Feature Article
College for Professional Studies Historical Timeline
1970
1980
1990
2000
1975: Bachelor of Applied Science
Degree first offered.
1982: Lake Michigan College
Center opens in Benton Harbor, MI.
1990: Monroe County Community
College Center opens in Monroe, MI.
Early 2000s: Cook Power Plant
location opens in Bridgman, MI.
1975: RETS location opens in
Detroit, MI.
1985: RETS location opens in
Baltimore, MD.
1992: Kellogg Community College
Center opens in Battle Creek, MI.
2004: Distance Learning Programs
(online) start.
1977: First Degree Completion
Center opens in Southfield, MI.
1995: Lansing Community College
Center opens in Lansing, MI.
1977: Lourdes College site opens
in Toledo, OH.
1995: Theological Studies
Program begins.
2010
2013: National Certification
Board of Therapeutic Massage
& Bodywork partnership begins.
2014: Henry Ford College
Center opens in Dearborn, MI.
1998: Jackson College Center
opens in Jackson, MI.
The Board of Trustees agreed, approving the BAS in May 1975. Soon, electronic engineering technology students from
the RETS Electronics School traveled
from Detroit to Adrian to complete
their degrees.
“RETS was the one that really got
(the BAS) going,” Bukwaz said.
Breaking the
“European Model”
It didn’t take long for RETS officials
and students to begin another conversation with Siena Heights officials about
bringing the adult degree completion
programs to them. At the time, the
thought of offering classes at locations
other than the traditional brick-and-mortar campus was nearly unprecedented.
“Colleges and universities have always been the European model, of here’s
this university or college, and everybody
who is going to be educated is going to
come to us, and it’s going to be take place
within these walls,” said Deborah Carter,
dean of the College for Professional
Studies. “We were the first private college in Michigan to do this, and Siena
Heights College said, ‘Yes, we think
this is worth pursuing and we are going
to go ahead and do this. And we will do
it as a mission-centered endeavor.’ In order to open ourselves up to the possibility that it could be done well in a different format took a leap of faith.”
18 | Reflections Summer ’15
Bukwaz, who was named the first
director of the BAS Program—and still
has that title today—said the first classes
in the Detroit area were offered at RETS,
the Westinghouse Corp. and a machine
and tool company in 1975.
In 1977, thanks in
part to a $1 million
or so grant authored
by Tom Maher for
advanced institutional
development, Siena
Heights opened its first permanent center in Tower 14 (above) of the Northland
Shopping Center in Southfield.
“We were either on the 11th or 12th
floors,” Bukwaz said.
Program delivery was also much different than the traditional, 15-week model of the Adrian campus. Now, classes
were offered in eight-week formats, often
at night or on weekends to accommodate
working adult students.
One of those students, Steven West
’79 (read his full profile in this issue),
said the Southfield program was a “good
opportunity.”
“I had actually graduated from tech
school and wanted to get my college degree,” said West, an EET major at RETS
who received one of the first BAS degrees from the Southfield center. “They
literally just got (the program) started.
… It was a really good experience, and
I think we were all kind of learning the
process at the time.”
Bukwaz said the Southfield program
consisted almost exclusively of EET and
nursing professionals (RNs and CRNAs).
He said the BAS model worked well from
the start, and filled a need very few other
institutions could provide.
“That’s the problem four-year schools
have always had in designing four-year
programs,” he said. “(The BAS) is a program for practicing professionals with
Associate of Applied Science degree
backgrounds. … (AAS students) live in
a credentialistic world. They represent
the ‘other’ transfer student. The idea is
that a whole category of AAS grads out
there needed a program so they could
build a baccalaureate degree.”
The Community College
Partner Model
Bukwaz was the dean of Admissions
and Off-Campus Programs when he
received a letter from the president of
Lake Michigan College in 1982. LMC
was looking for a new partner to provide bachelor’s degrees in business on
its Benton Harbor campus (above). The
program also needed to be very transferfriendly. After some conversations, Siena
accepted the offer to partner with LMC.
More than 33 years later, Bukwaz said
it has become the “model” for the CPS/
community college partnerships.