Close to 850 students enter North Central College each year; this growth seems to manifest itself in the construction sites and packed parking lots on campus. However, as blended learning options begin to populate course offerings for the coming term, the college is shifting its sights.
“Several faculty are developing hybrid classes right now,” said Vice President of Academic Affairs Abiodun Goke-Pariola. “I expect that as soon as fall you should begin to see some blended classes.”
While blended courses will be offered in the coming fall term, undergraduate admissions will remain rooted in the college’s liberal arts core, as they look to secure 850 students to meet enrollment goals for 2016.
“I think right now the emphasis is still very much on a traditional liberal arts and science classroom experience here and I think that’s what our most of our traditionally aged students are looking for,” said dean of admission, Martha Stolze. “Mostly online courses are going to be affecting students in the graduate and continuing studies program at first.”
Within President Troy Hammond’s recent email announcing the restructuring of the college, was the rebranding of the Graduate and Continuing Studies Office into the School of Graduate and Professional Studies.
As the newly branded School of Graduate and Professional Studies begins to craft its own identity, major shifts can be expected in the coming academic year, including new programs, new accreditations and new instructional methods.
Among the largest change regarding graduate programs is recognition of the reality facing most graduate students.
“You cannot grow graduate and professional studies programs without recognizing that these are working adults that have busy lives … sometimes children are sick or your boss sends you on a business trip,” said dean of graduate and continuing education, Pamela Monaco.
Monaco hopes that with the restructuring, the School of Graduate and Professional Studies will be able to increase its reach through a variety of emerging programs and blended learning courses. With these courses students will have the ability to visit campus less frequently, while still maintaining ties with their peers online.
In addition to providing programs better oriented toward the graduate student population, Monaco also provided her insight on a thriving graduate program as a support mechanism for undergraduate programs.
“We have some great [undergraduate]programs, and there’s a lot of pressure on all of them,” said Monaco. “You want to be distinctive and have some of the more niche undergrad programs that perhaps won’t attract a freshman class of 50 majors, but they’re important to the identity of the school.”
As a comprehensive liberal arts institution, the School of Graduate and Professional Studies remains an integral part of North Central’s identity. With the most room for growth, Monaco hopes coming changes will contribute to a better experience for both undergraduate and graduate students.
“The traditional-aged student population is not growing in terms of its numbers, it’s pretty stagnant, and we want to continue to serve that population. But that’s not where the growth is and we’re a tuition-driven institution,” said Monaco. “If your one population is going to continue to have the same enrollment goals each year then you need to have additional populations of students that you can serve…so you can continue to flourish and grow and develop and do all of the things that allow all students to be prosperous in their career paths.”
