College presidents sign historic partnership agreement to share resources that will benefit students and residents throughout northern Arizona. In photo (L-R): Northland Pioneer College President Dr. Chato Hazelbaker, Coconino Community College Interim President Dr. Christal M. Albrecht, Yavapai College President Dr. Lisa Rhine, and Mohave Community College President Dr. Stacy Klippenstein. Courtesy photo.
NORTHERN ARIZONA — The four community college districts covering all northern Arizona have entered into a historic partnership agreement to help better serve students.
The presidents of Coconino Community College, Mohave Community College, Northland Pioneer College, and Yavapai College recently signed an intergovernmental agreement called the Northern Arizona Community College Partnership (NACCP).
The NACCP calls on the districts to collaborate and combine resources to better serve citizens and communities throughout northern Arizona. This includes sharing college courses to improve student success and completion and enhancing workforce development by utilizing each district’s vast array of unique programs.
“I am continually impressed with the number and quality of the partnerships I have seen since arriving at Coconino Community College,” said CCC Interim President Christal Albrecht. “It seems that the colleges genuinely want to work together, recognizing the positive impact their efforts will have on our collective students.”
CCC Provost Dr. Nate Southerland said, “Rural colleges like our struggle to sustain low-enrollment programs over time, and this partnership will help us to provide a broader range of programs and courses to students across northern Arizona – programs and courses that students might otherwise have to leave home to access.”
The innovative agreement states that the districts will “exercise efficient and maximal use of available educational resources through common and complementary resources of each institution.”
The colleges will specifically focus efforts to collaborate in areas of credit and non-credit offerings, curriculum development, data sharing, business functions, student services, and other support services to provide a cooperative higher education network for residents of Northern Arizona which includes Mohave, Navajo, Apache, Yavapai and Coconino Counties.
The four northern Arizona college districts will also work together to strengthen their partnerships with K-12 institutions, universities, and workforce development partners.
Board members from each district have approved the agreement, and the districts began working together under the agreement on Oct. 1, 2022.