PULLMAN, Wash. — Merrill Ewert, director of Cornell University Cooperative Extension and six other Cornell extension officials are scheduled to visit WSU’s learning centers in Longview on Sept. 5 and in Colville on Sept. 6.
“Our peer land-grant universities around the country have begun to recognize that WSU’s experiment with learning centers is a very positive one,” said Mike Tate, director of WSU Cooperative Extension. “They are coming to look at the learning centers and to learn from WSU how to implement them.”
The agendas for the visits include briefings by center administrators, tours of facilities, student panel discussions on the impact of learning centers on degree program completions and meetings with local officials.
Washington State University started its network of learning centers four years ago in collaboration with counties, community colleges and other partners to broaden access to the university.
The 11 centers, all managed by WSU Cooperative Extension, are located at Aberdeen, Colville, Goldendale, Longview, Mount Vernon, Port Hadlock, Tacoma, Walla Walla, Wenatchee, Yakima and Rochester.
The centers facilitate access to bachelor of arts programs in human development, social sciences, business, criminal justice, nursing and general agriculture, as well as a master of science degree in agriculture through WSU’s Extended Degree Program and work with WSU branch campuses to extend the university’s offerings.
This past spring, a total of 326 students in WSU’s Extended Degree Program were from learning center communities and received student support services from learning center staff, including exam proctoring and access to computers. In addition, the centers provided thousands of non-credit educational programs for people in their communities.
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