The leaders of Western Illinois University and Black Hawk College gathered at BHC’s Moline campus Wednesday morning to formally renew the public institutions’ longtime partnership.
Kristi Mindrup, WIU president for 16 months, and Jeremy Thomas, the head of Black Hawk for three years, signed a contract to strengthen the transfer agreements for students between the two.
“Black Hawk College and Western Illinois have worked side by side for many years. Partnerships like this build over time through trust, consistency, and shared focus on doing what is right for our students and our region,” Thomas said at the Building 1 press conference Wednesday.
“For nearly 80 years, we have been about access, opportunity, and preparing students for what comes next. And what comes next often requires students to make a decision to keep moving forward, even when the path is not always clear,” he said. “That is why today matters. This agreement creates a clear pathway in areas that are critical to our region, like engineering, technology and education. These are not just programs. They are careers that strengthen our communities.
“And when students can see their path, when they understand how today will connect to tomorrow, it gives them confidence on what that next step will be,” Thomas said. “Agreements like this matter because they make the belief real. They connect the work students are doing today to where they want to be tomorrow.”
Through this partnership, students who complete an associate degree at Black Hawk College — either an Associate of Arts or Associate of Science — with a minimum 3.0 GPA will be guaranteed admission to WIU. The agreement also includes application fee waivers and access to transfer scholarship opportunities for eligible students.
Mindrup (who became WIU president in December 2024) said Wednesday was especially meaningful since she attended BHC as a student for two semesters before transferring to Western.
“To be in this space and also in the space with so many longtime colleagues and friends from the community and from our two institutions, it truly is a great day to be a Brave and a Leatherneck,” she said of the schools’ mascots. “Today we celebrate a renewed partnership between Western Illinois University and Blackhawk College, one built on more than five decades of shared commitment to students, access and opportunity.”
“For over 50 years, our institutions have worked side by side to create affordable, accessible associate’s to bachelor's degree pathways and sometimes beyond that, lead directly to in-demand careers,” Mindrup said. “Together, we have opened doors for students from our region, many of whom are the first generation of their families to pursue higher education and help them build meaningful futures right here in our communities.
“This partnership thrives because of the people behind it. Our dedicated staff collaborate every day to ensure students are supported from their first class through graduation,” she said.
“Our faculty go beyond in the classroom, mentoring students and creating hands-on learning experiences that connect theory to practice, whether they're in labs, classrooms or in the communities we serve.
“Our shared strength is especially evident in critical fields like teacher education and engineering,” Mindrup said. “WIU and Black Hawk College are preparing the next generation of educators who will shape young minds and engineers, who will drive innovation and economic growth across our region.”
“This partnership reflects a shared mission to expand opportunity, promote social mobility and transform lives through education,” she added.
Seamless transfer pathways
The partnership outlines clearly defined degree pathways that align coursework between the two institutions, allowing students to transfer efficiently and complete their bachelor’s degrees on time. Programs will be offered across WIU’s Quad Cities and Macomb campuses, with some hybrid options available to increase accessibility.
In addition to streamlined transfer processes, the agreement emphasizes coordinated academic advising and student support services. Designated staff from both institutions will work together to guide students through their educational journey and ensure a smooth transition from BHC to WIU.
The cooperation between the Moline schools has “always been about creating seamless transfer pathways for students,” Mindrup said. “So the ability for students to understand where they're going the minute they walk through the door at Black Hawk College, they receive advisement, they receive advice on financial aid and especially mentoring and really great opportunities in and out of the classroom from the time that they're students at Black Hawk, to the time they transfer to Western and the time they cross the commencement stage.”
She noted that anytime that you have two fairly new leaders at these schools, it’s vital to “demonstrate our commitment to students here to demonstrate that our programs are constantly evolving and that Western Illinois University continues to have a presence here in the Quad Cities through high-demand programs like education and engineering.”
“We've had agreements in place for many years, so this is an opportunity for our institutions to refresh, to reconnect with each other between our staff and people who work together to ensure that seamless pathway for students,” Mindrup said.
“The pathway is not just a degree, on paper, it's about relationships. And the relationship between our two institutions is really what creates the strong pathway and the strong connection so that students can be successful.”
WIU has redefined the Quad Cities campus, and “have really targeted our engineering and education programs as areas of focus,” she added. “And so after that renewal, after that revitalization, now we're ready to roll that out and welcome new students to WIU.”
WIU has seen total enrollment drop 16% from fall 2024 to fall 2025, with 5,511 students in Macomb and 821 in Moline in 2024, to 4,786 in Macomb and 551 in Moline this school year, according to the university.
BHC has a current enrollment of 6,360 students, compared to 6,072 in the 2024 fiscal year.
This renewed contract benefits BHC “because it allows all of our students, again, that clear pathway where there's not a guess,” Thomas said Wednesday. “I came out of student affairs, and so I worked with students over the years and listened to their stories and listened to their struggles, and we're here to reduce that angst in every way we possibly can.”
“I'm a product of a regional university, and so I have a firm belief in their mission and what they do,” he said. “And it is part of our job to get students to wherever they're going to be. So I think students have to look forward to, first, knowing that we already have a commitment with each other for our missions in our region, and second, that this is only the beginning. So we're going to find other ways to make that pathway easier.”
“This is also a larger attempt by our two institutions to align directly with the community needs in this region,” said Mark Mossman, WIU provost and acting vice president.
“We have a shared mission and that we both are committed to our workforce in the region to lead to that kind of transformative experience that higher education attainment actually means. So we're all about success here, and this is just one step along that path.”
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker last year supported legislation that would allow Illinois community colleges to offer baccalaureate degrees in high-demand fields, but Thomas said Wednesday that hasn’t passed yet, and would focus more on technical degrees.
This initiative (similar to other states) aims to expand access to affordable, flexible higher education options for working adults and address the state’s growing workforce needs.
The Western-Black Hawk agreement also includes a reverse transfer component, allowing students to earn an associate degree from BHC even after transferring to WIU, ensuring students receive credentials for completed coursework along the way.
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