Education  August 26, 2011

Regis, Front Range expand with double switch

Fall semester 2011 will bring changes for two of Northern Colorado’s educational institutions.

Regis University has consolidated its Longmont and Fort Collins branches in one location in the Centerra development in Loveland, and Front Range Community College’s Larimer campus will be expanding into the space vacated by Regis in Fort Collins.

The Fort Collins and Longmont locations have served local nontraditional learners in their communities well, according to Roxanne Gonzales, academic dean for Regis’ College for Professional Studies, but in recent years have seen an increase in demand from surrounding communities.

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Learners from Greeley, Loveland, Cheyenne, Wyo., and other cities will now be able to access a more central location with easy access to Interstate 25, Gonzales said. The new facility is located at 1605 Foxtail Drive in Loveland.

Kyle Lundy of Sperry Van Ness was the tenant representative for Regis in the transaction.  The expansion reflects a trend in education and educational software to better accommodate students in order to educate a retrain people to get jobs and industries back on track, Lundy said.

Regis formerly inhabited space at 1501 Academy Court in Fort Collins, near the intersection of Prospect Road and Riverside Avenue, and at 2101 Ken Pratt Boulevard in Longmont.

The new facility will combine students from the two locations, as well as faculty and staff, into one campus. No jobs were added or lost in the consolidation, Gonzales said. Curriculum at the new campus will begin with the programs currently offered by Regis, she added, with any possible expansion of academic territory covered evaluated based upon demand.

The 12,500-square-foot campus will serve approximately 250 to 300 students, Gonzales said.

Programs offered by Regis online are accessible from anywhere, Gonzales said, and online learners will be able to visit the new facility for face-to-face advising.

Nontraditional students are the focus at Regis, and most have families and jobs to take into consideration along with their education. Such students are often more motivated in the classroom than traditional students and demand more from their instructors, according to Gonzales.

“Our students want to be in a rigorous environment, and the instructors love teaching the adult learner,” she said.

Fitting in with the national trend, the student body at Regis is composed of about 65 percent females and 45 percent males.

The Loveland campus will open its doors for the fall semester Aug. 29. Although Regis consolidated two locations, there are still eight locations in operation, with the opening of a new campus in Thornton also on Aug. 29.

The Thornton campus, at 500 E. 84th Ave., will introduce a dual-language curriculum that requires students to be proficient in both English and Spanish to fulfill their graduation requirements. Faculty and staff at the Thornton campus are fully bilingual, a model that makes it “the first of its kind?” among American institutions, according to Gonzales.

“Having all bilingual faculty and staff ensures students can communicate and receive services in their preferred language,” Gonzales said. “Our bilingual faculty are rigorously selected and trained specifically to work with adult students.”

Both new locations will allow Regis to serve a wider variety of students, enabling them to continue with their mission as a Jesuit university, which centers on educating individuals who can then return to their communities and serve in leadership capacities.

FRCC moves in

FRCC’s Larimer campus is taking over the space vacated by Regis on Prospect Road, moving its Center for Adult Learning and its continuing education department from its Harmony Road campus.

According to Lisa Donaldson, dean of instruction for transfer education, Front Range has been using space at the Prospect location for general education classes during the day, since Regis classes were held mostly in the evening. Now, operations will be expanded to include the two additional departments, which also hold their classes in the evening.

The adult learning center focuses on GED preparation programs, reading, writing, math improvement and English as a second language, Donaldson said. The continuing education department provides noncredit professional development and personal enrichment classes and workshops.

Like Regis, FRCC has experienced growth in recent years, which Donaldson attributes to a combination of factors, including the economic downturn, which often results in more people going back to school, and increasing tuition costs at four-year universities, which motivate students to take more affordable general education classes at a community college before transferring to a larger university.

“Enrollments have really skyrocketed in the last few years,” she said.

The spring 2011 enrollment at the Larimer campus exceeded 6,600, according to Donaldson, and the 14,500 square feet at the Prospect location will help FRCC accommodate the continuing influx of students.

As of Aug. 19, the unofficial enrollment in classes offered at the Prospect location was 844. The number can go up or down in the first few weeks of the fall semester, which began Aug. 22.

“Having this space gives us an opportunity to better serve more students and students in other parts of our community,” Donaldson said.

Fall semester 2011 will bring changes for two of Northern Colorado’s educational institutions.

Regis University has consolidated its Longmont and Fort Collins branches in one location in the Centerra development in Loveland, and Front Range Community College’s Larimer campus will be expanding into the space vacated by Regis in Fort Collins.

The Fort Collins and Longmont locations have served local nontraditional learners in their communities well, according to Roxanne Gonzales, academic dean for Regis’ College for Professional Studies, but in recent years have seen an increase in demand from surrounding communities.

Learners from Greeley, Loveland, Cheyenne, Wyo., and other cities will now be…

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