 |
 |
|
Nearly 20 Years
Later, Adult Learning Going Strong When Harrylyn G. Sallis signed her Millsaps contract for part-time employment in 1981, she was taking a giant leap of faith. She was leaving a faculty position at Belhaven College for a newly created staff position to track adult learners at Millsaps. She had to prove adult education was an important part of the College’s mission, and she had to do so quickly and convincingly. Now retired as Dean Emeritus of Adult Learning after 19 years of dedicated service, Dr. Sallis’s efforts speak for themselves. More than 250 students admitted through the Adult Degree Program hold Millsaps degrees, and each year approximately 40 non-degree-seeking students study under the Office of Adult Learning’s direction. More than 1,500 local citizens take enrichment classes each year through the office, and it also oversees the Leadership Seminars, which more than 200 community leaders have completed. “When we established the Adult Degree Program, we knew that older degree-seeking students would need a special support and advising system that worked within their schedules. We had to be available in the evenings, as well as the daytime,” Dr. Sallis says. “But, in the classroom, we knew they deserved the regular faculty. From the start, we refused to be a cash machine that turns out easy degrees for adults. Our adult students must fulfill the exact same degree requirements as other students.” Though its high standards have never changed, the Adult Degree Program students have. In the early 1980s, many of the students were older women who had been leaders in the professional world and in civic organizations but who still felt a deep emptiness educationally. They came of college age after the Great Depression or during World War II when attending college was only remotely possible. They came to Millsaps with gray hair and bright minds, hungry for knowledge for its own sake. And they didn’t want just any degree. They wanted a Millsaps degree. They had waited their entire lives for one. “Now our student body has shifted toward men and women in their late twenties to mid-forties who are looking for upward mobility in the workplace,” says Dr. Sallis. “They see a Millsaps degree as a means to a better career, and they are willing to juggle work, family, and education for that advancement.” Associate Professor of Economics Pat Taylor of the Else School finds teaching adult students very rewarding. “Adults coming back to school – or just beginning – are likely to have the intangibles that make a good student. I have found it improves the learning of our traditional students when some of their classmates have relevant stories to bring back from the school of ‘been there, done that.’” The Millsaps Adult Degree Program was the first of its kind in Mississippi, and it continues to be recognized by employers and other educational programs as the premier model for adult learning. With Dean Sallis’s retirement, the programs will be administered by Dr. Nola Gibson and Janet Langley. Dr. Gibson will direct community enrichment classes, the Millsaps Leadership Seminars, and the Advanced Placement Institute. Langley will direct the Adult Degree Program and will advise non-degree-seeking students. PREVIOUS PAGE | PAGE 1 OF 1 | NEXT PAGE |
