Higher Education: SWIC to partner with SIUC to offer aviation classes

Southern Illinois University Carbondale will offer its bachelor of science degree in aviation management through off-campus classes at Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville beginning this month.

Coupled with an existing associate degree in an aviation-related field, students can earn a bachelor’s degree in as little as 16 months. Courses will meet every other weekend beginning Aug. 29.

The off-campus program, offered in conjunction with SWIC, builds upon aviation-related associate degrees that students received in aviation maintenance, flight, avionics technology, air traffic control, aircraft operations support and other aviation-related technical fields. The career-oriented degree program also meets the educational needs of individuals who have aviation-related work experience and/or technical training from military schools, technical institutes and community colleges, including SWIC, or industry training programs.

“The SIU Carbondale Department of Aviation Management and Flight is pleased to join Southwestern Illinois College to offer SWIC students the opportunity to continue their collegiate aviation education and obtain their bachelor’s degree,” said John Voges, interim Department of Aviation Management and Flight chair. “Many of these students have roots or are employed in the metro-east area. The opportunity for them to complete a four-year degree in aviation while remaining close to home is a huge benefit.”

The courses will be taught by on-campus SIU Carbondale faculty and fully qualified adjunct faculty hired from the aviation industry and related fields.

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Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is introducing a master’s in integrative studies that will be available for the fall semester. The Illinois Board of Higher Education approved the program during June.

“Our society’s quickly changing pace is creating new career opportunities for individuals trained in multiple disciplines,” said Parviz Ansari, provost and vice chancellor for Academic Affairs. “The master’s of integrative studies allows students to access expertise from two different areas and integrate courses into a degree that meets the students’ interests and demands of emerging career fields.”

Four interdisciplinary studies tracks will be available during the fall:

▪  Sustainability with focus areas in sociology and environmental science

▪  Diversity Training with focus areas in instructional technology, and learning, culture and society

▪  Cultural Heritage and Resource Management with focus areas in anthropology, geology and historical studies

▪  Organizational Design Thinking with focus areas in applied communication studies and instructional technology

“The integrative studies master’s is particularly attractive to a student who has diverse interests that span multiple academic disciplines and wants to blend those interests into one cohesive program,” said Zenia Agustin, director of integrative studies. “There are emerging fields such as diversity training or sustainability that cross academic disciplines.”

The integrative studies master’s will require the completion of a minimum of 30 hours of advanced course work split between two disciplines and seven hours of a culminating project. A master’s of integrative studies can allow students versatility and may support a variety of career paths as well as entry into doctoral programs.

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Dupo High School graduate Lauren Horn, 21, of East Carondelet, has earned a scholarship from Eastern Illinois University thanks to her research on asteroids.

She was awarded the P. Scott Smith Scholarship for her role helping to discover and identify a new asteroid. She said she may eventually get to play a role in naming the asteroid.

Horn, who will be a senior this fall, said she is studying physics and astronomy with a goal of making the study of asteroids her career. She said she is particularly interested in asteroid mining which could someday be a tremendous source of precious metals.

This story was originally published August 5, 2015 at 1:52 PM with the headline "Higher Education: SWIC to partner with SIUC to offer aviation classes."