2019 Education magazine

Page 38 2019 “Education making a difference” LINCOLN DAILY NEWS Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019 here at home and also from other parts of the state, country, and even world. The goal is to continue working to attract local students, but at the same time to expand the school’s reach and bring in more students from out of the area. Local students, Dr. Gerlach said, are coming to Lincoln College for a few reasons. They want to play sports at LC, they want to stay close to home, and they enjoy the smaller campus. Currently, approximately 50 percent of the enrollment is students from the immediate area. Of the other 50 percent, the majority are coming to Lincoln from the Chicago area. Dr. Gerlach said there is one big reason, these are students who want to get out of Chicago. The long-term goal is to increase the enrollment at LC from the 750 or so students today, to 2,000 by the year 2031. Dr. Gerlach said that is an attainable goal, but to get there, the college is going to have to attract students from out of state and even out of this country. To that end, LC Vice President Dr. Hamin Shabazz has made one trip to China and India and was recently selected for a Fulbright International Education Administrators Seminar Award to India next spring. President Gerlach said that the school must grow and with the governmental situations in Illinois, the population of the state on the whole is shrinking. The school will have to grow its student population from other sources. Again, the goal includes bringing young people into the community who may choose to stay when their educational career is completed. Growing the college without growing the campus Can the current LC campus accommodate the growth in numbers and types of degrees, as well as the goal to have an enrollment of 2,000 students? Dr. Gerlach said that right now it can. He noted that at University Hall, there are 15 classrooms in the upper levels of the building that are not being utilized. One of the first goals is to prepare those classrooms for students. In 2016, LC Alum Pat Carroll donated $1 Million to the college in honor of former LC President Jack Nutt. The money was earmarked then for improvements to University Hall. That money, Dr. Gerlach said will be utilized to renovate those 15 classrooms. He said he also envisions an annex to be added to the back side of the building that will provide elevators to the upper floors. Dr. Gerlach said another move that will grow the school is to expand the classroom hours. He noted that currently classes are being CONTINUED Photos from LDN archives