Mat-Su College's registration drive kicks into high gear

MAT-SU -- One side effect of a slowing economy is a rise in college rolls, and that's a trend Mat-Su College interim director Al Okeson is hoping to see ring true this year as spring semester registration gets into full swing.

"It's looking pretty good," Okeson said Monday. "We're ahead of where we were last year on this same day."

The real test, Okeson said, will come when the registration numbers are counted before the college campus closes for the holiday season. In years past, the spring semester didn't start until mid-January, Okeson explained. That few days after the new year, Okeson said, was generally the time when college administration put forth an extra effort to encourage enrollment.

"We're going to try to make our push now," Okeson said. "So far, we've been pleased with our [results]."

Enrollment numbers are still coming in because of the many information technology workshop-style classes or weekend classes that are offered, but Okeson said during fall semester, 1,545 students were enrolled in for-credit and non-credit courses.

That's not quite as high as the spring 2000 enrollment levels of 1,627, the highest at the college since 1993, but it's not far off.

Okeson said the college is trying to entice students by continuing to expand its technology offerings.

"We're going to be developing a new program in network administration," Okeson said.

The program, which will be headed by Charles Bambay, who formerly worked with the college through its work force development program. Okeson said they brought Bambay over into the network administration program, where he is developing course work for an associate degree in network administration. A bachelor of science may be available through the University of Alaska Anchorage, Okeson said.

Another program on the horizon is early childhood education. Okeson said a one-semester position was created to explore whether an early childhood education program is needed in the Valley, due to upcoming changes in day-care laws that may require day-care workers to have such schooling.

Progress and steady enrollment seems to indicate that despite an upheaval through the summer when recent director Stephen Sylvester resigned, the college is continuing to move forward.

The formation of a search committee to help select the next director of Mat-Su College affirms that the college is indeed seeking to move on.

According to Rebecca Evans, committee chair and assistant professor in computer information operating systems, the committee hopes to have a new director in place by July, but the search is being well-planned.

"Our committee is working well together -- they're a good team," Evans said. "Right now we're on schedule, actually ahead of schedule."

Evans said the team recently sent off an advertisement for the position to the Chronicle of Higher Education, a news, information and employment resource for those employed in higher education. The advertisement, she said, was appropriately timed to be included in the Chronicle's annual recruiting issue. But the committee's outreach extends beyond one venue, Evans said.

Advertisements have also gone out to local newspaper publications, and the posting is available at the college's Web site, as well. That Web site can be found at http:www.matsu.alaska.edu.

Evans said she hopes to be ready for telephonic interviews by February. The committee, she said, has questions prepared for the screening process and its members are looking forward to receiving applications.

Because the previous hiring committee was surprised to find out, after Sylvester had been hired, that he was involved in ongoing litigation about a First Amendment-rights case stemming from a faculty dispute at his former college, Montana State University-Northern, Evans said the committee is doing what it can to be more thorough about applicants' backgrounds. The task may not be easy, however.

"There are a lot of legal issues in that," Evans said. "We plan to be meticulous in our efforts -- we just want to find somebody that will fit, a comfortable fit both ways. It's a big move just to find out it's not right for you."