Southwestern Michigan College partners with Western Michigan University for new articulation agreements

Southwestern Michigan College and Western Michigan University have partnered through the signing of new articulation agreements. The articulation agreements will make it easier for students to transfer associate degree credits from Southwestern Michigan College toward bachelor degrees from Western Michigan University. The affected programs are psychology and social sciences. These new articulation agreements join the one the two institutions signed in April 2025 for social work.

According to an article on Southwestern Michigan College’s website, Dr. Barbara Karwacinski, who serves as the Social Sciences Department Chair at the college, was quoted as saying of the new agreements, “I am very excited about these newly- created articulation agreements, as they provide our students with clear and rewarding pathways to further education and fulfilling careers. At SMC, students are at the heart of everything we do, and these agreements reflect that commitment — [ensuring] they have the opportunities, support and guidance needed to achieve their goals.”

The articulation agreement for the psychology program will allow SMC students to transfer up to 60 credits from their associate of applied science degree in psychology to WMU’s bachelor of science in psychology program. 

The articulation agreement for the social sciences program offers a few different options for students. Students can transfer up to 60 credits of their associate of applied science degree in social sciences from SMC to WMU’s bachelor of science in social sciences program. They can choose from two tracks: the pre-law track or the Social Science – Secondary Education track. This track gives students the option to then go on to the accelerated one-year graduate degree in secondary education. Students who follow this pathway will then be on track to earn three degrees in just five years.

Dr. Stephanie Peterson, who serves as the Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Western Michigan University, said, “We want students to have seamless transitions when they come to Western. These are things we’ve worked on for a while with community colleges. From our perspective, the environment is more competitive than ever between the different institutions. We want to make sure students have meaningful pathways that will serve them well. Making it work for students is our primary goal.”

Karwacinski offered her thanks to Megg Kupres, who worked at SMC before transferring to WMU to work as the manager of recruitment and outreach, transfer in the College of Arts and Sciences Advising department.

Kupres noted that she sees potential for even more articulation agreements between the two schools. She said, “I came in knowing I wanted to target psychology because so many students are already coming to Western from SMC, especially with psychology being an online option, too. Biology, freshwater science and environmental sustainability, avenues for those might work, too. I’ll be here a lot.”

For more information about Southwestern Michigan College, visit the school’s website.