MWCC's Weekly e-newsletter

Friday, January 28, 2004

MWCC AND FRAMINGHAM STATE COLLEGE ANNOUNCE FIRST ONLINE ARTICULATION AGREEMENT

	New Salem resident Donna Ballentine sits at the computer station in her kitchen that she uses to complete MWCC’s online business administration courses.

Mount Wachusett Community College and Framingham State College are announcing a groundbreaking agreement that will allow students to receive a bachelor’s degree totally online. MWCC students with a Liberal Studies Associate’s Degree, which is available online, will be able to transfer into Framingham State’s Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies program.

Mount Wachusett offers 65 online courses each semester in a variety of subjects and disciplines. “This agreement will allow our busy students the opportunity to continue and enhance their education by obtaining a baccalaureate degree from Framingham State,” said MWCC President Daniel M. Asquino. “We are proud to be involved in the Massachusetts Colleges Online and their efforts to put higher education within everyone’s reach."

Massachusetts’ community and state colleges have been forging articulation agreements, designed to promote easy transfer from an associate’s degree to bachelor’s degree program, for years. This tradition has been taken a step further with this first online articulation agreement, which was facilitated by Massachusetts Colleges Online, a consortium of the 24 state and community colleges in Massachusetts.

“This is exciting because online programs remove barriers to getting an education,” said David Kelley, executive director of MCO. “Anyone can now access a bachelor’s degree from a Massachusetts’ state college, completely online.”

All courses are offered at state tuition rates and must meet strict academic standards.

Framingham State College has offered a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies for more than 30 years. Designed to meet the needs of nontraditional learners, program requirements are flexible, allowing students to concentrate on two to three areas of academic interest rather than one major. Online students can currently select concentrations in the social sciences and the humanities.

MWCC’s Liberal Studies Associate’s Degree is designed for both students who plan to transfer and those who are interested in professional employment after earning their associate’s degree.

Janet L. Castleman, dean of graduate and continuing education at Framingham State College, believes the new agreement will help grow the liberal studies program, which currently has 93 students enrolled each year. “Being completely online, we are going to be able to attract a new population of students who might not otherwise be able to attend classes due to geography, work schedules, a disability or other obstacles,” she said.

MWCC student Donna Ballentine exemplifies that new population. Since 2001, Ballentine, a New Salem resident, has taken 15 online courses from MWCC. She is eight courses away from completing her associate’s degree in business administration. Ballentine has been in a wheelchair since being injured in a head-on collision on Route 2 near Orange in 1998. She said her doctor expects her to walk again after two more surgeries and some physical therapy.

“I hated school when I was in high school. I never finished school. I never thought I would go back to school,” Ballentine said. “Then I got in the accident and couldn’t work. I couldn’t be a (nurse’s) aide anymore, so I had to find a different type of work. If I hadn’t done really well, I wouldn’t be doing it now. I found out that I actually am pretty good in school.” She credits MWCC Professor and Honors Program Coordinator Shelia Murphy, who taught her first online class, with getting her “hooked” on the online classes.

Castleman also sees the agreement as a good example of “resource-sharing” between campuses. “Students can complete their general education requirements at Mount Wachusett Community College while taking upper division, more specialized courses at Framingham State College,” she said.

Community colleges and state colleges in Massachusetts have been collaborating on the delivery of online education since the founding of MCO over two years ago. In addition to offering one-stop shopping for students interested in online courses, MCO has allowed the colleges to better market their online offerings to a number of target audiences, such as high schools looking to provide dual enrollment opportunities and Advanced Placement courses, state agencies that need effective, low-cost training options and businesses that want to convert existing classroom courses into online delivery.

To view the over 800 courses and 30 credit programs offered by MCO, visit the website at www.mco.mass.edu. To learn more about the associate's and bachelor’s degrees that are part of this new online articulation agreement, contact the admissions department at Mount Wachusett Community College, www.mwcc.edu, (978) 630-9110, or the Division of Graduate and Continuing Education at Framingham State College, www.choosefsc.org/BAliberal.htm or (508) 626-4550.

WHAT’S NEXT SPEAKER FINDS AREA CIVIC LEADERS INTERESTED IN COLLABORATION TO FIND SOLUTIONS

By Kimberly B. Caisse

	Charlotte Kahn speaks with Tillie Ryan of Sen. Robert Antonioni’s office and John Ballentine, a professor at Brandeis University in Waltham after her presentation.

Charlotte Kahn, director of the Community Building Network at The Boston Foundation, arrived at the Four Points by Sheraton in Leominster Friday, Jan. 21 expecting to educate area civic and community leaders about the award-winning Boston Indicators Project. Over the course of a half-hour lunch, she learned interest is strong in the tri-city area to partner with her group on a similar project to address a myriad of community issues.

