Chadron State set to begin school year

“I’m really looking forward to the new school year. There’s a special vibrancy when students are on campus. I think we’ve made a lot of progress this year in filling faculty and professional staff vacancies, introducing new programs and growing our enrollment.”

Classes will begin Monday, Aug. 21, but the campus will be bustling throughout the weekend as students arrive to move into the residence halls and take part in an array of “welcome back” activities.

Park will give the “state of the college,” welcoming address at 8:30 Friday morning in the Student Center. The remainder of the day will include faculty meetings, topped off by a barbecue for college personnel that evening.

Emphasis has been placed on strengthening both the on- and off-campus offerings, leading to several new initiatives. Indications are that the overall enrollment will be up slightly with significant gains among freshmen and those taking graduate courses.

Dr. Randy Rhine, vice president for enrollment management and student services, said Monday that the number of freshmen enrolled was up nearly 11 percent from a year ago at the same time and the number of graduate student registrations has increased about by a whopping 62 percent, climbing from 156 last year to 249.

A vast majority of the freshmen will be on campus, but many of the graduate students will take their courses online while remaining in their jobs and homes.

“We’ve made more of our programs accessible online, but we haven’t done it at the expense of the residential academy,” said Park. “We still recommend the full college experience, but offering courses online is a wonderful way to serve those who are unable to come to the campus.”

The preliminary online enrollment has more than doubled from a year ago, Rhine said. All the coursework for 12 degree programs will be available from Chadron State online this fall.

Dr. Lois Veath, vice president of academic affairs, said the “intellectual integrity” of the Chadron State’s academic programs is a major factor in the popularity of the graduate degrees.

“We’re not a diploma mill,” Veath said. “Those who earn a graduate degree from Chadron State have to work hard. and we offer courses and programs related to the High Plains region that we serve.”

Veath added that the college now has a complete academic team in place. Last spring she was appointed to head the college’s academic offerings while Rhine was selected to lead the enrollment and student services efforts.

The college also has given added emphasis to academics by reorganizing from two schools to three and appointing two new deans. Dr. Margaret Crouse, who has been a dean at CSC for 11 years, heads the School of Education, Human Performance, Counseling, Psychology and Social Work.

The new deans are Dr. Charles Snare, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, and Gary White, dean of the School of Business, Economics, Applied and Mathematical Sciences.

Snare is an Ohio native who comes to Chadron State after three years in administration at a branch campus in the University of Alaska system.

White was born and raised in Iowa, graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and has been chairman of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Studies at Dickinson State University in North Dakota the past 11 years.

A few of CSC’s new initiatives include:

--The Business Academy in which all the courses will be offered in business and economics will be in an eight-week format instead of the traditional 16-week semester beginning this spring. The change was made in consultation with the Department of Business and Economics Advisory Board.

--The Dorset Graves Lecture Series, which will begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 29 in the new Faculty Seminar Conference Room on the lower level of the Reta King Library. Dr. Graves, eminent English professor emeritus at CSC for whom the series is named, will be the first speaker. More professors and others with academic expertise will follow.

--A fully-mediated classroom complete with 30 computers has been developed on the lower level of the library. The former computer laboratory has been converted into a curriculum library featuring teacher education materials.

--Chadronstateonline.com will simplify the application and enrollment process for students, making all the services available at one Web site. Chadron State has enlisted eCollege, a Denver-based firm, to provide around the clock technical support.

One of the first major activities on campus this fall will be the HomeTown Competitiveness Academy on Sept. 12-14. The academy is designed to create and expand economic development opportunities in western Nebraska. Reservations are being received from area communities that are forming teams to participate. Veath said her office will pay the fee for CSC students who wish to be a part of their hometown’s team.

CSC students will notice some physical changes when they arrive on campus. One, of course, will be the hills to the south that were blackened by fire in late July. In addition, the remodeling of Sparks Hall to serve as the headquarters for the college’s administration and Chadron State Foundation is underway near the center of the campus. The $2.3 million project will continue through next spring.

The new softball field on the east side of the campus is nearing completion as is a major landscaping and arboretum project to the south of Andrews Hall. In addition, the elevators in the Math and Science Building, Burkhiser Technology Center and the King Library were upgraded this summer.

Blair Brennan, facilities coordinator, said a new tapered roof will be placed on the library and underground sprinkling systems will be laid in lawns near the center of the campus and west of Main Street this fall.