10-17-2021 Education - Flipbook - Page 1
The Baltimore Sun | Sunday, October 17, 2021 1
EDUCATION
A SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION OF BALTIMORE SUN MEDIA • SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2021
Jenell Steele, a 2019 Notre Dame of Maryland University graduate with an M.S.N. degree in leadership in nursing education, was selected as a governorappointed Registered Nurse-at-Large member on the Maryland Board of Nursing. Her term ended on Sept. 30.
Motivated grad students gain
experience in specialties
INSIDE:
2 Preparing educators
Adapting to a changing
classroom
3 New facilities
Experiential learning
opportunities grow
4 Diverse student bodies
Bonding over shared
experiences
5 New STEM degree
Nursing & biotechnology
6 Future leaders in health
Univ. MD Global Campus
7 Climbing the ranks
Salisbury University
8 Health, wellness
and community
How colleges address
10 New StarTUp
Towson University
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Local universities offer skill sets for contemporary times
By Lisa Baldino, Contributing Writer
A
mbitious graduate students can hone
their specialties and boost their marketability with advanced degrees
offered by area schools. The University
of Baltimore, Notre Dame Maryland
University and Loyola University Maryland all
offer programs that couple business and leadership skills with hands-on experience.
At the University of Baltimore, the Master
of Science degree in health administration gives
students an opportunity to work with well-known
and respected health organizations, according to
Tina Di Franco, executive director for the school
of health and human services. The curriculum
includes a requirement for students to complete
a 120-hour, on-site internship over a 10-week
period.
“Every semester, the program reaches out
to our community partnerships for internship
opportunities,” Di Franco explains. Positions are
available at Johns Hopkins Hospital, LifeBridge,
Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital, Baltimore City
Health Department and Stella Maris, among others. Students must apply, interview and be offered
the intern job by the organization, or students
have the option of completing the internship at
their place of work in another department with
a different supervisor. “Ultimately, the internship coordinator must approve the internship to
ensure it meets the requirements of the program,”
Di Franco says.
Students need not have majored in a health
curriculum, which makes the program ideal for
people looking for career changes. Di Franco
notes, “Each applicant is reviewed on an individual basis to ensure that this is the right ‘fit’ for
the student.”
The curriculum has been designed with the
guidance of the Di Franco community partners,
and it incorporates leadership skills that businesses find important for success. The program
relies heavily on referrals from alumni, many of
whom continue to be involved post-graduation.
“Our alumni truly understand the concept of
‘giving back’ by providing career and internship
opportunities to current students, mentoring, and
all-around support for our program.”
Graduate programs,
continued on page 9
New initiatives encourage
degree completion
By Linda L. Esterson, Contributing Writer
A
According to the National Student
Clearinghouse, 36 million Americans
have participated in some kind of
postsecondary education. About 10%
of this group has more than half the
credits needed to complete a four-year degree but
for a variety of reasons failed to continue their
coursework. The Lumina Foundation, an independent private foundation committing to making opportunities for learning beyond high school
available for all, estimates that 40% of today’s
degree seeking learners are adults.
In an effort to assist this population in completing their degrees, leaders at Morgan State
University are launching a new initiative called
“Morgan Completes You.” The venture offers
interdisciplinary academic programs to provide degree opportunities for adult learners who
achieved some college credit but did not complete
graduation requirements.
Approved by the Maryland Higher Education
Commission in early September, Morgan
Completes You will officially launch for the fall
2022 semester with a total of 18 interdisciplinary
undergraduate and graduate degree programs in
a variety of areas including engineering; information and computational sciences; health and
human sciences; organizational policy, governance and administration; and journalism and
mass communications. Both online and face-toface course offerings will be provided at varying
times to be convenient for students, the majority
of whom are age 25 to 30 and likely employed, says
Hongtao Yu, Ph.D., Morgan State University provost and senior vice president for academic affairs.
