What is leadership?

The following is a guest post from Dr. Cathy Littlefield, Associate Professor in Organizational Leadership & Management within Graduate Studies here at Peirce College. Dr. Littlefield is helping develop and teach courses in our first graduate program.

Last Friday, we hosted a Graduate Studies Opening Reception for our inaugural class of graduate students here at the College. This allowed students the opportunity to engage with faculty members and peers who are earning their master’s degree through our program. We wanted to recap a few key takeaways from the event, as well as share some photos.

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Why you should take advantage of student support services this year

STUDENT SERVICES: Attending events and using our
student service resources will help you earn your college degree!

More than 70 percent of Americans matriculate at a four-year college, but less than two-thirds end up graduating, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. There are many reasons why one third of Americans aren’t able to complete their degrees.

While cost is certainly a factor, so are support services offered to students during their time at their college or university. Studies show that students who use academic counseling services, tutoring, and career development assistance offered by their college or university are more likely to stay in school and finish their degree programs.

With Session 1 beginning this week, we wanted to provide a refresher of the student services offered at Peirce, and how they can help you on your educational journey.

Academic Advising and Guided Peirce Services. These two departments work closely together. Their mission is to provide you with the guidance and support to stay on track to completion. Our advisors and GPS teams can help you understand your program requirements and can also help you register for classes and even order your books. They stay abreast of program needs, changes, and activities and communicate those to you so you can be in the know.

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Life by design: Donna D. Diakite ’10, ‘13

BUILDING BUSINESS: Alumna uses
Peirce education to begin her own
businesses

Guiding clients on their path to holistic wellness is at the heart of Donna D. Diakite’s entrepreneurial ventures: She operates her own massage and aromatherapy practice, and is the proprietor of a custom women’s clothing business, 3-D Designs LLC: “Clothing Designs With Women in Mind.”

But while she has been continually interested in fostering the well being of others, she was not always as confident about her own advancement. On three separate occasions, she approached 1420 Pine Street to enroll at Peirce, but was too apprehensive to take that first step. But the third time was the charm: Once she set foot through the front doors of Peirce, she was on the road to earning a degree as an adult college student.

In 2008, while pursuing her associate degree in Business Administration at Peirce, she launched her first entrepreneurial venture. The timing was fortuitous: In the classroom, Donna learned about crafting a business plan and employing effective marketing strategies, while out in the real world, she was using these newly acquired skills to develop her massage practice. She credits that knowledge as being a key to strengthening her self-confidence while growing her business.

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Congratulations to our recent scholarship recipients!

SCHOOL SAVINGS: Highlighting three Peirce students who will
receive scholarships toward their education

Scholarships are one of the most common ways to help pay for a college education. In fact, scholarships, as well as grants, are used more than any other type of funding, covering 30 percent of total college costs for a typical family, according to Sallie Mae's How America Pays for College. That’s why we dedicate a significant amount of time to helping our students find and apply for scholarships, as well as offering tuition resources through the College.

Three of the Peirce students who will benefit from scholarships this school year are Dale Jefferson, Jennifer Shaw, and Laurel Purdy. Dale and Jennifer have won the 4th Annual Mayor's Scholarship For City of Philadelphia Residents and Employees, and Laurel has been named the 2013 recipient of the Philadelphia Association of Paralegals Joan Weldon Scholarship Award. We want to recognize and congratulate them on their accomplishments today.

Two Peirce students are selected for the Mayor’s Scholarship each year -- one that is a Philadelphia resident and one that is a city employee. We had nearly 60 fantastic applicants, but could only pick two winners. The first awardee is Dale Jefferson, a current Peirce College student pursuing a degree in Information Technology who lives in Philadelphia. Dale was also recently awarded the Peirce College Walker Center Rising Star Award.

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Start the 2013 school year on the right foot with new student services and career development services workshops

If you want to brush up on your writing and grammar skills, or expand your interview or resume knowledge, now is the time. The Walker Center for Academic Excellence and Career Development Services have each released their Fall 2013 workshop schedules.

The Walker Center has workshops throughout Sessions 1 and 2 to help you strengthen your skill set and round out your academic abilities. And Career Development Services is having a can’t-miss Open House from September 16-20 to give you an overview of the services and programs it offers, no RSVP required!

We’ve put together a list of our online and on-campus workshops below. To register for any of the Walker Center workshops listed, or to schedule a private tutoring session, contact the Walker Center at 888.467.3472, ext. 9251, or WCAE@Peirce.edu. To register for events hosted by Career Development Services, email CDS@Peirce.edu or call 215.670.9202.

Walker Center Schedule

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My MOOC experience: A college dean’s foray into Massive Open Online Courses

TAKING A MOOC: What I thought about
my MOOC experience

Recently, I enrolled in my first Massive Open Online Course -- more commonly called a MOOC. I'm currently in a certificate program, and one of the classes required us to sign up for a MOOC so we could understand how they work. My certificate program colleagues and I weren't required to complete the MOOC, but we had to experience what it was like to take one. And amid the buzz around MOOCs, I had a personal curiosity about what taking a MOOC was like.

