Join our Mailing List!
Please click the link below to sign up for your community paper mailing list. Stay up to date with all the events going on in your community as well as the latest news.Sign Up Today!
Baker University launches Kansas City North campus
By Ray Weikal
With the recent opening of its Northland site, Baker University is expanding the options for area professionals who want to continue their education.
Starting this August, the Overland Park, Kan.-based university started offering professional and graduate studies classes in a 5,000-square-foot facility near the Kansas City International Airport at 7509 N.W. Tiffany Springs Parkway. The school includes four classrooms, three offices and reception area and conference room, according to a press release.
Baker University had already become a popular choice for graduate school among Northland residents, according to Marvin Hunt, vice president and dean of the School of Professional and Graduate Studies. It made sense to open a location closer to these students, Hunt said.
“Baker University is pleased to offer students in the Kansas City Northland a convenient option for earning their degree,” he said.
Already, 84 students are enrolled at the new campus as part of Baker University’s Master of Arts in Education program, according to School of Education Dean Peggy Harris.
“These cohorts are made up of teachers from Liberty, Smithville, St. Joseph, Platte County, Excelsior Springs, North Kansas City, etc.,” Harris said. “It tells you why we thought it would be good to have a facility in the area, because that will cut their drive.”
Two more graduate program cohorts are scheduled to begin in October for business students, Hunt explained.
Baker University has an overall enrollment of about 4,000 students, according to the press release. Roughly three-quarters of that student body is enrolled in School of Professional and Graduate Studies and School of Education programs.
Graduate-level degrees are becoming an increasingly important measure of school and school district quality in Missouri and the U.S. Educators are under a lot of pressure to keep up with the techniques and tools needed to get students up to speed in an era of high-intensity assessments and expectations, Harris said.
“As professionals, teachers need to stay current with some of the new research and learn about new teaching strategies,” Harris said. “One way to do that is to continue to take classes. And earning a master’s degree is certainly a first step in the process for teachers.”
Baker University takes pride in having well-qualified faculty members with years of hands-on experience, Harris said.
“I would say the reason that we’re distinctive is that our classes are taught by exemplary practitioners in the field, people who have had many years working as either teachers or principals or superintendents, and also people who have had recent or possibly ongoing experience in those fields,” Harris said. “So we feel like it’s a very relevant and current program.”
For more information about Baker University’s Northland campus, call 880-6643.
To learn more about Baker University and its Northland site, call 880-6643 or visit www.bakeru.edu.
Staff writer Ray Weikal can be reached at 389-6637 or rayweikal@npgco.com.
printable version
e-mail this story
Starting this August, the Overland Park, Kan.-based university started offering professional and graduate studies classes in a 5,000-square-foot facility near the Kansas City International Airport at 7509 N.W. Tiffany Springs Parkway. The school includes four classrooms, three offices and reception area and conference room, according to a press release.
Baker University had already become a popular choice for graduate school among Northland residents, according to Marvin Hunt, vice president and dean of the School of Professional and Graduate Studies. It made sense to open a location closer to these students, Hunt said.
“Baker University is pleased to offer students in the Kansas City Northland a convenient option for earning their degree,” he said.
Already, 84 students are enrolled at the new campus as part of Baker University’s Master of Arts in Education program, according to School of Education Dean Peggy Harris.
“These cohorts are made up of teachers from Liberty, Smithville, St. Joseph, Platte County, Excelsior Springs, North Kansas City, etc.,” Harris said. “It tells you why we thought it would be good to have a facility in the area, because that will cut their drive.”
Two more graduate program cohorts are scheduled to begin in October for business students, Hunt explained.
Baker University has an overall enrollment of about 4,000 students, according to the press release. Roughly three-quarters of that student body is enrolled in School of Professional and Graduate Studies and School of Education programs.
Graduate-level degrees are becoming an increasingly important measure of school and school district quality in Missouri and the U.S. Educators are under a lot of pressure to keep up with the techniques and tools needed to get students up to speed in an era of high-intensity assessments and expectations, Harris said.
“As professionals, teachers need to stay current with some of the new research and learn about new teaching strategies,” Harris said. “One way to do that is to continue to take classes. And earning a master’s degree is certainly a first step in the process for teachers.”
Baker University takes pride in having well-qualified faculty members with years of hands-on experience, Harris said.
“I would say the reason that we’re distinctive is that our classes are taught by exemplary practitioners in the field, people who have had many years working as either teachers or principals or superintendents, and also people who have had recent or possibly ongoing experience in those fields,” Harris said. “So we feel like it’s a very relevant and current program.”
For more information about Baker University’s Northland campus, call 880-6643.
To learn more about Baker University and its Northland site, call 880-6643 or visit www.bakeru.edu.
Staff writer Ray Weikal can be reached at 389-6637 or rayweikal@npgco.com.