DE PERE (NBC 26) — UW Green Bay students will be able to take classes at St. Norbert College, starting this fall — and vice versa. Administrators referred to the collaboration between a public institution and a private institution as "unique."
- The partnership expands a program already offered to students in certain language degree programs to the following programs and classes:
- Engineering and Physics
- Athletic training
- Nutrition
- Supply chain management
- Economics
- School officials said there is currently no transportation offered between the two campuses, but students will have access to facilities and amenities at either
- They also say tuition and costs at the two schools will not change — students will still pay the rate of the school at which they are formally enrolled
- Video shows the perspective of a professor and a student at St. Norbert College
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
A partnership that would allow students from here at St. Norbert College to take classes here at UW Green Bay, and vice versa, giving students the best of both worlds.
UWGB chancellor Michael Alexander and St. Norbert College president Laurie Joyner announced students will soon be able to take classes on both campuses, with no change in their tuition.
"When people think of education in Green Bay, they think of UW Green Bay and St. Norbert College," Alexander said. "So we should be working together to expand educational opportunities in our city and in our region."
"It is not responsible for us to try to duplicate all of the offerings of our colleagues right across town," Joyner said.
President Joyner says this will also help alleviate St. Norbert's declining enrollment issues.
"It really does not just expand opportunities for students, but it also brings the resources of both opportunities to bare," Joyner said.
"We want to make sure that we're offering the right number of classes, and that we fill them," said Kevin Quinn, dean of St. Norbert's Schneider School of Business & Economics. "And by fill them, I don't mean that we have 100 people in the class. I mean that we have the appropriate number — that we don't have extra seats.
They say the first classes to be offered between the two schools will include athletic training, supply chain management, nutrition, economics, engineering, physics, and certain languages.
Kevin Quinn is a dean and professor at St. Norbert.
He says everyone is happy to welcome UWGB students.
"It's great for us if that's the case," Quinn said. "Bring 'em on. We love having students with different backgrounds in our classes. That's a great thing."
School officials say students going to classes at the other campus will have to find a ride — but they will have access to all on-campus facilities.
"If I was offered this as a freshman, I would have taken this opportunity, because I want to do my Masters too," St. Norbert senior Lily Maier said. I think that cost would have been a lot less."
The administrators from both schools say these new class options for students will start this fall, and that the schools could choose to add more options depending on demand.
