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| Public Affairs - Press Release | |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Dec. 10, 2004 Contact: Anika Mitchell Perkins (662) 329-7124 Tuition bank will offer educational opportunities to city employees COLUMBUS, Miss. A partnership between Mississippi University for Women and the city of Columbus will establish a tuition bank, which will support the offering of educational opportunities to city employees. The pilot program will credit select city employees to attend regularly scheduled classes at no cost, and as needs are identified by the city, the tuition bank will support the development and the offering of select non-credit workshops. MUW President Claudia Limbert said, The Tuition Bank Program is a special way to demonstrate MUW's appreciation of the city of Columbus. The program enables selected city employees to take advantage of the high quality academic courses that MUW offers as well as the opportunity for them to take part in non-credit workshops that are useful to city of Columbus. Columbus Mayor Jeffrey Rupp added, "This announcement underscores the special relationship between MUW and the city of Columbus. We are grateful to Dr. Limbert for the opportunities this tuition bank creates for our employees. MUW will permit selected city employees to enroll in regularly scheduled credit courses up to the limits established in the agreement. The city employees must meet admission requirements as specified in the current university Bulletin. Individuals under 21 are required to meet established criteria, and those over 21 may be admitted as non-traditional students even if they do not meet all aspects of these standards. City employees will be recommended to the personnel director for these offerings by their department supervisor. The personnel director and chief operations officer shall review and forward the request to the mayor for final approval. A list of those selected will be provided to MUW by the first day of classes each semester. Initially, the university will establish a tuition bank of 200 credit hours per year. For example, the bank will provide 75 credit hours to participants in the fall semester, which would cover 25 seats in three-credit hour, regularly scheduled courses. Seventy-five credit hours would be available from the tuition bank in the spring semester and 50 credit hours in the summer. These limits may be reviewed and adjusted to meet demand at any time. In addition to these opportunities to attend classes, the university will also work with the city to establish non-credit workshops designed to provide training for select employees in specific areas. City employees will initiate this process by identifying areas of need. University representatives will work with those from the city to develop the learning outcomes for requested workshops as well as a tentative outline for the offering. Topics will be recommended by the chief operations officer and other department heads. After approval, the mayor will forward requests for training to the campus. Each request will outline the training desired, the length of the desired training and the approximate number of individuals who will be involved. The request will be forwarded to the campus. Initially, MUW will establish a tuition bank of 600 people training hours per year. Dr. Sam Gingerich, MUW provost and vice president for academic affairs, said, "When President Limbert suggested this idea, it was clear to me that this program would be an excellent way for the academic side of MUW to support the city of Columbus. It was a pleasure working with my colleagues from the city to bring this to fruition." |
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