According to Yu, although the programs are
interdisciplinary, they provide an emphasis like a
traditional degree. “We want to give an option for
the adult learners to choose what they want to do,
what is more relevant in their job and to (enable
them to) gain skills for them to advance their
careers,” he says.
Ask Margit
By Margit B. Weisgal, Contributing Writer
mbweisgal@gmail.com
Students deeply affected
by pandemic
“I found that with depression, one
of the most important things you can
realize is that you’re not alone. You’re
not the first to go through it, you’re
not gonna be the last to go through it.”
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
Helping students overcome obstacles to graduate
Adobe Stock Photo
Above: Salisbury University offers an array of dining
choices for students. See article on page 8.
The Morgan Completes You degree program
is offered to students who are about halfway
toward a degree – 60 credits toward a bachelors,
15 credits toward a master’s degree and 18 credits
toward a doctorate degree. A combined average of
a 2.2 GPA from previous institutions is required.
Additionally, students may receive credit for work
experience related to the degree program they
seek on the undergraduate and graduate levels.
“In Maryland, we have 750,000 adult learners
and we want to give them a chance to complete
their degrees,” Yu explains. “Either to enhance
their skills, or for promotion, or to position themselves better for career development. I think a lot
of people are waiting for that.”
McDaniel College in Westminster is rolling
out an initiative aimed at encouraging students
to complete their undergraduate degrees in four
years. “Finish in Four” outlines how students
can “stay on course” by taking 16 credits each of
their eight semesters to complete the required 128
credit hours needed to graduate. The program
also acknowledges that obstacles occur necessitating a lighter course load for a semester or
two. Sometimes a student could be four, eight or
even 12 credits short, after needing to withdrawal
from a class or not registering for enough courses.
Finish in Four serves as a resource for students
facing a deficit and advisors wanting to help them.
“There are ways that they can make up credits
that might not occur to them,” says Wendy Morris,
Ph.D., dean of faculty at McDaniel College. “When
a student is considering withdrawing from a class
or they’ve already withdrawn from a class, they
have this resource that they can go to so that they
can see the various ways that they can make up
credits.”
Finish in Four promotes summer courses,
suggests that students consider courses offering
lesser credits like half-credit, five-week fitness
classes or one-credit, choir courses, gaining credit
for internships and independent study projects,
and even serving as a peer mentor or tutor for
credit. In addition, “occupational life experiences”
secured through employment, military service
and volunteerism may also be considered for
credit.
Degree completion,
continued on page 9
One segment of our society has been
significantly affected in the wake of the
global pandemic: college students. The
period spent attending universities is
already fraught with stress and adding
the pressures that COVID-19 brought has
only exacerbated mental health issues.
Alessandra Pieraccini, Psy.D., staff
psychologist and clinical director/assistant director at Towson University’s
Counseling Center, spoke about the challenges students are facing after spending
18 months online instead of in face-toface classes. “Some students flourished
in online classes, focused better and were
able to connect, but there were a lot
who really struggled, missing one-on-one
interactions. They found it hard to be
social without in-class discussions and
conversations. Now returning, many voice
concerns about rusty social skills. They’ll
say, ‘I’m out of practice in the social world.
How am I going to make friends? Interact?
After all this time doing video or group
chats, how do I talk to people again?’ So,
there’s a lot of increased anxiety, stress and
depression surfacing.”
Tony DuLaney, LCPC, clinical case
manager for the office of student support at the University of Baltimore, is
seeing many of the same problems, but
those who attend UB face additional problems that 18- to 22-year-old college students don’t deal with. “The average age of
UB’s undergraduate students is 28 years
old. For them, it’s not just the anxiety of
attending classes. Even though the number of referrals for students seeking support has stayed relatively consistent, the
needs being addressed and the severity
of their impact on student functioning,
both academically and personally, have
increased. More students seek urgent support for housing, financial support and
referral for community providers of men-
Ask Margit, continued on page 9
