The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
COLLEGES GET READY
Lakeland, Lake Erie have plenty to offer all fall semester begins
“We are trying to make this a hub. We’re also getting a cafe, later this fall and we’re really excited about that.” — Jeanna Purses
As the two colleges that call Lake County home gear up for the fall semester, each has a variety of new offerings in store for its students and the community at large
Lakeland
At Lakeland Community College, school officials are excited about a number of new facilities, programs and tools poised to make their debuts.
Perhaps most notably is the school’s new Health Technologies building, which began taking shape on the school’s main campus in Kirtland, at 7700 Clocktower Drive, in early 2016 after county voters approved a 0.4-mill capital improvement
bond.
The addition opened its doors in January to the first students who will work, study, practice and, school officials hope, thrive there.
“It’s an immersive environment for learning,” said Deborah Hardy, Lakeland’s dean for health technologies, in a February NewsHerald article. “It just creates this energy.”
The 88,000-square-foot, four-floor portion of the $45 million project, which also included a science hallway renovation project and other infrastructure improvements, is more than the usual classroom building.
According to Lakeland Vice President and Provost Laura Barnard, the addition will host a variety of lifelike provisions designed to prepare healthcare-industry bound students for their careers.
“The building was organized so that one floor is set up as a pre-hospital scenario, where patients would undergo testing and other diagnostics before a specific procedure,” she said, adding that the second floor is set up like a hospital, where the actual procedures would be performed and the third floor is organized to mimic a post-hospital scenario, where patients
would undergo rehabilitation and occupational therapy just before being released.
“One new thing that’s really cool that we have for our occupational therapy students is that we have an actual apartment set up for the students to train,” Barnard said about the new Rehabilitation Therapy Training Apartment, which is part of the Health Technologies building dubbed Lakeland Lane and includes simulated environments to retrain independent living skills.
That portion of the facility is part of Lakeland’s new Occupational Therapy Assistant.
Other new program offerings at Lakeland in 2018 include a polysomnography (study of sleep disorders) certificate, State Tested Nursing Assistant track, English as a second language class, Google’s IT Professional certificate program, and a partnership with Bowling Green State University through Lakeland’s Holden University Center.
Lakeland also has a new Nursing Lab, a new and improved Dental Clinic and is introducing a new ambulance simulator for emergency medical technician and paramedic students.
Additionally, Laketran will now provide on-campus shuttle services and a woman’s soccer team will make its debut, according to Marketing Communications Specialist Jessica Novak.
Barnard said it’s an exciting time at the school.
“I think we’re all very excited that Lakeland continues to grow as far as the number of programs we offer students and, also, that we continue to look for ways... to help students succeed,” she said. “We are really excited about the new academic year.”
Lake Erie
The start of the fall semester means new educational programs, recreational opportunities and facility improvements for Lake Erie College students, as well.
The Lincoln Library that is located on the college campus is currently undergoing many exciting changes and renovations.
Books that once occupied the second floor will be relocated to the lower level to make room for new flexible study areas, student services and offices, said Lincoln Library Director Jeanna Purses.
“We will be upgrading our technology for better connectivity and charging capabilities and housing support services here,” she said. “We will have a academic learning center to serve anybody that needs support, a writing center and a math lab.”
The college previously offered these resources in different locations, however transforming the second floor of the library will help centralize these student services.
“We are trying to make this a hub,” she said. “We’re also getting a cafe, later this fall and we’re really excited about that.”
Additionally the library hours have been expanded to meet student needs and a Twitter page, @LibraryLincoln, was formed to communicate library news.
Lake Erie College, a private college in Painesville, takes pride in its highly
personalized education grounded in the liberal arts tradition and continues to expand its academic opportunities. A new geospatial technology minor, music minor and visual communication and graphic design major will be launching this fall.
The Parker MBA program also started a new MBA cohort at the Cleveland Clinic for their employees, said Michelle Kolk, director of public relations and marketing.
Classes for the Parker MBA program are offered online, at the Holden University Center at Lakeland Community College and at the University Center of Lorain County Community College in Lorain.
In addition to Purses, new LEC faculty will include Brian Bradshaw, assistant professor of information systems and business analytics; Wendy Burtt, coordinator of equine studies; Nancy Kohler-Cunningham, IHSA Hunt Seat Coach; Brenda Prochaska, assistant professor of criminal justice; and Beth WalshMoorman, assistant professor of literacy.
Meanwhile, associate professor of theater Jerry Jaffe is coordinating a new event that both students and community members can enjoy.
The college will host a Solo Show Festival from Sept. 27 through 30. Each evening will feature a different headliner performing an original one-person show.
Jaffe is excited to bring this event to Painesville, noting that there are no other solo-show festivals like this available in the area.