I've always been interested in online education -- I enrolled in this certificate program as part of my lifelong learning journey. I also helped launch our online education program here at Peirce in the late 1990's, and continue to guide the direction of our online education program today. Although my experience is just one story you might hear from MOOC students, I wanted to share my perspectives on the value of MOOCs in higher education.

My certificate program gave us a choice of taking two MOOCs -- I chose to enroll in "E-Learning and Digital Cultures." It is offered by Coursera and I had 40,000 classmates. We had five professors from The University of Edinburgh who curated videos and articles for us to watch and read, and then prompted discussion via online discussion boards and Twitter. To engage, participants would post their responses and comment on other people's responses in these forums.

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Connelly Foundation donation helps Peirce's healthcare students stand out in the job market

SKILLED PROFESSIONALS: Our Healthcare Administration
students will be trained in technology employers are using,
thanks to a generous donation from the Connelly Foundation

Health information employers today are looking for new hires to have hands-on experience with electronic health record systems. This is driven by the growing number of electronic health records systems over hard-copy files, and applicants with the technical skills to work these systems are often preferred during the hiring process.

Many students who want to learn these technical skills find the best training is in simulated lab environments. Because of this, the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) offers 'AHIMA Virtual Lab,' which is considered a benchmark in the industry for healthcare information-simulated lab instruction.

And now, Peirce College will be able to incorporate the AHIMA Virtual Lab simulation software into our Healthcare Administration program this fall, thanks to a recent generous donation of $5,000 from the Connelly Foundation. The Connelly Foundation seeks to foster learning and improve the quality of life in the Greater Philadelphia area by supporting local non-profit organizations in the fields of education, health and human services, arts and culture, and civic enterprise. The Foundation values the benefits of education, and helping to facilitate it has become the cornerstone of its mission.

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How you can save money on your college tuition

SAVE $$$: Participate in our Tuition Discount Program to be
eligible for a 10 percent reduction in tuition for summer 2014 classes

Did you know that you have a better chance of completing your degree if you remain continuously enrolled? Taking classes each session is a great way to focus, remain energized, and stay on track to completion.

To further support you on your road to degree attainment, we are offering you another incentive -- our new Tuition Discount Program. Beginning this fall, if you complete and receive a grade in at least one class during each of Sessions 1-6, you may be eligible for a 10 percent reduction in tuition for your summer 2014 classes.

This program is available to all undergraduate students, whether you’re taking eight-week classes, 15-week classes, or a combination of both. A 15-week class will count toward one session during the term. For example, if you take a 15-week class during Sessions 1 and 2, and take an eight-week class during Session 2, the 15-week class will count toward Session 1 and the 8-week class will count toward Session 2.

Here are some example schedules that would be eligible for this discount:

Sample Schedules

The discount will be applied after the drop/add period of Session 6, and will be applied after all other discounts.

We hope you take advantage of this discount program as you work toward earning your degree! If you would like more information, please contact your Academic Advisor.

How these parents overcame the odds to earn their college degrees

Seventeen parents of Philadelphia school children graduated from Peirce this year with their college degree as part of our Parent University partnership with the School District of Philadelphia. We were inspired by these participants' determination to balance their families, jobs, and previous commitments with their education to go back to school.

So when Steve Highsmith, host of the community affairs program "In Focus" on PHL 17, wanted to share the stories of two of our Parent University graduates, we were happy that their accounts could help others in Philadelphia. Steve interviewed Carla Bell and Myrna Coleman from our Parent University class, and I was on hand to add some insight about the program and Peirce as well. We wanted to share the 30-minute segment with you today.



Thanks, Steve, for helping share these inspiring stories!

Land a job in the healthcare industry with our new Certificate in Medical Coding program

The number of healthcare positions continues to expand rapidly in the U.S. to accommodate a growing aging population and changing government regulations. Many employers are looking to hire credentialed professionals, so today we’re introducing our new Certificate in Medical Coding (CMC) program to help train you in the non-clinical, coding work that's essential for the success of today's healthcare providers.

Our new Certificate in Medical Coding program is for students who desire a career in the healthcare industry, but don’t want to work directly with patients. It will help current and prospective medical professionals prepare for careers such as medical coders in hospitals, physical and behavioral health rehabilitation centers, doctors' offices, insurance companies, and more. The curriculum was designed using American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) Professional Certificate Approval Program Manual criteria, qualifying graduates for the AHIMA Certified Coding Specialist certification exam.

Employment in the healthcare and social assistance sector is projected to generate the largest number of jobs among all sectors -- 5.6 million -- by 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, so there are many opportunities in this field for credentialed professionals. And Peirce is helping to fill those positions by teaching the skills that employers are looking for.

If you’re looking to expand your skill set and boost your career in the healthcare industry, this certificate program might be right for you. Learn more about it by visiting our website, or reading the press release we issued today with all the details. You can also speak with a Peirce representative by contacting us at 888.467.3472, ext. 9000, or info@peirce.edu.