President discusses what's ahead for Roosevelt's Schaumburg campus

Five years ago, Roosevelt University President Charles Middleton began forging the 21st century identities of both the Chicago and Schaumburg campuses he oversees.

Now at the start of his second five-year contract, Middleton foresees the university getting even better at meeting the rapidly changing needs of its students, even as the two campuses become more distinct from each other.

Middleton's new plans include the ability to get a three-year pharmacist degree at Roosevelt, as well as making the Schaumburg campus feel more like a traditional university and less like the converted office space it is.

More color will be added to the corridors soon, while the central courtyard has already been torn up to add more recreational opportunities like the quad of a typical campus, Middleton said.

Such cosmetic changes arrive only after the practical changes of the past five years, including the addition of wireless Internet connectivity to a building that had none when Middleton arrived.

But even the improvements to come are crucial to the role the Schaumburg campus plays in the Northwest suburbs, he said.

"The way I think of Roosevelt in the suburbs is that Roosevelt is the university of the suburbs," Middleton said.

As such, the Schaumburg campus is unique nationwide in both the type of area it serves and the educational mission it fulfills, he added. For example, there's no one-to-one Los Angeles equivalent of Roosevelt, he said.

But as Roosevelt finds itself serving a growing immigrant and minority population in the suburbs, it already has a perfect role model -- itself.

"Those are the people Roosevelt has always served in the city," Middleton said.

Both Middleton and the university he serves have similar beliefs in the transforming power of education, he said, which can now be delivered to first-generation Americans in the suburbs less likely to move for college.

"I would like to see even greater recognition of the university as a place to be successful," Middleton said.

One of the ways this is hoped to be done in the near future is through a new pharmacist degree. Students must complete a two-year pre-pharmacy program before embarking on the typically four-year program Roosevelt hopes to make possible within three years.

"There's a huge need for pharmacists throughout the country," Middleton said. "Pharmacists make six figures and are often the only health-care provider people see on a regular basis."

Roosevelt is looking at such a program because it would be unique in the area.

"It's an expensive proposition," he explained. "There's a need for more (pharmacists), but there's not a limitless need."

Looking ahead to the next five years, Middleton reflects with a laugh on the advice he once received about the job of a university president.

"Someone once said, to be a university president you must have the wisdom of Solomon, the patience of Job and the stomach of a goat."