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HUNTINGTON UNIV MAGAZINE

Huntington's EXCEL program to offer new majors

FOR RELEASE October 4, 2006

HUNTINGTON, IN—The Huntington University EXCEL program for adults is offering two new bachelor’s degree programs and soon will offer two more.

“Our experience and conversations with potential students, mayors, elected officials, chief executive officers, plant managers, and human resource professionals suggested that there is a need in the marketplace for degrees of business administration, human resource management, accounting and organizational leadership with a focus on non-profit management,” said Perry Collins, director of the EXCEL program. “For that reason, the degrees are being added to the EXCEL Program for Adults.”

The EXCEL program has grown from an initial enrollment of 15 students in 1993 to a current enrollment of 145.

The organizational management major—the first and only major of the EXCEL program since its inception—was replaced by organizational leadership in the fall of 2006. Students in the midst of the organizational management program may finish with that major, or they may transition to the organizational leadership program.

 “Our initial adult degree offering in organizational management was designed to meet the needs of as broad a population in order to start a successful program,” Collins said. “The strategy worked, and EXCEL is well-established. We are now in a position to serve an even larger population by providing more specialized majors.”

The following explains the distinctive components of each new program:

• The major in business administration, first made available this fall, is an academic program designed for the working professional employed in a business or public organization. The curriculum is designed to enable graduates to deal effectively with an increasingly complex business environment. The program stresses skill development in the areas of management, decision-making, business communications, managerial accounting and finance, managerial economics and marketing. The emphasis in this program is on developing the quantitative skills necessary to be successful in the professional world.

• EXCEL accounting students will focus on how both textbook knowledge and real world experience apply in the business world. The program will begin in the fall of 2007. Many of the professors will be working certified public accounts, thus giving our students an opportunity to discuss their questions with individuals recognized as successful accountants. A Bachelor of Science in accounting degree will permit adult students to better compete in the job market for the accounting jobs widely available in this area.

• Debuting in January 2007 will be the Bachelor of Science in human resource management, degree, which will allow EXCEL adult students to better compete in the job market, especially they desire a career in human resource management. Conversations with human resource managers indicate that many employment opportunities present themselves in communities surrounding Fort Wayne where smaller manufacturing companies operate. This degree will focus on the skills required to become a human resource generalist.

• In the new Bachelor of Science in organizational leadership program, students will be required to complete the liberal arts core, the EXCEL business core and the organizational leadership concentration. The leadership concentration will focus on not-for-profit management, contemporary leadership, marketing and public relations, organizational culture and change, motivation methods and strategies and a major business research project. This degree lends itself to preparing students to enter the public or private sector as leaders.

 “These new programs will help Huntington University to better serve the needs of our region,” said Steve Holtrop, associate dean for graduate and adult studies. “We are being responsive to adult students’ needs as well as the needs of businesses and organizations that will employ our graduates. Graduates from these high quality, Christian degree programs will impact their world with relevant and current knowledge and ethical perspective.”

 For more information about the Huntington University EXCEL program, contact the EXCEL office at (260) 359-4162 or (800) 600-4888, or visit www.huntington.edu/excel. The EXCEL program offers classes and degrees geared specifically toward working adults and conducts classes on the main campus in Huntington, Ind., and at the new Huntington University Adult Education Center in Columbia City, Ind.

Huntington University is a comprehensive Christian college of the liberal arts offering graduate and undergraduate programs in more than 70 academic concentrations. U.S.News & World Report ranks Huntington among the best colleges in the Midwest. Founded in 1897 by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Huntington University is located on a contemporary, lakeside campus in northeast Indiana. The University is a member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU).

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