FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Oct. 21, 2019For further information, contact cathy.mentzer@wilson.edu or ccole@frederick.edu
FREDERICK, Md.─Wilson College and Frederick Community College (FCC) have finalized an agreement that guarantees qualified FCC students admission to Wilson bachelor’s degree programs and allows them to transfer all credits earned with a grade of C or better.
The articulation agreement, signed today by college officials at FCC in Frederick, Md., gives FCC associate degree graduates with a grade-point average of at least 2.0 benefits that will make continuing their education at Wilson as smooth as possible, including being granted full junior status at Wilson if they transfer 60 credits. Students will have Wilson’s admission fee waived and qualified FCC students will also receive coordinated academic advising by both colleges to ensure that they take courses that can be applied to their bachelor’s degree.
In addition, high-achieving students will receive monetary benefits: FCC graduates who are members of Phi Theta Kappa─the largest and most prestigious honor society for two-year college students─will be awarded a Wilson Presidential Scholarship of $12,000 if the student enrolls as a full-time residential student taking 15 credits or more per semester.
“We are happy to partner with Frederick Community College on this agreement because it expands Wilson’s footprint and provides FCC students a seamless path to a Wilson bachelor’s degree,” said Wilson Vice President for Academic Affairs Elissa Heil. “Students will benefit professionally from having the tools they need to achieve even greater success.”
The economic benefits of higher levels of education increase with each advancing degree, according to The College Payoff: Education, Occupations Lifetime Earnings. Over the course of a lifetime, someone with a bachelor’s degree earns an average of $541,000 more than someone with an associate degree, the report states.
FCC sees this agreement with Wilson as a unique opportunity for its graduates to continue their education.
“We prioritize ensuring our students have many opportunities to continue their educational or career goals after completing their studies at FCC,” said FCC President Elizabeth Burmaster. “This is the newest of many agreements we have with four-year institutions that ease the transition for our students, saving them time and money."
The agreement was signed by Heil and Tony D. Hawkins, FCC provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, continuing education and workforce development.
“FCC and Wilson College have a shared commitment to putting the needs of our students first and increasing access to higher education for all,” said Hawkins. “This new agreement does just that, and we are proud to partner with Wilson College to set our students up for continued success.”
About Wilson College Founded in 1869, Wilson College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in Chambersburg, Pa., that offers bachelor’s degrees in 35 majors and graduate degrees in education, healthcare, nursing, business and the arts and humanities. Wilson is committed to providing an affordable education that offers value to its students beyond graduation. Wilson has a fall 2019 enrollment of 1,620 students in all programs. Visit www.wilson.edu for more information.
About FCC Located in Frederick, Md., Frederick Community College (FCC) offers more than 85 degree and certificate programs through flexible learning formats that include day, evening, weekend, online and hybrid options. Accredited programs, comprehensive instruction and affordable costs of attendance have made FCC the learning destination for more than 200,000 students since 1957. With teaching and learning as our primary focus, FCC prepares a diverse student body to complete their goals of workforce preparation and credentialing, transfer, career development and personal enrichment with quality, innovative lifelong learning. Visit www.frederick.edu for more information.
The Wilson College Veterinary Medical Technology Club will hold its popular dog wash from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 26 and 27. The location this year has changed to the new college veterinary education center next to Lortz Hall and the Brooks Science Center. The dog washes are open to the public. The cost is $10 for small dogs, $15 for medium dogs, $20 for large dogs and $25 for extra-large or double-coated dogs. The price includes ear cleaning, nail trim, bath, blow dry—all of which will be performed by VMT Club members—and a bandana. Owners must present a paper copy of their dog’s rabies vaccination.
For more information, contact VMT Club President Sydni Berkihiser at sydni.berkihiser@wilson.edu.
The annual Wilson College extravaganza of all things related to interdisciplinary arts─Arts Day─will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 9. The day-long celebration of the arts, which is held at locations all over the campus, is free and open to the public.
One of the most popular events, steamroller printmaking, will return this year. Arts Day usually includes a variety of activities─both all-day events and scheduled events─such as exhibitions of art, film screenings, dramatic presentations, pottery-making, poetry readings, equestrian mounted drill team performances and more. A complete schedule of events will be available closer to the date at www.wilson.edu/arts-day.
The Wilson community established Arts Day to celebrate the visual and performing arts and provide an opportunity for everyone to take note of the impact of the arts on our daily lives.
Wilson College will hold its annual Blessing of the Animals at noon on Wednesday, Oct. 2, on the main campus green. The blessing, which is conducted by the Wilson's chaplain, the Rev. Derek Wadlington, is open to the public. All friendly pets in cages or on leads or leashes are welcome. Those attending are asked to clean up after their pets.
