By The Associated Press

RICHMOND — Earlham College has reached an agreement that will allow Ivy Tech Community College graduates to transfer full two-year credits from six eligible degree programs to the eastern Indiana school.

The new agreement marks the first partnership of its kind in the history of the Richmond-based liberal arts school, the (Richmond) Palladium-Item reported.

The six associate degrees now available at Earlham for credit transfers are in biology, chemistry, computer science, business administration, psychology and human services. The two colleges plan to expand the program if it’s a success.

“These six programs were the most straightforward for us to do, so we thought we’d start with that,” said Earlham President Anne Houtman.

Houtman, who became Earlham’s president 18 months ago, spent the bulk of her career in California working both in private institutions and in the state’s university system.

She said that experience influenced her desire to work with Chancellor Stacy Atkinson of Ivy Tech Richmond to reach the new agreement between the two schools.

Under the agreement, Ivy Tech honors students will also be offered enrollment into Earlham’s honors program, which provides students with enhanced advising, honors seminars on global issues and situations that interest them, and the opportunity to complete a capstone project.

Earlham’s current enrollment for spring 2021 is 826. But Houtman hopes the agreement brings more students from Indiana and Ohio to the Earlham campus, which is located near the Indiana-Ohio state line about 65 miles (104 kilometers) east of Indianapolis.