Welcome...

to lifelong learning

Eureka College has long been known for excellence in Learning, Service, and Leadership, and this new initiative strives to maintain the same high standards. The Center for Lifelong Learning is designed to meet the needs of today’s adult student. Our programs are sensitive to the working and family responsibilities of adult students, and we will assist you in remaining focused on your personal and professional goals.

We recognize the value that a degree can offer and pledge to:

Approach your education as a partnership
Offer classes in cohort models to ensure cohesiveness and success
Design tailored tuition reimbursement programs with your employers
Focus on practical experiences that allow you to apply your learning

A few known facts from the National Center for Education Statistics:

- Over one third of students in U.S. higher education are now 25 and older – by 2012 it will be one half.
- Each year almost half of all working adults participate in some kind of formal or instructor-led education.
- The demand for high-skill, technically specialized, productive adult workers is going to grow dramatically over the next twenty years.
- Nearly two-thirds of employed adult students receive some type of employer support.
- The demand for adult learning programs is continuing to grow across the nation.
- Worker shortages and skills gaps are predicted to grow over the next 20 years.
- Jobs requiring degrees or other postsecondary certification will account for 42% of new job growth between 2000 and 2010.
- Industries most affected by skills gaps are manufacturing, health care and the service industry.
- With the baby boomer generation retiring, the labor force is predicted to fall more than 4.8 million workers short of meeting demand.

Whether you are a working professional, a stay-at-home parent, or even a part-timer, we recognize the importance of balancing your time. Our Center for Lifelong Learning is designed to help you meet your goals in non-traditional approaches.

The following are advantages to being part of the Eureka College family:

- Accelerated courses - either one night a week, or in weekend cohorts
- Full-time and specialized adjunct faculty who promote positive educational environments
- Personal, educational advisement prior to enrollment
- Full-time enrollment status for those in Organizational Leadership for financial aid purposes
- Convenient parking and access to your course work on the Eureka College campus
- One-stop assistance with on-campus services through our friendly and dedicated staff
- Programs that engage adults as active partners in their own learning

- for more information -

The Center for Lifelong Learning

1-888-4-EUREKA

bbladel@eureka.edu


FRED ZWICKY/JOURNAL STAR - Organizational Leadership graduates Christine Price of Bartonville, left, and Liz Danner of Eureka celebrate the completion the program. Students in the program go through every class as a group. At left, is Christine's son, Braden.

Ready to Lead

Peoria Journal star article

By Jennifer Towery

Liz Danner of Eureka majored in elementary education in college. But something always told her teaching might not be her thing, and she left school without a degree.

"I got married. Had a family. Thirteen or 14 years later. . . . I decided this was as good a time as any" to finally get that degree, she said.

The timing was not only good, it was eerily good. Eureka College had just announced it was starting a new organization leadership bachelor's program targeted to non-traditional students who'd never finished degrees.

The major intrigued her. The college is two minutes from her home. She'd been dreading driving to Illinois State University or another college.

Oh, and she couldn't get interested in online courses.

"I'm a people person," she said.

Last week, she finished her degree in organizational leadership at Eureka.

Unlike Danner, most of the students in the cohort program already are working. The classes meet on Friday nights and all day Saturday, every other weekend. It seems to work for jobs and families, said Jeff Bailey, organizational leadership program coordinator. Students hail from Peoria, Congerville, Danvers, Bloomington, Morton, Hudson and elsewhere.

Because a hefty part of the program is practicums, both individual and group, the students' employers benefit from the program as well.

Danner sees a difference in herself, and the way she interacts with people. She's even better at communicating with her own family, she said.

"The courses themselves have changed me as a person," she said. "My reactions are different, and so is the way I interact with people who have different styles of learning and communicating.

Another student in Cohort 1 was Kat Arnold, whose husband, J. David Arnold, is president of Eureka College. Even she was surprised by the difference the education made in her confidence level.

"I never knew there was so much out there. We can literally do anything," she said.