Classes for life: Ivy Tech launches new learning center

Ivy Tech Community College
Center for Lifelong Learning will offer noncredit and personal enrichment courses

By Steve Hinnefeld 331-4374 | shinnefeld@heraldt.com
August 1, 2007

Ivy Tech Community College-Bloomington has created a Center for Lifelong Learning that will provide noncredit and personal enrichment courses in topics ranging from cooking and wellness to American history and computer skills.

The center, a new division of the campus, was formally launched Tuesday with a reception at the Stone Age Institute north of Bloomington.

Ivy Tech-Bloomington Chancellor John Whikehart said the center complies with the college’s strategic goal of fostering an educational environment that supports lifelong learning.

“When our state trustees created a vision statement in 2003,” he said, “they identified five goals to develop ourselves into a comprehensive community college, and one was in the realm of continuing education.”

Whikehart said center director Susie Graham, hired in January, has developed courses to appeal to lifelong learners and first-time students in Bloomington and surrounding areas.

“Susie has done an excellent job of developing this concept,” he said. “I’m quite pleased with the list of offerings.”

The center, which replaces the college’s continuing education program, will offer free, weekly community chats; Evening at Ivy, a core lineup of noncredit courses; daylong classes on computing in the workplace; the Ivy Senior Academy with classes at reduced rates for senior learners; and a summer College for Kids.

Courses will take place at the Depot, the Ivy Tech campus, the Bloomington Cooking School, Hoosier Hills Career Center and Bell Trace Senior Living Center. Some are offered online, and some will be taught with partners including Gatlin Education Services.

Titles include “How to Cook the Perfect Steak,” “Medicinal Herbs for Healthy Living,” “Beginning Conversational Spanish for Everyday People and Places” and “Planning the Perfect Wedding.” Most cost from $30 to about $200.

Some courses are designed around local events, such as a course on world music tied to the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival and an introduction to Buddhism coinciding with the Dalai Lama’s scheduled visit this fall.

Whikehart said the center is to be self-supporting through fees, although it may take a while to learn the market and attract enough students to meet that goal.

From Sept. 9 to Sept. 15, Ivy Tech will join Indiana University Continuing Studies, Monroe County Community School Corp. Adult Education and the city of Bloomington for a weeklong celebration of adult learning. It will include a discussion Sept. 10 with retired Herald-Times sports editor Bob Hammel, moderated by screenwriter Angelo Pizzo.

For a complete list of noncredit lifelong learning courses, see www.ivytech.edu/Bloomington/CLL or call 812-330-6041.