Celebration Marks Official Opening of the New Center for Graduate and Continuing Studies
Faculty, staff, students, board of trustees and community members gathered November 14 to celebrate the opening of The Center for Graduate and Continuing Studies.
Dr. Paul Douillard, Vice President and Dean for Academic Affairs, said the College is very pleased to have been able to bring on board as Dean of the Center, Dr. Dennis DeLong, who has 30 years of experience in higher education with adult students as an administrator or faculty member.
Douillard said that the College has seen an increasing number of students enrolling in undergraduate coursework as either prerequisites for graduate programs or to gain a better foundation for graduate coursework and that the College will be better prepared to service these students using this model of a single Center.
College President Sister Patrice Werner, who previously spent several years as the Director of Continuing Education, said the College has a long history in offering adult studies to the New Jersey community. “The creation of the Center for Graduate and Continuing Studies was a logical step for Caldwell as we continue to move forward with new initiatives on both the undergraduate and graduate levels,” Sister Patrice said. She said it is the College’s hope that, “the greater authority, flexibility and empowerment provided by the new structure will facilitate program development and implementation, as well as address scheduling and other needs of the adult students.” She stressed that the Center staff “will continue to work closely with department chairs to ensure continued integrity and excellence of the curriculum and teaching faculty … this integration of traditional and non traditional programs has always been a hallmark of the College.”
Dr. DeLong said the merger of Graduate Studies and Continuing Education benefits the Caldwell College student by: reinforcing and strengthening the College’s commitment to the adult student; centralizing the location for all students; enhancing and streamlining academic advisement and a sharing of publications. He said the Center benefits the entire college by: the sharing of offices; the streamlining of procedures, the combined recruiting strategy for both undergraduate and graduate students; the combining of advertising and the seamless progression of continuing education students to graduate programs.