Monday, July 11, 2005
USI Nearby: USI courses in your backyard
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USI Junior Lindsay McBride will save hours per week by taking advantage of off-campus courses and not driving from Warrick County to the campus daily. In fall 2005, USI Extended Services, which has offered off-campus courses for more than 20 years, will offer evening classes at a new location, the Indiana National Guard Armory near the corner of Vann Avenue and the Lloyd Expressway. Off-campus courses will continue to be offered at Castle High School in the fall. The fall semester begins August 29, 2005. Extended Services also has created a slogan, “USI Nearby,” to remind the community about the convenient locations. Lee Ann Shafer, academic programs manager for Extended Services, said USI Nearby was created for the benefit of commuter students and those living and working on Evansville’s east side and in Warrick County. “With USI Nearby, evening students have a significantly shorter drive time to get back and forth to class,” she said. The new location at the armory has allowed Extended Services to offer considerably more off-campus evening classes in the fall. Ten classes will be offered at the armory and three at Castle. “The National Guard Armory is a prominent location,” Shafer said. “The building is underutilized during the week, and it has classroom space.” McBride, of Tennyson, Indiana, made an hour-long commute to USI every day of the week during her freshman year. “Last fall I had a class at 8 a.m., and I would leave around 6 a.m. so I could get to school early or do homework,” she said. “There is a lot of traffic on the Lloyd Expressway at 7 a.m.” This fall, McBride will take an environmental conservation class at the armory, a speech class at Castle, Introduction to Public Relations online, and humanities and chemistry on campus. She estimates that USI Nearby will save her 20 to 25 minutes each way. “It’s closer than driving to the campus,” she said. “It should save me gas money as well.” Shafer emphasized that students taking classes off-campus are not sacrificing educational quality. “These are classes taught by our regular faculty; these are the same classes offered to students on campus,” she said. Melanie Parker, a senior social work major, lives in Newburgh. She will be taking one class at Castle, two at the armory, and a senior seminar on campus once a week. “It’ll save me an hour a day that I won’t be driving,” she said. “Castle High School is five minutes from my house and the armory is only 10 minutes away.” Parker is the mother of two small children and works part time. “All three courses are once a week,” she said. “I can get three classes done in three days, and that helps me tremendously.” Parker expects to graduate in spring 2006 with a Bachelor of Social Work degree. She has completed required courses for her major and is taking advantage of USI Nearby to complete core curriculum requirements. Shafer chose course offerings for that purpose. “My hope is that we’ll continue to rotate the core curriculum and introductory classes to help students make significant progress toward their general education requirements and a degree,” she said. USI Nearby saves students time and money, and makes pursuing a degree more doable for some students. “One of my missions is to encourage adult students to return to college and continue their education,” Shafer said. “Hopefully, this program will make the decision to go back to school easier.” Some of the USI Nearby course offerings in fall 2005 are already closed. For more information go to www.usi.edu/extserv/offcampus.asp or contact Shafer at 812/464-1879. |
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