 |
News
Release |
|
News
Release |
For Immediate Release 24 June 1999
Sioux Falls Center Presents Annual Report to the Board of Regents
SIOUX FALLS – The South Dakota Board of Regents heard the annual report for the Center for Public Higher Education in Sioux Falls at its regular business meeting today. The meeting was held at the South Dakota School for the Deaf. Dr. Judy Nissen, Director of the Center, presented the report.
Nissen said, "The Center for Public Higher Education has continued its efforts to provide life long learning opportunities for the Sioux Falls area. Changes during the 1998-1999 academic and fiscal year have reinforced the commitment of the CPHE to provide educational programs that respond to the economic and employment needs of the Sioux Falls metropolitan area. The CPHE functions as an off-campus center in Sioux Falls for the public universities in South Dakota, particularly Dakota State University, South Dakota State University, and the University of South Dakota."
The mission of the CPHE is to serve the non-traditional student and the place-bound traditional college age student. Nissen said, "We serve our non-traditional and place-bound students by scheduling classes at times that work best for the students; those times are usually in the evenings. During the 1998-1999 academic year, approximately 65% of the classes at the Center were in the evening, 8% were scheduled on the weekends and 27% were day classes."
"Through its state policy goals for public higher education, the Regents have directed the universities to find ways to collaborate, to share resources among institutions. The CPHE is a product of the collaboration of our universities," said Regents President Harvey C. Jewett, IV.
Joining in the collaboration effort among South Dakota public universities, Northern State University offered its first class at CPHE during the 1998-1999 academic year. The course, a class required for the Master’s in Education program, was delivered using distance education technology.
Distance education technology continued to play an important role at the CPHE. Throughout the year, fourteen classes were delivered via technology to the two RDTN sites in Sioux Falls and the PicturTel classroom at the Bergland Center. A total of 180 students participated. "The Regents realize that we must bring the classes to the people who truly desire higher education. Through distance education technology place-bound students can receive the opportunity to advance their education," said Regents Executive Director Robert T. Tad Perry. Perry added that all distance education courses originated at the state universities and are taught to campus students as well.
"Through programs and services requested by businesses and organizations within the community, the CPHE has shown its dedication to the Sioux Falls community during the 1999 fiscal year," said Nissen. The CPHE aided Metro Communications (911) in Sioux Falls with developing a two-year training program for their employees. The training was coordinated through the center with each of the three universities responsible for parts of the training. DSU taught training in Team Building, SDSU taught Quality Control and Trainer, and USD taught Supervisory Training. The CPHE also assisted the College of Engineering at SDSU in hosting a two-day workshop on "Fast Changeover Setup Reduction" for manufacturing companies at the Bergland Center. Area K-12 teachers used the CPHE computer lab for TTL (Teaching Technology Learning) sessions.
"The CPHE values its students and shows this by adding more services to accommodate them," said Nissen. The center was open nearly 80 hours per week, which gave students the flexibility to access the center resources. The CPHE’s newsletter and bulletin boards, in addition to individual university mailings, kept the students informed. Some students took advantage of the new feature of registering for classes using the CPHE’s web site. Extra advising/information/registration sessions were added for the spring and fall semesters. Eight sessions were held during the year, plus orientation/open house prior to the start of the fall and spring semesters. A part-time financial aid assistant was hired to work with the universities and the students. "The assistant proved to be especially helpful in working with the students who were receiving financial aid and were cross-enrolled among the universities participating in the CPHE, " said Nissen.
"I am very proud of the accomplishments of the CPHE during the 1998-1999 year. The center concentrated its efforts to expand the services it provides to students and the community. Recognition of these efforts can be seen through the center’s growing enrollment. The spring and summer terms saw the highest enrollment in the history of the CPHE," said Nissen.
-END-