Coming in to its fifth year as Warren County’s only public college, Sinclair Community Colleges’ Courseview Campus is making efforts to meet the increasing demand for higher education in its area, according to George Sehi, executive dean of the Courseview Campus.
“One of the biggest challenges we are facing at Courseview is the community expectation for more programs,” Sehi said. “Here is the real challenge, when students come to us they expect us to offer whatever their area of interests might be and we are just not there yet.
Courseview now offers two new associate degree programs; Physical Therapy Assistant (PTA) and Computer Information Systems (CIS) with a focus in network engineering, which can be completed entirely at the campus. With the two program additions, the total of degrees now offered at Courseview is eight.
“We are starting this fall with 20 students (in the PTA program) full-time and that’s going really well,” Sehi said. “We have got our new lab established there and clinical.”
The lack of space puts a restraint on the number of programs that can be added to the campus but Sehi said they are trying to find ways to add programs like communication, that don’t require room for labs or other key components that take up space in other degrees.
In addition to the new programs, plans have begun to start building onto the 30 acres of land across the street from the Courseview building, which was acquired by the institute about eight months ago. With an enrollment pushing 1,300 students in Fall quarter, not including University Parallel students, the campus has reached its maximum capacity and needs to expand to continue serving the community appropriately, Sehi said.
“We don’t have a deadline but we are working on it to make it happen. In the near future we will have new facilities,” Sehi said. “We are offering classes at King’s High school in order to be able to offer enough sections for our students.”
As for other endeavors going on at the campus, Sehi said he is proud that the campus is a part of the Developmental Education Initiative funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, that has allowed Sinclair and two other colleges in Ohio, to explore approaches in getting students prepared for college, retaining them throughout the process and then giving them the chance to be successful in the workforce.
Another thing that Sehi said he is excited about is that the campus has started a very strong Student Leadership club that has given a voice to the students and has been well received by the college and the community alike.
“The college made the absolute right decision to expand its footprint in Warren County. The demand has been high and exceeded our projection in terms of enrollment, which is a clear indication of the need in higher education,” Sehi said. “What’s most exciting is to be able to build a campus that will be here for the next 200 years or so and that we know will provide educational opportunities for so many – thousands of people – that is the most exciting thing.”