The Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — The first four-year degree program at Colorado Moun­tain College’s local campus is scheduled to begin this summer and could be a model for more expanded programs in the future.

Through collaboration with Mesa State College in Grand Junction, CMC’s Alpine Campus in Steamboat Springs will allow students to earn a bachelor’s degree in elementary education without traveling to other campuses. Students will be able to earn an associate of the arts degree in two years of CMC classes, then complete the bachelor’s with two years of Mesa State classes taken in Steamboat, largely via interactive video systems.

Anita “AJ” Janis, assistant dean of instruction at Alpine Campus, said she already has spoken with several community members interested in the program.

“There are quite a few folks who are classroom assistants, or have some connection to the school system, who don’t have the means to go Boulder or Denver for the four-year degree,” Janis said Wednesday. “We want them to be aware they can start it and finish it here.”

Ben Keefer, Mesa State’s director of extended studies, said the Mesa State portion of the program would cost about $7,000 in tuition for the two years. Keefer said the program arose out of Mesa State’s mission of providing regional education. The college currently offers programs to communities in 14 western Colorado counties. Keefer said students in Montrose, Edwards and Glenwood Springs are taking a course together this semester through the video-conferencing system.

“We can bring all 10 or 11 of those folks together at the same time and have an economically efficient model,” he said.

Janis said the video system is “like you’re right in the classroom with people” with live dialogue and interaction. Under mentoring from a Mesa State instructor, students in Steamboat also would complete their practicum, or field experience, in local schools.

That idea excited Hayden Valley Elementary School Prin­cipal Rhonda Sweetser.

“We have a really strong volunteer program, so we’ve seen through that what can come from having more people working with kids in small groups in the classrooms,” she said Wednesday. “That would be a big plus.”

Sweetser said she has a “horrible” time trying to find substitute teachers for her school.

“Having more qualified teachers in the area would be excellent,” she said.

Janis said she thinks the elementary education program could lead to more expanded programs in upcoming semesters. She added that in the fall, CMC’s local campus will offer criminal justice courses previously offered only at the college’s Timberline Campus in Leadville.

Students in Steamboat will be able to take two years of criminal justice courses here, then finish a four-year degree at Metropolitan State College in Denver.

The elementary education program will require no such travel. CMC will present the program and gauge local interest at a May 1 dinner. Janis said registration is under way for an introductory education course this summer.

Melanie Gness, an adjunct CMC professor who also is handling some public relations duties for the college, said CMC is offering early childhood education courses this summer in an effort to meet a local demand for preschool programs and care.

“We’re trying to address some of the concerns and needs of the community,” she said.

— To reach Mike Lawrence, call 871-4233

or e-mail mlawrence@steamboatpilot.com