A brief scripture reading and general prayer will be following by an individual blessing of any animals owners wish to have blessed. If they are unable to bring their pet to campus, those attending may bring pictures of pets to be blessed. If a pet has died, a memorial blessing can be given.
In the event of rain, the ceremony will move to Laird Hall.
Wilson College continues to buck the higher education trend of declining enrollments. A total of 1,620 students are enrolled for the fall semester, an 8 percent increase over fall 2018 and another record for the 150-year-old college.
The greatest growth came in the college’s teacher certification programs, where enrollment is up 39 percent over last year. Officials attribute the increase to Wilson’s expansion of all certification programs to include an online format, as well as a traditional classroom format, and to a shortage of qualified teachers in Pennsylvania.
Enrollment in Wilson’s 10 graduate programs also increased by double digits, with 546 students enrolled this year compared to 455 last fall, a 20 percent increase.
Officials point to Wilson’s ability to respond to market demands for programs like nursing and the expansion of its graduate programs in education, as well as an increase in the college’s online offerings, as some of the reasons for the college's growth.
“The college has been adept at providing the programs our students and prospective students tell us they want, while maintaining the personal attention, smaller class sizes and academic excellence for which Wilson is known,” Vice President for Academic Affairs Elissa Heil said.
The 1,074 students enrolled in Wilson’s undergraduate programs, including adult learners, is up nearly 2.9 percent this year. Of those, 662 students are enrolled in Wilson’s traditional undergraduate program, nearly 60 percent of whom live on campus. The number of new freshmen entering the traditional undergraduate program grew more than 5 percent.
Wilson’s top five majors this year among undergraduates are nursing, veterinary medical technology, animal studies, equine-facilitated therapeutics and business management.
This year’s enrollment increase marks the sixth consecutive year of growth since Wilson enacted a series of measures approved in 2013 to revitalize the college and set it on a path toward economic health and sustainability. The steps included a tuition reduction and student loan buyback program, new career-oriented academic programs, campus improvements, coeducation in all programs and increased marketing and retention efforts.
Wilson’s enrollment increases stand in stark contrast with national enrollment trends. Based on the most recent data available, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reported a decline of 1.7 percent in higher education enrollment nationally for fall 2018, while showing a 2.4 percent increase at four-year, nonprofit private colleges─largely due to the conversion of a large for-profit institution to nonprofit status, according to the NSCRC report.
“All in all, we did exceptionally well this year,” said Interim Vice President for Enrollment David Boisvert. “I think our efforts to improve recruitment and financial aid strategies played a role, along with Wilson’s reputation for excellence and value and the college’s ability to provide programs that are in demand today.”
Dual enrollment agreements with 11 regional high schools and articulation agreements with three community colleges have also helped to keep Wilson’s enrollment on the upswing, according to Boisvert. Wilson has agreements that allow associate degree earners from Hagerstown Community College, Harrisburg Area Community College and Montgomery College in Maryland to seamlessly transfer here to pursue a bachelor’s degree.
Since 2013, Wilson has seen a 115 percent increase in traditional undergraduate enrollment, with a 145 percent increase overall.
Wilson, which is celebrating the 150th anniversary of its founding in 1869, has students from 26 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and 14 countries. The college has expanded its athletics program to include 11 NCAA Division III men’s and women’s teams. The college offers 35 undergraduate majors, 10 master’s degree programs and a wide variety of teacher certification programs.
In The Second City, Greatest Hits Vol. 59, today's audiences can watch the next generation of comedy superstars put its spin on the best of the legendary Chicago improv troupe's hits during a show at Wilson College at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21, in Laird Hall.
From sketch comedy to original songs to world-famous improv, the show will leave audiences rolling in the aisles as The Second City celebrates nearly 60 years of cutting-edge satirical revues, rebooted and reimagined for today.
The Second City opened its doors in Chicago in 1959 and the small caberet theater grew to become the most influential improv comedy company in the world. It launched the careers of some of the biggest names in the genre-from John Belushi and Dan Akroyd to Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey, Steve Carrell, Bill Murray and many, many more.
This show is rated PG-13. Tickets are $15 per person for general admission and can be purchased at the door or in advance at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-second-city-greatest-hits-vol-59-wilson-college-performing-arts-series-tickets-65559270543. Wilson College students, faculty and staff get in free with ID. For more information, contact Wilson Director of Conference and Special Events Kelsey Young at 717-262-2847 or kelsey.young@wilson.edu.
Wilson College will hold a reception from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 16, in Lortz Hall's Bogigian Gallery to mark the opening of a new exhibition featuring works made by artist members of The Foundry. The exhibition, which will run through Oct. 11, is free and open to the public.
