University moves Christianity to the head of the class

08/02/04

JOEL DAVIDSON

Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA - The fast-paced world of shrewd business and high-stakes investments might strike one as a strange place to quietly bow your head for a word of prayer.

The site coordinator of Wayland Baptist University's Mat-Su campus, Eddie Campoamor, however, unashamedly begins and ends each of his business classes by acknowledging a higher power.

"In my classes, I tell students that this is a Christian university and we're going to have prayer here," Campoamor explained Thursday from his office at the Wasilla-based campus. "We are absolutely committed to the belief that God does exist. We teach that but we don't require that you believe it in order to get an A."

Pairing religious faith with innovative learning philosophies is a time-honored practice at Wayland. The school's main campus began classes 95 years ago as a traditional four-year institution, based in Plainview, Texas.

Wayland began experimenting with different approaches to college education in the 1940s. By 1948, it opened its first satellite campus to offer distance-learning.

Satellite campuses expanded further in the 1970s with three Texas locations and one in Hawaii. Today, more than a dozen satellite locations operate throughout the western half of the country. These sites serve slightly older, nontraditional students who often work during the day and need to take classes at night.

"In today's world, in order for you to be in control of

your professional career, it requires a higher education," Campoamor said. "We were one of the first universities that recognized that adults needed to come back to finish their education. Somewhere along the line they quit going to school, whether they got married, joined the military or whatever."

The school's overwhelming number of night classes reflects the reality that the average Wayland student is between ages 35 and 37, working full time, with 2.2 kids. These students are usually looking for new skills and credentials to enhance their careers, Campoamor said.

The Mat-Su branch, located at the intersection of the Palmer-Wasilla and Parks highways, is the third Wayland satellite campus in Alaska. Others exist at Elmendorf Air Force Base and Fort Richardson.

The Mat-Su campus opened less than a year ago, offering associate's, bachelor's and master's degree programs in a wide range of subjects - none more popular, however, than the bachelor of science in occupational therapy. The BSOE offers a variety of vocational education opportunities, the most popular being business administration.

The school combines evening classroom instruction in Wasilla with online course offerings and classes in Anchorage. That combination has proved successful in growing nontraditional student enrollment.

Last fall, Wayland opened the Mat-Su location with only 10 students. By mid-summer its enrollment had zoomed up to 76 students, with more expected this fall. The school plans to more than double its square footage to accommodate additional students and classes this winter.

Accredited by the same body as Duke University, Wayland works to maintain high academic rigor. Each instructor is required to hold extensive credentials. All undergraduate instructors hold master's degrees, with at least 18 master hours in their teaching area. Graduate-level instructors hold doctorates or terminal degrees for their fields. Providing these educational opportunities at the lowest possible cost ($155 per undergraduate credit hour) is part of the university's overall mission, Campoamor said.

"We are a nonprofit school," he explained. "We pay our overhead and that's it. Our service to mankind and our service to God is to offer quality education to people in our community in hopes that they will take this education and use it to serve God and each other."

In order to accomplish the mission, Campoamor said Wayland instructors are willing to teach at any location that has eight or more interested students.

"I will teach at senior centers or businesses," he said. "We will teach outside the classrooms, they're not holy to us."

For more information about Wayland, people may contact the school at 373-4828. Registration began Aug. 1.

Contact Joel Davidson at

352-2266, or joel.davidson@

frontiersman.com.