For 25 years, parents and working people in Rockland County have spent their late afternoons and evenings building their careers or exploring others via the Rockland Graduate Campus of Long Island University.
Originally at Ladycliff College in Orange County in 1980, the campus moved to its present location on Route 340 in Orangeburg in 1988.
While the original catalog included degrees in education, business, health care/public administration, and library science, the curriculum, along with the campus itself, has grown and changed with the times. Current degrees offered include business, counseling and development, education, health administration, and pharmacy. Education is the most common degree.
"We've had shifts of courses offered designed to meet needs of Rockland students," said Peter Reiner, the school's director of admissions and marketing. "We've expanded our computer labs, modernized our library facilities and created a very convenient online bookstore."
Faculty members have graduated from universities such as New York University, Harvard, Columbia and Cornell, Reiner said.
"The professors are all in the fields and are not full-time professors," said alumna Jamie McNamara. "You're really getting people that are actively in the field. You're not just sitting in the classroom with mundane professors."
McNamara, 28, graduated from the campus in December 2004 with a master's in business administration and will graduate this month with a master's in education. The ability to take all of her classes at night was a major selling point for McNamara, who worked on Wall Street during the day.
Her studies at the graduate campus also helped her figure out what she wanted to do with her career, she said. After working in public relations, McNamara was able to switch careers and complete a master's in education in only one year. She is now teaching kindergarten in the Bronx.
Estelle Hans, who graduated in June 2004 at age 59, attended night and weekend classes to complete a master's in administration and supervision. Hans, now the principal of the Columbus Institute for Math and Science in the Bronx, was already slated for the job, but needed the credentials. The LIU graduate campus allowed her to finish her degree in 14 months.
"To me, the advantage of a school like LIU is that the people who are teaching you are all part of the administration all over the state. It's not just theory, but theory based on practice. They are very current," Hans said.
"For me, the concept of being able to take evening and weekend classes was the invitation."
Upon beginning classes she found herself "delighted and surprised," she said.
"I was delighted to find I was gaining a lot of knowledge and ability to do a task. I thought I knew it all," Hans said.
Much emphasis at the school is placed on individual attention.
"I have a wonderful relationship with the MBA director," McNamara said. "I can e-mail him anytime, and he gets back to me in 10 minutes."
