See the Schedule page for the current schedules for credit classes at Fort Steilacoom and Puyallup, non-credit classes throughout the county, and credit classes wherever you are through Distance Learning.
A variety of classes for personal and professional growth are offered through the Pierce College Continuing Education program. The latest schedule is available now, with classes starting in March 2003. See the Continuing Education Web site for more about non-credit classes at Pierce.
The Tacoma Astronomical Society is moving the place of their regular bimonthly observation to Pierce College Fort Steilacoom, 9401 Farwest Drive S.W. in Lakewood. Beginning at dusk on Jan. 25 and continuing bimonthly, the public is invited to stop by and take a free peek at the night skies through the telescopes set up by volunteers. Read more about the upcoming events.
The district’s Institutional Technology department will be performing hardware maintenance on Monday, January 20, 2003, which is also a college holiday. The district’s Web site, as well as staff and faculty e-mail, will be unavailable at some point during the day. The expected length of the outage is no more than two hours, sometime between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Thank you for your patience.
Dr. Marion Oppelt, the founding president of Pierce College, died Friday, Jan. 3. Services will be held Saturday, Jan. 11, at 10 a.m. in the Aspen Chapel of Mountain View Funeral Home, 4100 Steilacoom Blvd., SW, in Lakewood. He was 89 years old.
A career educator, Dr. Oppelt was named planning officer in 1966 for the proposed community college that became Fort Steilacoom Community College and later Pierce College. He was appointed president of the college in 1967. He hired the original staff and helped move the college from rented space to a campus of portable buildings in Lakewood through the development of the first permanent buildings on the Lakewood campus. He served as president of the Washington Association of Community College Presidents in 1976, and he retired as president of the college in 1977.
He began his education at Centralia College during the 1930s. Dr. Oppelt played professional baseball with the Seattle Indians and the old Tacoma Tigers to make money to pay for his education. He earned a bachelors degree from the University of Washington in 1941 and began teaching in the Clover Park School District. During World War II, he served as a Red Cross field director in Adak, Alaska, returning to teach at Clover Park in 1946. Dr. Oppelt held many positions with the Clover Park School District, including music teacher, English teacher, baseball coach, director of guidance, and deputy superintendent, all while earning masters and doctoral degrees at UW. He was an accomplished musician, playing French horn with the Tacoma Symphony for 25 years.
The student center at Pierce College Fort Steilacoom was named in his honor in November of 1976. A bronze bust cast by then-fine arts faculty member Hal Buckner is displayed at the north entrance to the Cascade building. A 1994 News Tribune article about his selection as a distinguished alumnus at Centralia College dubbed him the unofficial dean of south Puget Sound colleges.
Dr. Oppelt was a vocal advocate for educational access. In 1994, he told the New Tribune that colleges should be prepared to accept anyone who wants to come and provide the opportunity to progress as far as people want to progress.
Pierce College Contact: Dale Stowell, (253) 964-6780 dstowell@pierce.ctc.edu
Jan. 3, 2003
Pierce College in Lakewood will be one of 12 new colleges and universities to begin offering online courses in 2003 through eArmyU, the U.S. Armys largest e-learning virtual university program with more than 30,000 enrolled soldiers. Pierce College will be one of 32 institutions of higher education to offer online college-level courses to U.S. Army enlisted soldiers.
Pierce College has been providing higher education to military personnel for more than three decades. Pierce already offers a flexible array of online, arranged and classroom courses. At any one time, the college serves about 2,500 soldiers and airmen at education centers at Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base near Lakewood, while others attend classes either online or at one or both of the districts two colleges, Pierce College Fort Steilacoom in Lakewood and/or Pierce College Puyallup.
Military education is part of the colleges large extended learning operation. Pierce College will offer two degrees through eArmyU an Associate in Technology General and an Associate of Arts and Sciences. Pierce College was selected through a competitive proposal process and is the only institution in the state of Washington to offer programs through eArmyU.
Pierce Colleges affiliation with eArmyU will offer greater flexibility to local soldiers, as well as stretch the educational allowances of active-duty Army soldiers, according to Pierce College Military Programs Director Horst Marschall.