The Foundry at Wilson will include a selction of paintings, drawings, photographs, sculpture and more made by members of Chambersburg's artist co-operative based at 100 South Main St. Wilson College and The Foundry have partnered for a number of exhibition opportunities for Wilson students and Foundry members.
The Bogigian Gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and by appointment. For additional information or an appointment, contact Philip Lindsey at 717-264-2783 or philip.lindsey@wilson.edu.
In recognition of its 150th anniversary, Wilson College is expanding its Common Hour series of lectures this year to include three evening talks at the Coyle Free Library, 102 N. Main St. At 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 9, scholar and author Robert P. Jones will present Why Religion and Race are at the Heart of America’s Identity Crisis in Coyle’s new conservatory.
In the lecture, Jones will examine demographic and cultural changes taking place in America, notably that the United States is─for the first time in its history─no longer a nation where a majority of its citizens identify as white and Christian, and how the shift is affecting our politics and communities.
Jones also will speak at Wilson Monday, when he presents E Pluribus Duo? Partisanship, Polarization and Pluralism in America. The talk will be held at noon in the Stewart Library’s Lenfest Learning Commons.
Both talks are free and open to the public.
Jones, author of the book The End of White Christian America, is a leading scholar and commentator on religion and politics. He is the founding CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and education organization that conducts public opinion polls on a variety of different topics, specializing in the quantitative and qualitative study of political issues as they relate to religious values.
Jones writes a column for The Atlantic online on politics and culture and appears regularly on Interfaith Voices, the nation’s leading religion news-magazine on public radio. He is frequently featured in major national media such as MSNBC, CNN, NPR, the New York Times and Washington Post.
Wilson’s Common Hour─a lecture series dedicated to fostering inquiry and conversation across the campus community on pressing issues and big questions─this year has the theme “Living Boldly” to mark the college’s Sesquicentennial. The 2019-20 series kicked off on campus on Sept. 2 and will feature a total of 11 talks and one dance performance.
The next lecture at Coyle Free Library will be held Oct. 7 with a talk by June Eric-Udorie, a journalist and feminist named “Female Activist of the Year” by Elle UK magazine in 2017. The last talk at Coyle will be held Nov. 4, featuring Kait Parker, host of the Weather Channel’s Warming Signs podcast. Topics will be announced later.
For more on the Common Hour, including a schedule and biographies of the speakers, visit wilson.edu/common-hour.
The National Science Foundation has awarded a grant of nearly $1 million to Wilson College for a groundbreaking new program to recruit area students majoring in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields and support them with everything from stress management techniques and wellness practices to academic assistance, mentoring and career development.
The prestigious NSF grant provides Wilson with $997,509 over five years, beginning in October, for the college’s unique Encompass: STEM for Lifelong Success program. The grant will establish a recruitment program to provide scholarships to academically talented students with financial need from eight school districts in rural southcentral Pennsylvania who are pursuing degrees in one of four targeted STEM majors: biology, chemistry, biochemistry or environmental science.
The grant, which will provide 21 students from eight local school districts with up to $9,500 a year in scholarship aid, is aimed at attracting more rural Pennsylvania students to the STEM fields and helping them stay in school, graduate and have successful careers. It is hoped that, as a side benefit, those graduates will return to rural parts of the state to work in STEM fields.
“STEM education is really the foundation of our future, and for our local and regional economy to keep pace, we need more STEM-engaged students,” said Mike Ross, president of the Franklin County Area Development Corp., who predicts Wilson’s Encompass program could have “significant implications” for the local economy. “Growing talent locally, I think, bodes well for our future. Pick an industry─transportation, healthcare, agriculture─STEM is going to be at the heart of its success.”
In addition to helping recruit and retain more STEM students from the area, another key objective of the innovative Encompass program is establish “an ecosystem of rural student support services” that will include academic support, research opportunities for students, alumni mentoring, experiential opportunities, faculty and peer-to-peer mentoring, job/career development, internships and wellness and stress-reduction activities.
“Our academics are very strong here, but how can we do better for these students? That really is what this program is about,” said Wilson Professor of Biology Dana Harriger, who is the grant director.
One especially unique component of the new program is its focus on helping reduce students’ stress and anxiety and maintain a healthy work-life balance.
Wilson will collect and analyze data annually about the effectiveness of the Encompass program for the duration of the five-year plan as part of the NSF grant’s research component. That means components of the program can be fine-tuned to be more effective, according to Harriger.
An external evaluator will assess the program and an advisory board made up of community and business leaders, as well as alumni, will also assist in evaluating its progress. Research results will be shared with regional and national stakeholders and other educational institutions. “The knowledge gained from this grant could benefit other colleges similar to Wilson or bigger,” said Harriger.
