University College

As part of its effort to open doors to four-year schools, Carroll Community College has partnered with Shippensburg University in south-central Pennsylvania to streamline the transfer process and prevent students from losing time or duplicating courses. Last week's agreement with Shippensburg is the latest in a series of transfer agreements signed by the two-year college in Westminster. The school has similar arrangements with Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., Johns Hopkins Hospital Schools of Medical Imaging, University of Maryland University College as well as all public colleges and universities in Maryland.

HCC foundation chooses board's chairman, officers Peter Horowitz, president of EVI Inc., was elected chairman of the board of directors of Howard Community College Educational Foundation. The board's other elected officers are Roberta Dillow as vice chairwoman; Herchel Langenthal, managing partner of Langenmyer Co., as treasurer; Edward Waddell, managing director of Cardoni Waddell LLC, as assistant treasurer; Mary Ellen Duncan, HCC president, as secretary; and Nancy Smith, HCC executive director of development, as the assistant secretary.

Local host families needed for student exchange programs Three foreign exchange programs are seeking host families for high school students from other countries for the 2000-2001 school year. The visiting students are fluent in English and will attend area schools during their stay. Exchange students in the World Heritage Program and American International Youth Student Exchange Program will arrive in August and stay until June. American Field Service exchange students will arrive in August and leave in July.

Hidden among the trees and rolling hills of Columbia lies the Maryland branch of the University of Phoenix - a campus with no athletic complexes or voluminous libraries. Entirely within the first floor of a four-story office building in Columbia Corporate Park, the university looks more like a high-profile corporation than an institution of higher learning. But its businesslike appearance is perfect for the kind of students it targets: employed adults looking to enhance their resumes with a bachelor's or master's degree in business.

The University of Maryland University College (UMUC) and Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake are joining forces to offer low-income workers a chance at better jobs with a new program to provide free education online. In what its organizers are calling one of the first programs of its kind, Better Opportunities through Online Education seeks to break down the main barriers for entry-level workers, time and transportation. Designed primarily for women who have completed Goodwill's job-readiness course for welfare recipients and have gone on to permanent work, the program -- to be unveiled at a news conference in Annapolis this morning -- aims to take participants from jobs to careers by offering certificates in accounting, management, workplace communications and computer applications.

ADELPHI -- Gerald A. Heeger says the future of the University of Maryland, University College (UMUC) is in the hands of people like Judy Rowe. At age 55, back in school after 35 years, she is the classic model of a nontraditional student who takes advantage of UMUC, the state's adult education institution. But she is also sold on online education. "I love it," she says of the method she has used to take about a half-dozen courses while on her way to a bachelor's degree in psychology. "And I was not computer-savvy when I started."

New positionsWallace appointed director of UM information centerUniversity of Maryland, College Park appointed Patricia M. Wallace as director, Center for Knowledge and Information Management, Robert H. Smith School of Business. The newly created unit will develop a research program for reforming business practices through use of information technology.The Silver Spring resident received her doctorate from the University of Texas-Austin and formerly was a vice president of the University of Maryland University College.

Gerald A. Heeger is the new president of the University of Maryland University College, the state's continuing education institution that enrolls more than 35,000 students worldwide.Heeger, 56, was introduced to the school's staff at its College Park headquarters yesterday by University System of Maryland Chancellor Donald N. Langenberg. He was named to the post by the system's board of regents, replacing T. Benjamin Massey, who was president from 1978 until his retirement last year. Robert E. Meyers has been interim president.

As part of a state task force convened to examine the use of the prescription drug Ritalin in schools, a statewide conference will be held Friday and Saturday at the inn and conference center at the University of Maryland, University College, at University Boulevard and Adelphi Road in College Park.Parents, teachers and others concerned about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, as well as the use of medications in schools, are encouraged to attend.The task force was established by the General Assembly to analyze the issue.

Back in 1978, Bylee Massey had an idea. Her husband, T. Benjamin Massey, had just become president of the University of Maryland University College, the state's higher-education institution for people in the work force. UMUC has 35,000 students worldwide, including 20,000 overseas and 15,000 in Maryland. Its headquarters are in College Park, and there it has an inn and conference center with spacious halls and acres of wall space. Back in 1978, the walls were pretty bare. As Mr. Massey remembers it, "My wife looked at the walls and said, 'My, this looks like a hospital.