University Center of Lake County Governing Board Approves Programs & Elects Leaders
The University Center of Lake County entered 2017 with five additional programs and new Board leadership after action taken by its Governing Board on December 14, 2016. The five new degrees include three undergraduate and two graduate programs offered by five universities within the 21-member consortium. Three programs will begin recruiting immediately in Lake County in hopes of launching during the spring term and the remaining two aim to start in the summer or fall terms of 2017.
New undergraduate degrees:
Olivet Nazarene University
Bachelor of Applied Science in Management (online)
This online program is ready to launch now. It is aimed at students who earned an Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree in a technical or medical area and who now want a broader education in management. Because AAS degrees have a specific vocational focus they were not typically designed to transfer into BA or BS programs. This program enables students with AAS degrees to gain management skills for career advancement.
Southern IL University Carbondale
BS in Electrical Engineering Technology (online)
This online program is ready to launch now. It combines engineering design and hands-on experience to build the skills that enable graduates to take an electrical engineering or electronic project from the drawing board to a finished prototype/design.
Eastern IL University
BA in Psychology (online)
This fully online program is scheduled to launch in Fall of 2017. It makes a traditional undergraduate major in psychology available to nontraditional students whose job and family schedules make it difficult to attend courses that meet at specific times and locations.
New graduate degrees:
Benedictine University
MBA
This addition provides a second MBA option at the University Center. The Benedictine University MBA follows a cohort model (in which a group of students are admitted and move through the program in tandem) and is designed for students 22 years and older with a minimum of two years of work experience. Students will attend class one night per week and also interact with classmates and instructor via online study. The program is not tied to an academic calendar; as soon as enough students are admitted to fill the cohort, the program will start and each course will run for six weeks. The degree can be completed in 96 weeks.
Northern Illinois University
Ed.D. in Adult & Higher Education-Community College Leadership focus
This doctoral program is aimed at current community college faculty and administrators and will use a cohort model. It will begin with a one-week summer classroom component and will continue with online courses during the fall and spring semesters. Each subsequent summer of the three-year program will include a one-week classroom component. Students will complete a "dissertation of practice" which enables them to focus on solving a problem that they are currently facing in their jobs.
Visit http://ucenter.org/prospective-students/degree-list/ for more information about each program.
In addition to approving new programs, the Governing Board added members and elected officers. P. Denise Cobb, Interim Provost of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, and Carol Reiseck, Assistant Dean of Concordia University Chicago's College of Innovation and Professional Programs were elected to two-year terms of membership.
Former State Representative Kathy Ryg now serves as Immediate Past Chair. Wesley Lindahl, Nils Axelson Professor and Dean of the School of Business & Nonprofit Management at North Park University, now serves as Chair. This is his second time as Chair, having served in that role in 2010.
Tim Perry, Market President, State Bank of the Lakes, now serves as Vice-Chair. Jackie Tompkins, Controller, Business Development, External Affairs & General Counsel, AbbVie, now serves as Treasurer, and Anne Kaplan, Northern Illinois University's Vice-President of Outreach, Engagement & Regional Development, now serves as Secretary.
Visit www.ucenter.org or call (847) 665-4000 for more information about the University Center and its 135 degree and certificate programs.