Lifelong Learning

New look, updated mission for continuing
education at Moravian

To the sound of e-mail trumpets and the flash of billboards, the Comenius Center for Continuing, Professional, and Graduate Studies made its official debut at the end of last semester.

The newly named entity takes over from and adds to the functions of what used to be called the Division of Continuing and Graduate Studies. And the image of Comenius is not just because there’s a nice statue of him in front of the building in which the center is housed.

“The center wants to reorganize the way we learn,” says Florence Kimball, who succeeded Linda Heindel as dean of CGS in 2003.

Florence and a new senior staff led by William Kleintop, associate dean of business and management programs, and assistant dean Donna Smith have restructured the former division into comprehensive areas that offer multiple entry points to potential students, depending on their level of experience and their educational and professional needs.

The idea is that non-traditional students learn at a different pace and have more specific reasons to attend college than traditional 18- to 22-year-old undergraduates. The center allows them to build their strengths within a discipline in a way that contributes to their professional as well as their intellectual growth. For instance, a working adult may improve job skills by electing a certificate program in management, then apply some of the certificate credits toward a B.S. in business that’s “substantially different from the day program,” Florence says. After this, students can elect advanced professional certification, which not only expands skills but tests their ability to handle graduate-level work. Certificate coursework also can be applied toward the Moravian M.B.A.

Most of these paths existed through CGS, but the center has organized and expanded its programs to operate with more academic rigor in the accumulation of professional skills. “We’ve reorganized our offerings to build bridges between programs and to emphasize the expertise that we offer,” Florence explains.

Senator Rick Santorum spoke to non-profit managers at Moravian last fall in a program organized by the Comenius Center.

Learning doesn’t stop after the M.B.A., either, for the center offers continuing professional education. In business, for example, there is a non-profit management certificate as well as seminars and programs geared to the field. Last fall, the center offered a panel on non-profit management, chaired by Santo Marabella, associate professor of management, who studies the workings of non-profits. It brought to campus Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), who has sponsored legislation on non-profit funding and reporting requirements.

“Programs like this are minimally expensive for non-profits that might not be able to afford to hire an M.B.A. consultant or staffer,” Florence says.

With the Department of Education, the Comenius Center has organized a similar concentration of programs for teachers, including post-baccalaureate certification and the M.Ed.

“Clearly we’re developing high-caliber teachers and serving the community,” Florence says. “And I hear from administrative districts how good and sought-after our [M.Ed.] graduates are.”

A current project is the development of a track within the M.Ed. for curriculum supervision of specialized subjects (e.g., mathematics, business education).

The next areas to be developed are health-care management and a major in religious studies, Florence says.

With the School of Nursing collaboration already in place between Moravian and St. Luke’s Hospital and Health Network, health-care management is a natural for the Comenius Center.

In addition to offering the B.S. to working nurses whose credentials come from a two-year hospital program, the Comenius Center is developing a track in health-care management through the M.B.A. program. “Our first course in [what we’re calling] the St. Luke’s Leadership Academy is being offered to nurse-managers at the hospital,” Florence says.

The religious studies major is a collaboration with Moravian Theological Seminary that can lead to advanced standing within the Seminary for those who wish to complete ordination.

All these are designed to fill multiple roles: to offer continuing education that truly continues from the start of a career to its most advanced phases; and to offer enty points that correspond to the students’ career needs.