“The program is very flexible and thats what were shooting for,” Marschall said. “It will make it easier for people who start with us to stay with us.”
The 32 colleges and universities participating in eArmyU are located in 19 states. These academic institutions will offer more than 3,000 courses and more than 150
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academic degree programs, tripling the number of degree programs offered since eArmyUs inception in January 2001. eArmyU currently delivers educational opportunities online to more than 30,500 enlisted soldiers and is expected to enroll approximately 80,000 soldiers by 2005 at military installations around the world. The program is accessed at www.earmyu.com .
“eArmyU is helping our enlisted force to pursue higher education online while they serve their country,” said Lt. Col. Anthony Jimenez, eArmyU Program Director for the Army. “With this expansion of academic offerings, we are taking the program to a new level.”
IBM Business Consulting Services identified colleges and universities to provide online degree programs for enlisted soldiers through a competitive process. In concert with U.S. Army needs, the company recommended schools based on their ability to address the higher education goals and interests of soldier-students, meet the programs technological and administrative requirements, and optimize value to the Army.
“The demand for education through eArmyU is astounding, and we built the online program so that it can meet not only a growing enrollment, but also demands for different kinds of courses,” said Jill Kidwell, IBM Business Consulting Services partner. “We are helping the Army supply higher education quickly and efficiently using the e-learning techniques pioneered in this program.”
Twelve new undergraduate and graduate schools and at least 68 additional degree programs will be phased into eArmyU over the next six to nine months. All eArmyU schools must adhere to requirements and be approved for membership in Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges for credit transferability among eArmyU schools. IBM Business Consulting Services anticipates adding more targeted degree programs and schools over time to meet the Armys goals.
The newest eArmyU schools include:
Atlantic Cape Community College, Mays Landing, N.J.
Coastline Community College, Fountain Valley, Calif.
Grambling State University, Grambling, La.
Hampton University, Hampton, Va.
Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind.
Jefferson Community College, Watertown, N.Y.
Pierce College, Lakewood, Wash.
Southern Christian University, Montgomery, Ala.
Southwestern College, Wichita, Kans.
University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Ala.
University of California Los Angeles Extension, Los Angeles, Calif.
University of Maryland University College, Adelphi, Md.
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The new additions to the program join 20 colleges and universities already participating which also competed for continuation in eArmyU:
Anne Arundel Community College, Arnold, Md.
Baker College, Flint, Mich.
Central Texas College, Killeen, Texas
Cochise College, Sierra Vista, Ariz.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Fla.
Excelsior College, Albany, N.Y.
Fayetteville Technical Community College, Fayetteville, N.C.
Franklin University, Columbus, Ohio
Lansing Community College, Lansing, Mich.
Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, N.C.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus, University Park, Pa.
Rio Salado Community College, Tempe, Ariz.
Saint Joseph’s College of Maine, Standish, Maine
Saint Leo University, Tampa, Fla.
State University of New York, Empire State College, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Thomas Edison State College, Trenton, N.J.
Troy State University, Columbus, Ga.
University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, Texas
University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas
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Due to the large number of students statewide accessing services provided by the Center for Information Services, Pierce College students may experience problems with our Student Online Services. If you are not able to access service, please try again later. We hope to see normal service levels restored by the end of this week. Thank you for your patience.
Pierce College in Lakewood will be one of 12 new colleges and universities to begin offering online courses in 2003 through eArmyU, the U.S. Armys largest e-learning virtual university program with more than 30,000 enrolled soldiers. Pierce College will be one of 32 institutions of higher education to offer online college-level courses to U.S. Army enlisted soldiers.
Pierce College has been providing higher education to military personnel for more than three decades. Pierce already offers a flexible array of online, arranged and classroom courses. At any one time, the college serves about 2,500 soldiers and airmen at education centers at Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base near Lakewood, while others attend classes either online or at one or both of the districts two colleges, Pierce College Fort Steilacoom in Lakewood and/or Pierce College Puyallup.
Military education is part of the colleges large extended learning operation. [Read more about eArmyU at Pierce College]