THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 2, 1994 TAG: 9409010246
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 157 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 and, before the semester is over, another 300 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.
Students arriving for classes Monday were quick to mention location, costs and parking as plus factors for the center.
Doretha Harris-Brooks, a Portsmouth native who lives in Virginia Beach, is director of accounting for the Norfolk-based Tidewater Regional Transit. She's working on a master's in urban affairs, one of the ``full service'' programs offered in Portsmouth.
Easy parking coupled with a clean, comfortable building were two assets that she immediately mentioned.
``It's no trouble for me to come here after work and last semester I came four nights,'' she said. ``It's so peaceful out here.''
Stephanie Little, a 20-year-old graduate of Churchland High School, is enrolled in a five-year education program at ODU. She takes several courses on the Norfolk campus but likes taking classes in Cradock.
``It's close to home,'' the Churchland resident said.
That sentiment was echoed by Chris Cochran, an English teacher in Great Bridge who lives in Portsmouth. She's renewing her teaching certificate by taking classes at the Tri-Cities Center.
Sheryl Williams, a 30-year-old Chesapeake resident who works in Virginia Beach, likes the relaxed atmosphere of the center that allows her to take her 7-year-old son, Britton Hawkins, to class.
``He'll be doing his homework during the class,'' she said.
Jeremiah Gaines, another Chesapeake teacher, simply stops off on the way home from Great Bridge to Green Acres.
``It's much more convenient for me than any other campus,'' he said. ``And it doesn't cost as much.''
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. Undergraduate 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 many 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.
Kathy Gundersen, who teaches GED classes in Camden County (N.C.) and is is a member of the Camden County School Board, is working on a master's degree at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C.
She saw an advertisement for the center's fall semester and spotted ``The Teaching of Composition'' taught by Professor Ed Nolte, a Churchland resident.
``I wanted the course and it's easier to get here than to Greenville,'' she said.
Nolte, Gundersen and Cherry Cary, a Deep Creek resident and teacher, were waiting for other students to show up to make the required class of eight.
``Because the class is on Monday and next Monday is a holiday, we won't know until Sept. 13 if the class is making,'' Nolte said.
The class is part of Nolte's regular teaching load with NSU. He likes teaching graduate courses at the center, he said, because ``at this level here you get motivated students.''
Nolte also had high praise for the physical assets of the center.
``The classrooms here are better than those on the main campus,'' he said. ``The furniture is comfortable too.''
That's been exactly the goal, Antonick said.
``We try to make the environment both comfortable and effective for adults,'' he said. ``They are interested in learning to meet career objectives and we try to do everything we can to make it convenient for them.''
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.
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.
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.
``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.''
The Cradock school is much like ``home'' for some teachers and students.
Among ODU faculty members who teach there are two former principals of the school, Mac Cherry and David Joyner.
Cindy Collins Johnson, 25, was in the building Monday for the first time since she graduated from Cradock High in 1986.
Johnson lives in Olde Towne, works at Central Fidelity Bank and is pursuing a bachelor's degree in elementary education.
``The building looks wonderful,'' she said.
But, she added, it did ``seem strange'' to be back at her high school for college courses.
Meanwhile, Johnson's former neighbors in Cradock, who wanted to secede from Portsmouth in 1992 when the school was closed, finally have accepted the change.
``I think they have accepted us too,'' Langley said. ``They've called on the center and we have assisted the community in every way we can.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo on cover
``We've grown every semester since we've been here,'' says NSU
Professor Curtis Langley, on the right in the cover picture by staff
photographer Mark Mitchell. He and ODU Professor James Antonick have
been co-directors of the NSU-ODU Tri-Cities Center at the old
Cradock High School since its inception.
Photos by L. TODD SPENCER
Cindy Johnson, a student at NSU/ODU Tri-Cities Center, graduated in
'86 from Cradock.
Sheryl Williams brings her 7-year-old son Britton Hawkins to class
with her at the NSU/ODU Tri-Cities Center, where she is a student.
Williams is a resident of Chesapeake.
by CNB