Bailey Thompson | News Editor
Addressing the crowd in his annual State of the University Address on Sept. 17, President Rex Fuller spoke about the “WOU in Salem” project, which will begin offering classes in January 2019.
The program was designed largely with adult learners in mind, as “Oregon has over 500,000 adults with some college credit and no degree.” In Salem specifically, the 2015 census indicated that only 21 percent of the workforce had earned a bachelor’s degree or higher.
“WOU in Salem” will be a partnership between Western and Chemeketa Community College, according to the initiative released by the Office of Academic Affairs, and the classes will be held at the Chemeketa Center for Business and Industry.
To start, classes will be offered both in the evening and on the weekend, providing working adults with the chance to access a high-quality educational experience that is flexible with their busy schedules.
Then, beginning in Fall 2019, students will be able to complete a number of degree programs, including M.A. in organizational leadership, B.A. and B.S. in psychology, B.A. and B.S. in criminal justice, B.A. and B.S. in interdisciplinary studies, A.B. in information systems and Certificate in professional writing.
These programs will be hugely beneficial to students who have received an associate degree or have some college credit.
“It’s really great that (Western) is going above and beyond to provide a higher education for working adults and families because it’s really important right now, particularly, to have a bachelor’s or associate degree,” said senior education major Erica Stuckart upon learning about the new campus.
A number of other Western students echoed her sentiments.
“It’s catering to the people that really need it. These people are busy — they have busy lives, they have families of their own and they can’t spend all day in class…The fact that they’re putting that program in place is really nice and hopefully there are more that come about,” said Natalie Dean, sophomore English major.
Dean then proposed one service that she believed could be really helpful to this demographic of students.
“I think it’d be really cool to see something with childcare services… because a lot of them will be adult students and they don’t have a ton of time to spare. So, maybe it’s additional help with their children or financial aid,” Dean explained.
Finally, sophomore public policy and administration major NJ Johnson added that “my favorite aspect of it is the part that it’s night classes… One of my friends is a non-traditional student: he’s 44 years old, he has a wife and a child and a job. And going to Western Oregon in Monmouth during the day is not super easy for him… (having this campus) would make it a lot easier.”
All in all, the project described by President Fuller will deliver a more feasible college experience to a significant, but underrepresented group of students — making a future at Western accessible to a larger population.
Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu
Photo courtesy by Paul F. Davis
