Rollins College and SPCS faculty receive ACS grant for national forum
The Hamilton Holt School, Rollins College’s evening school for working adults and other part-time students, has been awarded a $10,000 grant from the Associated Colleges of the South (ACS) to conduct a faculty forum, with faculty from the School of Professional and Continuing Studies (SPCS), for exploring nontraditional adult educational opportunities.
The forum, to be held at the Alfond Inn on the Rollins College campus, will be held October 10-11, 2013. Faculty from Rollins College and the University of Richmond will lead discussions for representatives from member colleges of the ACS.
The grant proposal was co-written by Dr. John Houston (Rollins College – Psychology) and Dr. David Richard (Dean, Hamilton Holt School) in conjunction with faculty at the University of Richmond. Richmond faculty engaged in the grant proposal were Dr. Dan Roberts, program chair, liberal arts; Dr. Tom Shields, director, Center for Leadership in Education; Dr. Patricia Brown, senior associate dean, SPCS; and Dr. Jim Narduzzi, dean, SPCS.
According to Richard, “Adult learners over age 24 comprise 44 percent of the country’s postsecondary students. For ACS schools contemplating the development of adult educational programming, the forum will be useful in their long-range planning. By learning from Rollins and Richmond, and exploring unique opportunities that technology can afford, they can start to think about adult learning as being an integral part of the mission of their college.”
The adult education programs at Rollins College Hamilton Holt School and the University of Richmond School of Professional and Continuing Studies each have more than a 50 year tradition of reaching out to meet the educational needs and interests of adult learners using non-traditional schedules and teaching formats.
“Understanding the unique needs of non-traditional adult learners, and their role in the liberal arts, is critical to planning and implementing education systems and policies that support their needs and promote their success. The forum will include discussion topics and issues that are especially relevant to the sustainability of liberal arts institutions,” Richard added. “Liberal arts schools will continue to survive, and in fact thrive, provided they innovate to meet both the challenges and needs in the adult education market.”