More than 80 people from around the area attended Kahn’s lunchtime presentation, given as part of Mount Wachusett Community College’s What’s Next Speaker Series. Her appearance was co-sponsored by the Twin Cities Latino Coalition and the United Way of North Central Massachusetts.

“Now I realize, after talking with you, that we can work together,” Kahn said.

The Boston Indicators Project, managed by The Boston Foundation in conjunction with the City of Boston/Boston Redevelopment Authority and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, has identified 10 indicators of systematic change: civic health, cultural life and the arts, economy, education, environment, housing, public health, public safety, technology and transportation. “We had one of the most comprehensive indicator projects in the world,” Kahn said. The foundation publishes biannual reports that provide a narrative of the data project researchers collect.

“It’s to help people have a long view,” Kahn explained. “We want people to think big and to think long term.”

To make that happen, project researchers drill through sources like the census to find trends that relate to the 10 indicators. “Our point of view is we want to get the data down to the smallest geographical aggregate,” Kahn said. Then researchers and civic leaders can compare neighborhoods to define the big picture. “Sometimes it just isn’t a block or a city or a state,” Kahn said about community issues.

As an example, Kahn showed a slide of the percentage of households in the Fitchburg-Leominster area with incomes of less than $25,000. There is a high concentration of these households in the downtowns of both cities as well as the Route 12 corridor north of Route 2.

The Boston Indicators Project has demonstrated that Boston’s problems “are now state problems,” Kahn said.

Another slide backed up anecdotes often cited by civic leaders: The children of Boston-area families are moving further west because they cannot afford homes in their native cities or towns. Some municipalities in and around Boston experienced a population loss between 1990 and 2000, while many greater Boston suburbs saw their population grow 20 percent or more.

“This is just census data, but being able to have it in front of you is helpful,” Kahn said. However, Fitchburg Police Chief Edward Cronin later commented that he doesn’t think the census data reflects the rapid immigrant population growth he thinks is happening in the city.

A participant asked what discovery generated the most interest and action by Boston organizations. The impact of young people on Boston’s economy and the realization that high housing costs cause them to leave, Kahn responded.

In addition, the research highlights the need to focus on an influx of immigrants, she said. The state is losing native-born residents but is gaining immigrants. These new residents need educational services, especially English language classes, she said. “In order to help yourself, you need to be able to speak English first, so we can make it easy for people to reach for that first ladder and pull themselves up,” Kahn said. “Community colleges have an incredibly important role in that ladder.”

The issue was raised that no one is tracking the affects of the state’s parochial local government, and that it may be a good issue to include in an indicator project.

“I think there are a lot of good things happening in municipalities, but we need to look at what’s happening statewide,” Kahn said.

What's Next Speakers Series Ad (PDF)

BRITISH FORESTRY LEADERS TOUR MWCC’S BIOMASS PLANT

By Lea Ann Erickson

	MWCC Executive Vice President Edward R. Terceiro Jr. directs a tour of the biomass plant for visitors from the U.K.

A group of government, industry and forestry officials from the United Kingdom braved the winter storm Wednesday, Jan. 26 to tour MWCC’s biomass plant as part of an East Coast tour of similar facilities.

The plant, which became operational in November of 2003, has become a national and international model. “We are very proud of this initiative,” said MWCC President Daniel M. Asquino. “It has cut our energy costs, is environmentally friendly and reduces our reliance on foreign oil.”

Asquino added that the cost savings are transferred to other needed college expenditures to benefit students. “That’s what it’s all about,” he concluded. He also credited former state Sen. Robert Wetmore, who was on hand for the tour, for his leadership. “He was a leader in the Massachusetts Senate on environmental issues long before they were front page news. We were delighted when he joined the college when he retired. It was his vision and leadership that brought us to this day.”

According to MWCC Executive Vice President Edward R. Terceiro Jr., the system, which provides heat to the 427,387 square-foot Gardner campus, will be co-generating electricity for the college’s new child care facility. The college is expected to break ground on the new building, which will also house the Molly Bish Institute for Child Health and Safety, this June. Terceiro credited Robert Rizzo, Joseph Smith and the Forest and Wood Products Institute for all of their hard work to make the initiative a reality.

MWCC APPLAUDS CREW’S SNOW REMOVAL EFFORTS

	MWCC ground crews were busy removing snow from the Gardner campus on Friday.

MWCC applauds its dedicated staff of maintenance and ground crew who, while often called upon to move mountains, in recent days literally did move mountains—of snow! On duty since last Saturday morning, they battled severe weather, working around the clock in a struggle against white-out conditions, gale-force winds, sub-zero temperatures, ten-foot drifts and equipment malfunctions in order to clear the grounds so the college could re-open. Their work continued on Friday.