Community partners have been notified about the NSF grant. As the principle liaison with the partnering school districts, Harriger is arranging visits in the coming weeks to discuss the parameters of the program and begin personally recruiting prospective students. The first group of students to be awarded scholarships through the Encompass program will enter Wilson in fall 2020.
Besides recruiting students and establishing strong connections with schools, businesses, mentors and prospective employers, Wilson will use the 2019-20 year to flesh out the details of all the support components of the program, which involve virtually every major administrative area of the college.
“One of our goals with the Encompass program is to create strong, local community partnerships that will transform the lives of student-scholars and have a positive impact on our community,” said Wilson Vice President for Academic Affairs Elissa Heil. “This project will advance understanding of how to better develop STEM undergraduate programs and generate highly trained STEM graduates who have an appreciation for work-life balance and are adept at managing stress throughout their lifetimes.”
Wilson officials are excited about the Encompass program, which has the potential to not only benefit students who are part of the program, but also all students at the college. “If Encompass works as we envision, we could be using the program broadly on campus,” Harriger said. “Wilson could be a college that is known for these types of support systems.”
Wilson College and Montgomery College have finalized an agreement guaranteeing qualified MC students admission to Wilson bachelor’s degree programs and allowing them to transfer all credits earned with a grade of C or better.
The articulation agreement, signed today by college officials at a ceremony at Montgomery College’s Central Services building in Rockville, Md., gives MC associate degree graduates with a grade-point average of at least 2.0 a number of advantages that will make continuing their education at Wilson as seamless as possible, including receiving full junior status at Wilson if they transfer 60 credits, as well as having Wilson’s admission fee waived. Qualified MC students will also receive coordinated academic advising by both colleges to ensure that they take courses that can be applied to their bachelor’s degree.
High-achieving students will also receive monetary benefits: MC graduates who are members of Phi Theta Kappa─the largest and most prestigious honor society for two-year college students─will be awarded a Wilson Presidential Scholarship of $12,000 if the student enrolls as a full-time residential student taking 15 credits or more per semester. Under the agreement, an additional $1,000 Montgomery Institutional Scholarship will be awarded to all students who successfully graduate from MC, again as long as they enroll as a full-time residential student at Wilson.
The articulation agreement grew from the institutions’ joint belief that cooperative programs benefit the community, employers and students in the colleges’ respective regions, and that such programs provide smooth transitions for students while maximizing the number of credits they can transfer, officials said.
“The principle beneficiaries are the students … (who are) provided the opportunity of planning a baccalaureate degree program at the outset of the college education,” according to the agreement.
“We are excited to partner with Montgomery College on this agreement because it breaks new ground for Wilson College by expanding our reach into the Washington, D.C. area, while giving MC students a clear, straightforward path to a Wilson bachelor’s degree,” said Wilson Vice President for Academic Affairs Elissa Heil. “And by advancing from an associate degree to a bachelor’s, MC students will have the tools to achieve greater success in their careers.”
As Maryland's premier community college, Montgomery College is dedicated to academic excellence and committed to student success. Dr. Sanjay Rai, senior vice president for academic affairs said, “We are constantly looking for transfer opportunities for our students where they will have outstanding student experience, they will not lose any credit and transfer with junior standing and with scholarship support. Wilson presents an ideal opportunity.”
The economic benefits of higher levels of education increase with each advancing degree, according to The College Payoff: Education, Occupations Lifetime Earnings, a report on lifetime earnings by level of education published by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. For example, over the course of a lifetime, an associate degree holder earns an average of $423,000 more than a person with only a high school diploma, and a bachelor’s degree holder earns an average of $541,000 more than someone with an associate degree.
About Wilson College Founded in 1869, Wilson College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in Chambersburg, Pa., offering bachelor’s degrees in 35 majors and graduate degrees in education, healthcare, nursing, business and the arts and humanities. Ranked as a top college and a "best value" in the region by U.S. News & World Report, Wilson is committed to providing an affordable education that offers value to its students beyond graduation. Wilson, located in Chambersburg, Pa., had a fall 2018 enrollment of 1,499. Visit www.wilson.edu for more information.
About Montgomery College Montgomery College is a public, fully accredited institution with campuses in Germantown, Rockville and Takoma Park/Silver Spring (Md.), plus training and community engagement centers, and off-site programs throughout the county. It also offers a variety of online programs, including fully online degrees. Led by President DeRionne P. Pollard, MC is dedicated to student success and widely recognized for the quality and scope of its academic programs. Established in 1946, Montgomery College has grown to serve nearly 55,000 students a year, through both credit and noncredit programs, in more than 130 areas of study.
