Posted on Thursday, October 19, 2023
TSU interim president Dr. Mary Evans Sias and Wiley College president Dr. Herman Felton Jr. celebrate new partnership, surrounded by TSU Provost and Senior VP for Academic Affairs Dr. Carl Goodman, Regent Richard Johnson and Board of Regents Chairman Albert Myres
Texas Southern University (TSU) and Wiley College, a private Historically Black college in Marshall, Texas, have formalized a new partnership to assist students in completing undergraduate and graduate degrees.
The partnership creates pathways for Wiley students to enter graduate programs at TSU.
“We are excited to begin this intentional work with our new partners at Wiley College,” said TSU Board of Regents Chairman Albert Myres. “Any time we can join with another great institution of higher education to provide opportunities for students to learn from one another and graduate with gainful employment is a win for TSU, Houston, and the entire state of Texas. It’s very strategic for us and for Wiley because we have a lot to offer here at Texas Southern. We have a lot of graduate programs. We have a law school. We have a pharmacy school. They have good programs there where they’re graduating kids with bachelors. We want to be a stepping-stone for them to come here and get their masters or their doctorate.”
Through the agreement, TSU will also offer a variety of courses to Wiley students during the winter mini semester and during summer sessions. The partnership also addresses the critical demand for educators by establishing a strategic pathway for teacher education through which Wiley students will have the opportunity to be part of the TSU College of Education Educator Preparation Program.
“This program is transformative in that it gives our students an opportunity, another vehicle to get to their destiny,” said Wiley College president Dr. Herman Felton Jr. “What this opportunity with Texas Southern gives our students at Wiley is an opportunity to reimagine what the future looks like for them. To have an institution that is replete with professional schools, graduate schools, and to have such an agreement that allows for egress into is just wonderful because it allows for students to forsake this idea of disruption of progress.”
TSU traces its roots to Wiley College. In 1925, Wiley started extension classes for African Americans in the Houston area who desired to obtain a teaching certification. This extension led to the establishment of the Houston Colored Junior College in 1927, which became the Houston College for Negroes in 1924. It was a Wiley College graduate named Heman Sweatt, whose fight for admission to the University of Texas School of Law in 1946 resulted in the Texas legislature establishing a law school in the Houston area for African Americans, which would be housed on the campus of the Houston College for Negroes. That decision birthed the Texas State University for Negroes, which became Texas Southern University in 1951.
“The historical connection between our two institutions dates back to Texas Southern University’s inception,” said TSU interim president Dr. Mary Evans Sias. “Today, we honor that history while formalizing a partnership that will benefit students from both institutions well into the future by facilitating an exchange of ideas and experiences that we know will enrich both campus communities.”
This new partnership also includes exchange visits for faculty, researchers, staff and students to strengthen educational outcomes that benefit both institutions.
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