Campus Events:

• The Fitness & Wellness Center at MWCC’s age-appropriate baseball clinics will run on Sundays Jan. 30, Feb. 27, March 6 and March 13 from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. The cost is $45 per player. Pitching clinics for children 13 and up will be held on Sundays March 20 and March 27 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. The cost is $25 per player. For more information, call the center at (978) 630-9212.

• Dr. Linda Smith will give a free, one-hour presentation, “An Introduction to Acupuncture,” Wednesday, Feb. 2 at 11:30 a.m. in Room 242. Dr. Smith is a licensed acupuncturist who has a private practice in Ashburnham. If you have always been curious, or have questions about the use of acupuncture, contact Margaret Jaillet at mjaillet@mwcc.mass.edu or (978) 630-9292 to register for the program.

• The Mount Wachusett Community College Winchendon Skills Program, funded by a grant from Robinson Broadhurst Foundation, is offering free GED prep classes at the Community Action Center at 273 Central St., Winchendon, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Enrollment is ongoing. For more information, call Janet Brown at (978) 297-1667 or Tim Robinson at (978) 630-9259.

• Sign your child up today for MWCC’s next r.a.d.KID session Monday, February 21 through Friday, February 25 from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Gardner campus. R.a.d.KIDS is a comprehensive, foundational safety education program for children ages 5 to 7 and 8 to 12. It educates children with the tools, knowledge and power to recognize and avoid danger as well as to resist and protect themselves from physical abuse. The program focuses on seven core areas: home safety, school safety, out-and-about safety, vehicle safety, stranger tricks (including physical defense against abduction), personal safety (including good, bad and uncomfortable touching) and self-realization of personal power. To resister, contact Melissa Garneau at (978) 630-9150 or m_garneau@mwcc.mass.edu.

• Register now for the Fitness & Wellness Center’s annual golf lessons, which begin the week of Monday, Feb. 28. Directed by PGA Professional Mike Egan, the lessons include individual instruction and video analysis. Participants can bring their own clubs or use the center’s. Beginner lessons will be held Mondays and Thursdays at 7:15 p.m. Intermediate classes will meet Tuesdays at 7:15 and 8:15 p.m. and Thursdays at 8:15 p.m. Advanced lessons will be held on Mondays at 8:15 p.m. The cost is $85 per session; fitness center members are eligible for a 10 percent discount. For more information, call the center at (978) 630-9212.

• In Celebration of Black History Month, MWCC will host a black inventions exhibit on Friday, Feb. 11 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the commons area. This exhibit highlights the accomplishments of African Americans in the fields of science, aerospace communication, health care, agriculture, transportation and engineering. The golf tee, automatic traffic light, cellular phone and the world’s fastest computer—peaking at 3.1 billion calculations per second—were created by African Americans. The exhibit is sponsored by the Office for Student Life. For more information, call (978) 630-9322 or (978) 630-9547.

• MWCC and the Forest & Wood Products Institute will host a 10-hour OSHA safety training session Monday, Feb. 14 and Tuesday, Feb. 15 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wood Products Workforce Development Coordinator Ken Hanson will cover at least nine OSHA safety standards. The cost is only $198 per person and includes lunch. To register, please call Hanson at (978) 630-9179.

• The American Red Cross will hold a blood drive at MWCC’s Gardner campus on Wednesday, Feb. 16 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The blood drive will operate in the commons area and is open to the public. Call Marianne Stoy or Diane King at (978) 630-9136 to register. Walk-ins also are welcome.

• The Entrepreneurial Resource Center will host the Entrepreneur Speaker Series presentation “Taking the Mystery Out of Bulk Mailing” by management consultant Paul Lambert on Thursday, Feb. 17 from 12 to 1:30 p.m. Direct mail can be an effective marketing tool. Lambert will review such issues as determining when direct mail is cost effective, purchasing mailing lists versus creating your own and direct-mail software options. The cost is only $15, and includes lunch. To register, call (978) 630-9569.

• Registrations to take Cycle 4 classes at MWCC’s Leominster campus will be accepted through Monday, March 21 for Monday-Wednesday courses and Tuesday, March 22 for Tuesday-Thursday courses. The accelerated Cycle courses each run for three hours throughout the day and evening, twice a week for seven-and-a-half weeks. For a full list of Cycle 4 courses, check out www.mwcc.mass.edu/PDFs/cycle3.pdf on the Web or pick up a copy of the Spring 2005 Course Bulletin at any MWCC campus location. For assistance with registration, call the Leominster campus at (978) 840-3221, the Gardner campus at (978) 630-9110 or visit www.mwcc.mass.edu/prospective/register.html.

Lea Ann Erickson
Director of Community Relations
Mount Wachusett Community College
Phone: (978) 630-9322
Fax: (978) 630-9561
cell: (508) 517-5202
l_erickson@mwcc.mass.edu

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