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Continuing Education
With Donald Shandler
Director of Continuing Education, USDA Graduate School
Tuesday, April 2, 2002; noon EST
The Department of Agriculture Graduate School has a thriving section of evening and weekend programs, which focuses on providing continuing education for working adults. The courses are designed for the learning needs of government employees and area individuals who want to go further in their careers and find more satisfaction in their lives.
Donald Shandler is the director of continuing education for the school, which enrolls more than 20,000 students a year. In addition to the evening and weekend programs, he also manages training and events, the registrar's office and the bookstore. His background is in academic administration, having previously worked as the director of education at the National Association of Home builders and as assistant vice chancellor at the University of Maryland University College.
The transcript follows.
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washingtonpost.com:
Thanks for joining us today, Donald Shandler. What types of continuing education programs does the USDA Graduate School offer?
Donald Shandler: The Graduate School, USDA has been responding to the educational and training needs of community for over 80 years. It offers a wide variety of programs including those that are specialized to meet the needs of the federal workforce--examples include Government Audit Training Institute; Leadership Development Academy; and, Center for Applied Technology. However, the Graduate School is perhaps best known for its Evening and Weekend Programs offerings here in Washington. These include courses in Foreign Languages (over 28); Business and Management; Information Technology; Mathematics and Statistics; Paralegal Studies; and Natural History to name a few program areas. These programs are offered one night a week, 6:00-9:00 p.m. for a ten week period. More information is available at our web site www.grad.usda.gov.
Washington, D.C.:
How do you find that employers respond to certificates and program "degrees" from the USDA school? I want to develop some more skills, but I don't know how to represent them on a resume. Is the school accredited?
Donald Shandler: While the Graduate School, USDA does not award degrees, it does offer many courses that have been reviewed and recommended for undergraduate credit by the American Council on Education (ACE) College Credit Recommendation Service. The majority of courses included in our certificate programs have been reviewed by ACE, which has enabled our students to transfer those credits toward degrees at local universities and colleges. Other students have used our certificate programs to advance their careers. Certificates in accounting, computer programming and paralegal studies are particularly popular in this regard. Our Spring/Summer catalog includes an insert section with information about certificate programs and about our educational partners, that is, local colleges and universities, such as Trinity College and Johns Hopkins, which offer capstone certificate and degree programs to supplement Graduate School offerings.
Kensington, MD:
Hi there,
I am a May 2001 graduate of UMUC. Can't say enough good things about the program. I have often looked at the USDA catalog and wished some of the classes were available on line. I'm a single mom working full time and couldn't have finished my degree without that option. Are you aware if that is currently happening or in the works at USDA?
Thanks
Donald Shandler: Since Winter 2001 Evening & Weekend Programs has offered select courses online, including Environmental Reporting, C Programming, Practical Writing, Econometrics, and Spanish Review. However, our focus is still classroom based courses in the Washington Metropolitan Area. Other Graduate School program units also offer a variety of training opportunities online. The best way to find out about all of our online courses is to visit our website at www.grad.usda.gov When you click on the course catalog tab, you can select a listing of online courses.
Rio Rancho, New Mexico:
How do you determine what programs to offer in your area?
Donald Shandler: Each Graduate School program unit (Evening Programs; GovernmentAuditTraining Institute;Center for Applied Technology; etc.) makes use of a variety of ways to determine what courses to offer. These include: 1. responding to customers needs; 2. utilizing the input of advisory committees; 3. monitoring academic and industry trends; 4. conducting a needs assessment of a specific target population. A new school-wide curriculum initiative is now harnessing the rich resources of all of our programs in responding to the changing needs of the workforce.
Arlington, Va.:
Do you have any programs that can help prepare me to work in government? I am in the private sector now but would like to switch.
Donald Shandler: We do not have any specific courses to prepare individuals for government work. However, we do have many courses that are targeted to and/or relevant to the tailored to meet specific government work needs. As examples, you can select Graduate School, USDA courses that will enable you to develop expertise in procurement, contract administration and federal personnel procedures. Please check our web site for more information on these and other courses.
Rockville, Md.:
Do you find that non-traditional aged college students are attractive to adcoms? I am planning on applying fo a dual JD/MS next year for a part time program and worry that they will not view my work experience as valuable enough to overcome an admittedly not great (2.69) GPA from college (I graduated in 1995). Any advice?
Donald Shandler: Unfortunately the GPA remains a major criterion for many graduate school admissions. However, increasingly more colleges and universities are providing students with an opportunity to have their entire portfolio of educational and work experiences evaluated as part of the admissions process. A suggestion would be to widen your school search to identify an institution that may provide great admission flexibility. A second strategy is to identify a school that may offer a pre-admittance requirement. In other words, you may be required to take a sequence of courses and perform at a specific grade level for formal admission to the program.
Washington, DC:
What are the most popular evening classes that you offer?
Donald Shandler: Several of our most popular offerings, for different reasons, include: Spanish courses; Financial Accounting for Business Students; test preparation courses; select computer courses; Principles of Landscape Design; Economics; Mathematics and Statistics, and many, many more.
Just recently language courses in both Arabic and Farsi have emerged as popular offerings.
Sterling, Va.:
I've always been interesed in attending a charm school of sorts, to better my people skills (i.e. business etiquette, networking skills, charming my business clients). What kind of continuing education classes/programs can I find in D.C. area? Thanks.
Donald Shandler: A wide variety of schools ranging from local community colleges to senior institutions offer a range of both personal enrichment and self-improvement courses. While they may not be label "charm courses" as such you will find relevant offerings in areas of communication, negotiation, career development. In addition, you may want to consider attending public seminars that focus more specifically on these subjects in a one or two day format. As an example check our web site for the day time offerings of the National Capital Training Center.
Fairfax, VA:
Does your school hold some sort of open house so I can come and learn more?
Donald Shandler: July 26ths is the date set for an open house here in the South Agriculture Building. Please check our web site for more information.
washingtonpost.com:
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