One-Stop Learning Ewu Classes In Valley Mall Already Popular

No, you can’t buy a college degree, but a new program lets you go to the mall and earn one.

Eastern Washington University has teamed up with the Spokane Valley Mall to offer college courses and workshops in the mall’s new Community Corner this fall.

With just a comma, it brings new meaning to that fall phrase: Back to school, shopping.

The first course was last Thursday.

“It was a fabulous turnout. … It went very well,” said Sara Sexton-Johnson, director of professional and technical programs in Eastern’s Division of Educational Outreach.

More than 40 people showed up for the portfolio development course, which gives you credit for on-the-job experience as part of the (take a breath) Interdisciplinary Studies-Organizational Leadership degree program.

It’s aimed at people who want to move up at work, or move onto something new by earning a bachelor’s degree.

Adults returning to school get help putting together a portfolio of work experience that is sent to a faculty member for evaluation. The instructor determines how much credit is applied, said Alice Dionne, associate vice provost of Eastern’s Division of Educational Outreach.

EWU wanted the center near the high-tech job sites in the Valley. But the program is open to people from any job.

“They can be a secretary, serve hamburgers at Wendy’s - anything,” said Lynnae Sowers, program assistant in the Interdisciplinary Studies department at EWU.

A woman who has run a household can have that experience count, too, she said.

“It’s really quite versatile,” Dionne said.

Students in the program work at businesses such as Johnson Matthey Electronics, Telect and Deaconess Medical Center, Sowers said. The students from Deaconess live in the Valley, she said.

Thursday’s course and future classes are from 4 to 7 p.m. in the EWU Learning Center in the mall’s Community Corner. The 2,660 square feet of space was donated by the mall. The center, on the second level near Sears, has an office, two classrooms and a small kitchen.

“It was just phenomenal to give that space,” Sexton-Johnson said. “The mall really has to be complimented for giving back to the community.”

Jerry Irwin, manager of the Valley Mall, said the timing was just right.

“We knew that we wanted to do some kind of community room, and it seemed like a good marriage,” he said.

The match was a bit serendipitous.

Irwin worked at Eastern for nine years before leaving his job as director of student activities in 1997 to manage the mall. One day, his old friend Sexton-Johnson was telling Irwin about the need for a Valley location for classes, and the two came up with a solution.

EWU’s classes will be in the evenings and weekends to accommodate working students. The center is available to other groups and the mall merchants the rest of the time, Irwin said.

For example, the Red Cross has already inquired about holding first aid and CPR classes at the center, he said.

“We are very pleased to have this here, very excited,” Irwin said.

EWU began looking into having a Valley site about two years ago, Dionne said. It was approved this year and went full steam ahead once the mall space was agreed upon.

The university will offer more courses and different activities at the mall, based mostly on feedback from the public, Dionne said.

Two sidebars appeared with the story: 1. MORE INFORMATION For more information on classes at the mall or other off-campus locations, call Lynnae Sowers at (509) 359-2402, or e-mail: lsowers@ewu.edu.

2. FAST FACTS Expanded offerings Eastern offers courses at several sites away from the Cheney campus, and four locations in the city of Spokane. The university offers technology, interdisciplinary studies and education programs in Walla Walla; social work in Everett and Toppenish; technology and dental hygiene in Vancouver; education in Moses Lake and will soon offer education courses through the Kent School District.