Degree Programs

COLLEGE PARK -- Dana Knoll singled out the University of Maryland at College Park to study fashion and textile marketing three years ago after researching schools around the country. So when she heard last week that her college is one of two on the state's main research campus that could be closed because of budget cuts, she reacted with dismay.What she wants to know, she said yesterday in a room dominated by an oil portrait of the College of Human Ecology's longtime former dean, Marie Mount, is how much her degree will be worth when she gets out.Freshmen are already exploring new majors following last week's announcement that two colleges and eight academic departments might be closed, a move that would free millions of dollars to buttress stronger programs or begin new ones.

Rhoda P. Levin, a national leader in community health care education and a community activist, died July 5 of leukemia at her Pikesville home. She was 82. Rhoda Powell was born in New York City. In 1942, she moved to Baltimore when her parents opened a grocery store at Division and Wilson streets, where they lived above the store. While attending Forest Park High School, from which she graduated in 1947, she met and married a classmate, Norman Levin. Married at 18, Mrs. Levin worked as a comptometer operator while her husband earned his degree from the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy.

A dual degree program that will debut in Baltimore County high schools next summer will allow qualified students to pursue college courses as early as their sophomore year and earn an associate of arts degree along with a high school diploma. The partnership between county schools and the Community College of Baltimore County will save parents money, challenge motivated students and allow 18-year-olds to transfer to a four-year college as juniors. The county will recruit candidates for its Diploma to Degree program, believed to be the first in the state, in the spring from the current class of high school freshmen.

During Anne Arundel Community College's emergency department simulation, nursing professor Kathy Jo Keever played a patient brought to an emergency room after falling from a tree stand while trying to shoot a 14-point buck. After having her belongings - including a crushed beer can and fake pistol - removed, she was wheeled into a chaotic, crowded ER: Every patient bed was taken, some occupied by mannequins with voice commands, while an actress patient pleaded for pain medication.

In yesterday's Howard County edition, a student was incorrectly identified in a photo caption accompanying an article about Joe Fisher, founder of First Generation College Bound Inc. The student is Jessica Roy-Harrison.The caption also should have made clear that Miss Roy-Harrison is a student in Mr. Fisher's class at Harpers Choice Middle School and not involved in the College Bound program.The Baltimore Sun regrets the errors.The message on Joe Fisher's classroom bulletin board itelling of his attitude: striving for excellence.

State university leaders, in what they call a quest to expand college access to students around Maryland, are working to reverse an October decision by the Maryland Higher Education Commission that quashed an online doctoral program because it duplicated a face-to-face program at Morgan State. The higher-education panel barred University of Maryland University College from offering the program for community college administrators to in-state students, instead giving Morgan two years to add an online component to its program.

Anne Arundel Community College just made it easier to become a teacher in Maryland. Responding to a statewide shortage of teachers, the college created an associate's degree in teaching that guarantees the credits will transfer to the teacher education program of any four-year college or university in Maryland. The college's board unanimously approved the 64- credit-hour program last week. "We're just delighted," said Sharyn Doyle, supervisor of teacher personnel for the Anne Arundel County school system.

The moment registration opens, Michele D. Hannah dives for courses with the fury of a fifth-year college student vexed by a constant riddle. "When will I get the classes I need to graduate?" said Hannah, Class of "I have no idea" at the University of Iowa. Classes have gotten so tight, or so scarce, that Hannah says she trolls the university's Web site like a day-trader, checking every few hours for the stray course opening that might suddenly appear. But it probably will not. Many public universities - after whittling away at staff, coaxing faculty members to juggle more classes, stripping sports teams and trusting aging roofs to hold out a few years longer - have reluctantly begun chopping away at academics, making it harder for students to graduate on schedule.

In an effort to head off a teacher shortage, the College of Notre Dame of Maryland will offer an undergraduate elementary education degree program at Anne Arundel Community College next month, and graduates will get a near-guarantee of a teaching job offer in county public schools.Anne Arundel teacher recruiters, who expect they will need to hire 3,256 teachers over the next four years -- more than half their work force -- are pumping up efforts to find teachers. They are looking beyond routine job fairs to these kinds of partnerships to entice qualified teachers.