School for Adult Learning celebrates 10th anniversary
By Andrew Gouty
Online Editor
The University of Indianapolis School for Adult Learning (SAL) is celebrating its 10th anniversary.
To celebrate its anniversary, the SAL will continue its yearlong calendar of events with an Anniversary Dinner for students, alumni, and faculty on April 11th.
Founded in 1998, the program has solidified since that time to provide adult learners (over the age of 24) with access to more courses, degree options and university services.
Two degree options are offered through the accelerated program: a bachelor of liberal studies and a bachelor of science in organizational leadership. In addition, topics courses also are available in cooperation with various UIndy undergraduate programs and professors.
Students in SAL are offered courses through three five-week sessions over the course of a fifteen-week semester.
“One of the things that we have done is to establish course rotations, so that students know when particular courses come up, and that gives them the ability to plan ahead,” said Dean of the School for Adult Learning Pat Jefferson.
More than 400 adult students attend courses through the program, many of which carry course loads in excess of 12 hours per semester, in addition to full-time jobs.
In an effort to make the programs more accessible to adult students returning to a university environment, the SAL molds itself around the schedules of its students. Office hours generally run until 7 p.m. daily; and admissions, financial aid and other functions are handled internally to minimize red tape. In addition, many campus services taken for granted by UIndy undergrads also are available to students in the accelerated program. The office of Career Services, the Academic Success Center, the Krannert Memorial Library and the Ruth Lilly Fitness Center all are made available to students in the SAL.
Upon entering the program, students are required to take a Return to Learning course, in which they are introduced to the university format, their own style of learning, and university services available to them. From that point on, students take courses similar to courses taken by traditional undergraduate students.
The theme of this 10th anniversary celebration is “Ten Years. Ten Faces. Ten Stories.”
The following stories from alums represent hundreds of adult students that have benefited from SAL.
Cindy Bell
Class of 2007
Faced with a bleak job outlook in the automotive industry, Cindy Bell left a general sales management position at the now-closed Sharp Ford dealership just west of UIndy’s campus on Hanna Avenue Bell had taken classes as an undergraduate student at Indiana University and Purdue University IndThe University of Indianapolis School for Adult Learning (SAL) is celebrating its 10th anniversary.
To celebrate its anniversary, the SAL will continue its yearlong calendar of events with an Anniversary Dinner for students, alumni, and faculty on April 11th.
Founded in 1998, the program has solidified since that time to provide adult learners (over the age of 24) with access to more courses, degree options and university services.
Two degree options are offered through the accelerated program: a bachelor of liberal studies and a bachelor of science in organizational leadership. In addition, topics courses also are available in cooperation with various UIndy undergraduate programs and professors.
Students in SAL are offered courses through three five-week sessions over the course of a fifteen-week semester.
“One of the things that we have done is to establish course rotations, so that students know when particular courses come up, and that gives them the ability to plan ahead,” said Dean of the School for Adult Learning Pat Jefferson.
More than 400 adult students attend courses through the program, many of which carry course loads in excess of 12 hours per semester, in addition to full-time jobs.
In an effort to make the programs more accessible to adult students returning to a university environment, the SAL molds itself around the schedules
