Unconventional Campuses Are 'The Future of Our County'

Hopkins faculty members either work full time at Shady Grove or shuttle from the home campus in Baltimore. The teaching ranks include newly recruited specialists from neighboring businesses, professionals with expertise in genetics, cellular biology and other fields. To accommodate the schedules of students -- and some teachers -- classes meet mainly in the evenings and on weekends.

"It's one of the reasons it's really neat -- that it's right here in Montgomery," said Peggy King-Sears, a special education professor who was interviewing students at last week's open house.

As the Shady Grove campus grew in the last decade, officials nurtured relationships with area businesses and government agencies, in some cases tailoring courses to their needs.

Fruits of those efforts include a degree in construction management technology offered at the Universities at Shady Grove. At Hopkins, a teaching laboratory opened in August, catering to the needs of area lawyers, engineers and scientists but also available to public school teachers and students through specialized courses.

Partnerships with the Montgomery County public school system and Montgomery College were forged. The campuses offer programs tailored to the needs of public school teachers and make summer programs available to students.

Working with the Universities at Shady Grove, Montgomery College signed an agreement that guarantees students who successfully complete two years in a specific track of courses to "seamlessly transfer" those credits, whereby students finish their undergraduate degree in an accelerated program. Three-quarters of USG's undergraduates have transferred from the community college, said Stewart Edelstein, executive director of the Universities at Shady Grove and Shady Grove Center.

Edelstein arranged a meeting last year with area construction industry leaders, resulting in the development of the construction specialty. USG is one of only two schools in the University System of Maryland to offer a degree in hotel and restaurant management, a direct response to the needs of Marriott Corp., headquartered in Montgomery, and other hoteliers, Edelstein said.

"One of the beauties of Shady Grove is because of our location, our relationhips are deeper and we can work more closely with client needs," he said. "We're trying to build these partnerships, and the partnerships are with these industries because they're the ones being benefited by the students we produce."

Newly minted professionals go forth into a business community that greets them eagerly. Students meet recruiters at job fairs and through word-of-mouth referrals from teachers who know the people doing the hiring.

Full-time employment -- and often, an internship or clinical rotation in advance of graduation -- are in abundant supply for genetic researchers, computer systems specialists, nurses and teachers of English for speakers of other languages.

"There's always an opportunity to advance yourself here," Amir said. "The biotech corridor is a very advanced and specialized area, and that's what we speak to all the time, and that's why we're expanding so much."

In response to the growth at the Universities at Shady Grove, the Maryland General Assembly recently approved $50 million for a new building with a library, faculty offices, student recreational facilities and student center. Construction is scheduled to begin this fall.