{"id":30615,"date":"2016-11-15T10:09:30","date_gmt":"2016-11-15T15:09:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=30615"},"modified":"2016-11-17T09:03:39","modified_gmt":"2016-11-17T14:03:39","slug":"adult-degree-completers-get-new-curriculum-leadership-organizational-management-major","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/adult-degree-completers-get-new-curriculum-leadership-organizational-management-major\/","title":{"rendered":"Adult degree-completers get new curriculum with leadership and organizational management major"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now in its third decade, the Adult Degree Completion Program<\/a> (ADCP) at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) is getting a makeover that emphasizes leadership theory and practice and more flexible formats.<\/p>\n

The program, which began in 1995, offers a path for working adult students with at least 60 credit hours of undergraduate work to progress toward a bachelor\u2019s degree. The management and organizational development major has been significantly revised and renamed “Leadership and Organizational Management<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThose who were in the focus group sessions came to us and said, \u2018Leadership is something we feel is important,\u2019 while at the same time we were having internal conversations about how we incorporate leadership for the common good, which is kind of entrenched in our traditional Business Department undergraduate majors,\u201d says ADCP program representative Travis Pettit<\/a>, a graduate of the program\u2019s 52nd cohort. \u201cSo it really seemed like synergy was there. All signs pointed that leadership was the way to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"20161019-adcp-class-007-1000px\"<\/a>
Students (from left) Carla Craig, Lisa Carter and Forrest Wimer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The changes come following extensive conversations with focus groups, local educational partners including Blue Ridge Community College, and other stakeholders. Much of the curriculum has been updated and revised, with topics such as leadership theory, leadership practice, global trends in economic justice, biblical perspectives, cross-cultural perspectives and team leadership. ADCP faculty members Bob Davis, Todd Lilley and Jason Good worked with Associate Dean Sue Cockley<\/a> and Margo McIntire<\/a>, program coordinator, to develop the new curriculum.<\/p>\n

Structure and format appeal to working adults<\/h3>\n

Each cohort in the program runs for 15 months, meeting one evening a week, and provides 38 semester hours of credit. Nearly 1,000 students have enrolled over ADCP\u2019s history, and about 90 percent of students who begin the program complete it.<\/p>\n

New ADCP student Jason Burnett of Stuarts Draft, Virginia, started work on an undergraduate degree years ago and now hopes to finish it through the LOM program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe class structure of one night a week was very appealing, and the campus resources, in my mind, will allow me to stay focused as a student and working parent to achieve my academic goals,\u201d Burnett says. \u201cAs a single father of two and a working adult, I feel this program at EMU, rather than a traditional student setting, gives me the best chances of completing my degree while being able to balance my family, employment and life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patricia Craft, from Massanutten, Virginia, similarly found the right fit with ADCP.<\/p>\n