|
|
They skip the big parties and don’t attend many sporting events. Most juggle multiple priorities; some take one or two courses each semester.
Students enrolled in University College, which marks 70 years of service to nontraditional students, are known for their different take on college life. This year, the college and its alumni organization are hoping to give tomorrow’s students something alumni didn’t have: new academic initiatives geared to their unique needs.
“UC has lots of students but no real campus of its own,” said Dean Emmet A. Dennis, who has led the effort to build a community of alumni and students.
A dinner dance and silent auction, set for 6 p.m. Dec. 3 at the College Avenue Gym, will celebrate the school’s rich heritage while helping to raise funds for student services. A new University College Academic Excellence Initiative for Adult and Nontraditional Students will provide students with a complete and attractive learning environment that supports their academic success.
The initiative will help fund the development of a vibrant interactive community for University College students and be used to enhance the availability of academic and other support services for our students, including admission, advising, registration, counseling, mentoring, tutoring and computer-based services.
“University College students need and deserve to have services suited to their unique needs,” Dennis said.
The typical University College student has a higher-than-average GPA, despite fitting in study with a hectic personal or professional life. That schedule has posed unique challenges to Dennis and others eager to build a sense of community.
“The caliber of UC students has always amazed me,” said Barbara Deam, a psychologist in private practice who graduated after 24 years of study and now is chair of the Dean’s Advisory Council. “We were there to learn and didn’t have time to socialize.”
Jacqueline Jackson, a graduate student in the School of Social Work, graduated from the college after 16 years and is now pursuing a career as a social worker. Along the way she raised two adult children, and she is currently the legal guardian of a niece and nephew, both of whom are preteens. While she studied, she said she battled both multiple sclerosis and sarcoidosis.
“Balancing family and school for me was indeed a challenge and it meant staying up many late nights to complete homework assignments. I enjoyed being able to relate to students at UC who were my own age,” said Jackson, an advocate for people with disabilities who uses a wheelchair.
Other UC graduates said they welcomed the chance to mingle with traditional students.
“I started at night, but wound up taking more and more day classes,” said alumna and retired journalist Patricia McGuire, who took a couple of classes at a time toward her degree in journalism and anthropology. Three of her four children all attended Rutgers while she studied.
“I loved being among younger students,
riding the buses and walking past student demonstrations, said McGuire, a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council and chair of the celebration committee. She acknowledged the challenge of creating a community from a largely commuting student body. “This is a school of working people.”
While many University College students avoid student activism, Jackson, a former student government leader, said that can be a mistake. “Student government gave me a whole new take on college life,” she said. “I got involved with different organizations and got to see university politics first-hand.”
Don Curry, president of the University College Governing Association, said the association is working on an Internet-based poll of University College student needs so the group can document needs and lobby effectively for change. “We are reaching out to the students in new and creative ways that former governing associations haven’t tried,” he said.
Begun in 1934 as an extension program for nontraditional learners, University College-New Brunswick offered mainly degrees in business and criminal justice until World War II. Following the war, enrollment exploded as large numbers of veterans attended the college under the GI Bill, and course offerings grew as well. The college grew beyond New Brunswick to facilities in Camden and Newark, with satellite facilities in Jersey City, Paterson, and other locations in the state.
In 1965, University College became independent of the university’s extension division. By 1973, UC enrolled a total of more than 9,000 students on the three campuses. Today, the New Brunswick campus alone enrolls more than 3,700 students and awards degrees in more than 70 majors. A record 635 degrees were granted at last May’s convocation ceremonies.
Deam, has endowed a scholarship at the college and speaks frequently to students in the pre-med program. “I have fond memories of every experience at Rutgers, with the possible exception of trying to find a place to park,” she said.
Tickets to the gala are priced at $75 and may be obtained by contacting JoAnn Kulikowski, University College Development Office, 2-1837.
|
