Regis targets Fort Collins for school

FORT COLLINS – Maintaining a pattern of steady growth, Regis University plans to open a new School for Professional Studies in Fort Collins.Betty Kanarski, associate dean of academic delivery systems at Regis, said the university is looking for a location and hopes to offer some courses this summer and have the full program up and running by fall.
“As we see a market, we try to move in,” Kanarski said. “If we see a preponderance of students from a certain area, we try to accommodate them.”
The new campus will be an addition to seven Regis campuses in operation. Regis has locations in Denver, Glenwood Springs, Boulder, Colorado Springs, Loveland and Cheyenne.
The university has three branches of study: Regis College, the School for Health Care Professions and the School for Professional Studies.
Kanarski said that more than 8,000 students are enrolled in the School for Professional Studies, which offers 40 degree programs.
“Not only do we offer several different programs, we use several methods to get a degree,” she said. “We offer traditional classroom study, compressed video (live video conferencing), televised learning or home study with an instructor.”
Kanarski said some questioned the wisdom of opening a branch in a university town, but Regis offers a program significantly different from Colorado State University’s.
“We’re far from the standard university,” she said. “We have an accelerated learning model suited to adults. Adults are more focused than younger students, so we can get them through faster. And we have classes at night and on weekends.”
The university will look for a central location convenient for commuters. Kanarski said students are happiest if school is located between work and home, so they’ll look for something toward the south.
“One thing we learned from our downtown Loveland campus is parking can be a real problem,” she said.
Kanarski said the campus will start out small and grow from there.
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