THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 1, 1994 TAG: 9409010208
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
BY WEEK'S END, more than 800 students will have enrolled in classes at the NSU-ODU Tri-Cities Center at the old Cradock High School in Portsmouth. And before the semester is over, 300 more will enroll in a special program for Isle of Wight school personnel, to bring this fall's total to 1,100.
That's 1,000 more students than the center saw in the fall of 1992, the first year that Norfolk State and Old Dominion universities offered off-campus classes in Portsmouth.
``We've grown every semester since we've been here,'' said NSU Professor Curtis Langley. He and ODU Professor James Antonick have been co-directors of the center since its inception.
NSU graduate courses at the center cost $136 per credit hour compared to $177 on campus. Undergraduate study costs $118 per credit hour in all locations.
ODU graduate courses cost $154 at the center vs. $165.50 on the Norfolk campus. Undergraduates courses are $129.50 per credit hour.
The variety of undergraduate classes depends on demand.
This fall, in addition to education courses, the offerings include classes in psychology, gerontology, social work, American literature, African-American literature, accounting, computer systems, international business operations, history, geology and communication, among others.
Some courses have intriguing names such as ``Communication Between Sexes,'' ``Race, Culture and Public Policy'' and ``The Quest for Identity.''
``I think it's fair to say we have a variety,'' Antonick said. ``You don't have to be in a program to take a class.''
About 60 percent of the ODU students are undergraduates, some of them enrolled in three degree programs offered at the center: business management, marketing and a five-year program in elementary-middle school education.
ODU runs two complete master's programs here, one in curriculum and instruction and another in child study and special education. Each has about 30 majors, Antonick said.
Much of the NSU activity at the center is in graduate work, a lot of it for educators, Langley said. He ``very much would like to change the balance'' by adding more courses at the undergraduate level.
Langley, who also heads the NSU urban affairs department, runs the master's program in urban affairs, which attracts about 70 people to the center.
In January, NSU will start a master's program in pediatric nursing, offered exclusively at the center.
About two-thirds of the students at the center come from the Tri-Cities area of Portsmouth, Chesapeake and Suffolk, the remainder from Norfolk, Virginia Beach and other areas, including North Carolina.
Neither NSU nor ODU competes with TCC-Portsmouth for students because neither university offers freshman- or sophomore-level courses at the center.
Teachers at the center are regular university faculty in most instances. Sometimes the center will run a special course for a government agency or a business that requires the use of an adjunct professor who is a specialist in a particular field, Antonick said.
The Tri-Cities Center uses only part of the first floor. Fourteen classrooms have been refurbished by the city and furnished with chairs and tables by the universities. The original office now functions as an office for the center.
Other rooms house computers for access to the university libraries, a lounge and other amenities.
In addition, a number of classrooms are designed for computer lectures that give students two-way communication with a teacher.
There are times that all the classrooms are occupied after 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday.
For the first time, the center will be open all day this fall from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays.
``We are expanding our hours,'' Antonick said. ``We even have a class at 8 a.m. this semester.''
Three rooms on the second floor of the building house the Portsmouth Sheriff's Department Academy. The city expects to house other programs in the remainder of the building in the future, Assistant City Manager Luke McCoy said.
``It costs very little more to use all of it than it costs to use part of it.''
The city owns and maintains the building free of charge to the universities. This year is the last year in a three-year agreement between the city and the schools.
Originally, the plan was to use the Cradock building for three years and then move to a new building on the site of the old Churchland High School on High Street.
``It's still the intent to move to Churchland, but I think the center will continue for a while in Cradock,'' McCoy said. ``We'll be meeting soon with the university officials to discuss the future.''
McCoy said ``making the Cradock center available'' for the universities has been ``a positive thing'' for the Cradock community.
``We've got the building in good shape and having it used is better than having an empty building in that location,'' he said. ``As one resident told me, `It's the front door to the Cradock community.' '' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by L. TODD SPENCER
Cindy Collins Johnson of Portsmouth is a student at NSU-ODU
Tri-Cities Center, in the old Craddock High building, where she
graduated in '86.
by CNB