Monday, September 11, 2000
Little campus in Lebanon
Students can earn degrees in county's 'best kept secret'
By Randy McNutt
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON — As the sun goes down on crisp autumn evenings, Mark Paduk's people go to work — again.
Everything is happening over at the former Warren County Courthouse at 300 E. Silver St., a 19th-century justice center resurrected as a light, airy place devoted to learning.
Mr. Paduk, director for Lebanon's University of Cincinnati Center, guides a program designed to bring higher education to the seat of Warren County.
It's done with high technology and higher expectations.
“We're the county's best-kept secret,” he said. “We've been here since 1994, when the city offered us space — a computer lab and classroom — in the city building. We've continued to grow slowly ever since, but attendance is not where it should be.”
Most students hold full-time day jobs and place their hopes in the night. After a hard day at work or with the children, students put on their college faces and press on with their long-term goal: earning a degree.
Regular enrollment stands at only 115 — a small number compared with UC's 17 different colleges and thousands of day and night students. Lebanon's enrollment is even small compared to UC's Clermont College in Batavia, which started with 300 students in 1972. The school now has 2,500.
But Mr. Paduk points out Warren County's population boom — and its potential accompanying market for higher education. City leaders hope that one day Lebanon's center will grow into a small campus.
“We serve noncredit students and corporate students,” Mr. Paduk said. “One class on finance drew 50 a week. So there's different facets to our program. In January, we'll start intensive computer training classes up here.”
UC's College of Evening and Continuing Education started the Lebanon center in fall 1994 and briefly operated it from the main campus.
Classes met weekday nights and Saturdays in town hall, Lebanon High School and the Warren County Career Center. About 135 students attended.
Since then, the program
has expanded to offer 20-25 courses per quarter. This fall's program includes courses in criminal justice, English, entrepreneurship and small business, horticulture, management, finance, psychology and addictions studies.
They appeal to Tanya Helsinger, a 39-year-old mother of teen-agers who is grateful for the opportunity to study in her home county.
“It feels good to say I'm a junior,” she said.
Ms. Helsinger — and classmates Meg Byrge and Lucille Smith — all earned associate degrees from the center last year. The women, who have become good friends over six years, intend to be the first students to earn bachelor's degrees from Lebanon's program without taking many courses on the main campus.
“That would be quite an accomplishment,” Mr. Paduk said.
“It's so convenient here,” Ms. Helsinger said. “I've taken only one class downtown. This is possible partly because of teleconferencing. A lot of classes originate on the main campus — or in other colleges. It's a good way to get three credits. Otherwise, I couldn't have taken the courses.”
She takes classes that are broadcast to several televisions in the Lebanon center's classrooms. The professor on the main campus also receives a video image of the Lebanon class.
At 47, Lucille Smith is studying criminal justice and social work.
“My little boy was killed 10 years ago, and that's how I got into this,” she said. “When it happened, I thought I wouldn't ever do anything with my life. Then I heard about the UC program. Everything fit together. It has given me something back.”
Ms. Byrge, 37, a Lebanon mother with 10- and 11-year-old sons, also started at UC Lebanon when it opened.
“I had recently been divorced, and I wanted to get a degree,” she said. “I have taken classes pretty much every quarter.”
She started in accounting and switched to sociology with a minor in criminology and addiction.
“Surprisingly, some students come from the main campus,” she said. “Students like the smaller classes and the personal attention. At first, they can't believe how far they have to drive, but a lot of them stick it out. Most people in the program come from the county, though.”
Ms. Byrge says the center has improved greatly since it opened.
“Six years ago, I had classes in three different places in town, including the town hall,” she said. “Now, everything is in one place. I like it because, if I have to, I can bring my kids with me when I take a test, and I don't have to line up child care. The instructors are amicable and easy to work with. They understand that we have family lives and other things going on, too.”
This fall, she will study algebra, which she'll continue in the winter and spring quarters as she works toward a bachelor's degree.
“My classes have always been no larger than five to seven students,” she said. “It's wonderful. It's usually an older crowd, more women than men.
“With teleconferencing, a lot of classes aren't getting canceled anymore. And if I let Mark (Paduk) know, he's good about lining up the classes that I need. He made it a point to get algebra scheduled because he knew that several students needed it.”
Ms. Helsinger, who wants to be a probation officer, said the Lebanon center has helped her gain more than an education.
“It has raised my self-esteem,” she said. “I can now say, "Hey, I can do something.'”
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