Students will now be able to get their four-year degree right at Normandale Community College. Ed Wines, the Vice President of Finance at Normandale and Julie Guelich the Vice President of Academic Affairs, in partnership with Minnesota State Colleges and Universities decided to build an Academic Partnership Center (APC) on the Normandale campus.

The facility will have 30 classrooms, a computer lab, and faculty offices. The building is next to the Kopp Student Center and the Japanese Garden at the back of the school. The facility is scheduled to be completed on December 31^st, 2012. Continuing Education classes will begin in January 2013 and the late start classes will begin in March.

The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system has decided to have the APC built on the Normandale campus due to the overcrowding at Normandale. While speaking with Ed Wines he told me, “Normandale was chosen because we have 3,162 credit hours and the average school in the system is at 1,396 credits hours.” This is a prime example of how overcrowded the campus has become. This facility will help by adding 30 new classrooms to the campus in which professors will be giving lectures and holding classes for the four-year programs."

The APC will not only provide courses, but programs for four-year degrees. Some of the programs that will be offered are, an engineering foundations program (Mankato State University), a teacher education program (Mankato State University), and an oral health practitioner program (Metro State). Normandale has had a close partnership with Mankato and Metro State over the years with transfer credits. Other universities are in negotiations with Normandale about possibly offering programs in the years to come.

These programs at the APC will only be offered to students who took their generals at Normandale and would like to earn their four-year degree from Mankato or Metro State.  This is said to help students from two year colleges find employment.

-Vera Hills, Lions’ Roar