Strategic Initiatives
Section 24 of the Massachusetts Fiscal Year 2025 budget charged the Department of Higher Education (“DHE”) to establish the MassTransfer Steering Committee to advise on the creation, implementation, and improvement of the MassTransfer program. The new Committee will provide the Department to opportunity to hear from a diverse collection of voices on the topic of supporting transfer student pathways in public higher education system. Committee members will bring knowledge from different constituents who all have a vested interest in transfer student success. In addition to representatives from the business community, the Committee will be comprised of students, faculty, transfer staff, and presidents from the community college, state university, and UMass Segments of the public system of higher education.
Art Esposito
Director of Academic Affairs & Student Success
aesposito@dhe.mass.edu
The first meeting was held on October 3, 2025 and the Committee has been established in perpetuity
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Section 9(v) of the Board of Higher Education’s (BHE) enabling legislation includes within the powers and duties of the Board to “develop and implement a transfer compact for the purpose of facilitating and fostering the transfer of students without the loss of academic credit or standing from one public institution to another.” In June 2008, the BHE accepted the final report from the Commonwealth Transfer Advisory Group, which included a new and innovative statewide transfer policy for the Commonwealth: MassTransfer. Since that time, MassTransfer programming has advanced through the years to foster and facilitate vertical transfer between institutions within the Massachusetts public system of higher education (the System). MassTransfer programming includes a course equivalency database, System-wide associate-to-bachelor’s (A2B) transfer agreements and curriculum maps, universal general education pathways for STEM and non-STEM degrees, as well as tuition and fee waivers/credits. This is the transfer environment in which the MassTransfer Steering Committee has been convened, and for which the Department of Higher Education is eager to hear recommendations.
Please find a list of Committee Members here:
| Claudine Barnes | Professor of US History and Political Science, Cape Cod Community College; President, Massachusetts Community College Council |
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| Oren Cohen | Student, Mount Wachusett Community College; Past Student Trustee, MWCC Student Government Association |
| Reyes Coll-Tellechea | Professor of Latin American and Iberian Studies, UMass Boston: Past Chair, Boston Human Rights Council |
| Joanna Gonsalves | Professor of Psychology, Salem State University; President, Massachusetts State College Association |
| Monique Lopez | Registrar, Westfield State University |
| Ryan Madison | Student, Massachusetts Maritime Academy |
| Barry Maloney | President, Worcester State University |
| Susan Martin | Registrar, Bunker Hill Community College |
| Midori Morikawa | Head of Corporate Citizenship at State Street |
| Trinh Nguyen | Chief of Worker Empowerment and Workforce Development, Boston Mayor’s Office |
| Cristian Orellana | Student, UMass Boston; President, UMass Boston Undergraduate Student Government Association |
| Darlene Rodowicz | CEO, Berkshire Health Systems; Trustee, Mass College of Liberal Arts |
| Patrick Sullivan | Registrar, UMass Amherst |
| George Timmons | President, Holyoke Community College |
| Nef Walker | Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Student Affairs and Equity, University of Massachusetts system |
Dec 8
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