanket Articulation Agreements
- A Blanket Articulation Agreement is a formal agreement acknowledging the number of community college credits accepted in transfer toward degree requirements and any specific application of those credits toward degree requirements at Lehman College.
Program Alignment Tables
- The Program Alignment table identifies academic programs at Lehman College and the community college that are aligned in subject matter and where the associate and bachelor’s degree can be completed within the 120 minimum total credits required for a bachelor’s degree. In rare cases, programs can be considered aligned as long as a student could complete both programs with 126 or fewer credits. These exceptions are noted in the table.
