Communications and Marketing Department

Vickroy: College credit where it's due: in high school

SouthtownStar
February 20, 2013

As twins, Kamille and Kalyn Hayslett are well aware of the financial crush a college education can bring upon their parents.

Fortunately, the Matteson 18-year-olds are enrolled in a new program that enables them to accrue college credit before even receiving their high school diplomas.

Rich Township High School District 227 and Prairie State College co-sponsor the Math and Science Academy, through which more than 20 township high schoolers spend their senior year taking college-level classes and earning valuable college credit. If they combine the Prairie State classes with Advanced Placement classes at their respective high schools, the students can acquire a total of 30 hours of college credit.

Read more: Vickroy: College credit where it's due: in high school

Nursing Professor Tina Parks Awarded Tenure at Prairie State College

eNews Park Forest
February 12, 2013

Prairie State College (PSC) recently announced that Assistant Professor Tina Parks met the college's expectations for tenure, including commitment to student success, collaboration with her peers, and dedication to the college's mission and core values. The announcement was made at the January Board of Trustees meeting. The tenure is effective August 2013.

Read more: Nursing Professor Tina Parks Awarded Tenure at Prairie State College

Governors State making switch to a 4-year school

TRIB local
November 25, 2012

Governors State University President Elaine Maimon looks out her office window at the sweeping rural prairie that surrounds far south suburban University Park. On a clear day, campus visitors can also get a good view of the Chicago skyline to the north, she says.

She's been working hard to recruit and retain more community college transfer students from the farthest stretches of the south suburbs as well as a few of the City Colleges of Chicago, with special focus on students who are lower-income or the first generation in their family to seek a higher degree.

And Maimon's preparing to make university history by adding the first freshman class to a school that's been called Asterisk U. for its relatively rare model: Only juniors, seniors and graduate students have attended since the upper-division school was founded in 1969. The first freshmen are slated to begin in 2014 when the school becomes a four-year university….

…Eric Radtke, president of Prairie State College, a community college in Chicago Heights that feeds into Governors State, says he supports the expansion and isn't worried that a freshman class will impinge on his school's enrollment or shift focus away from the recent deeper partnerships with area community colleges like his.

"You can't get enough educational opportunities in the south suburbs," he says.

Read more: Governors State making switch to a 4-year school

Army veteran finds new career path

ICCB Magazine
Fall 2012

U.S. Army Veteran Francine Poindexter had worked in several different careers in the 15 years after she completed her service before enrolling in the Nursing Pro­gram at Prairie State College (PSC) last year.

"I always knew nursing was something I wanted to do, but I always kept getting side­tracked," she said.

Read more: Army veteran finds new career path (at page 3)