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Continuing Education

Chicago offers a plethora of exciting ideas to expand your horizons and your future

At this time of our lives, many of us are thinking about reinventing ourselves. Many of us are newly retired or considering a new career choice, and universities are offering opportunities to open our eyes to the many possibilities we may not even considered when we first went to college. Today, there are businesses that are media-centered, using technology that only our children seem to understand. But show me a good salesperson and I’ll show you one who is savvy in computers, because every other competitive salesperson is following up with his clients with emails, charts and other sophisticated research in order to convince the client that his product or service is the best choice for him.
  
There are two good reasons to consider going back to school: to follow your dreams and to find a new career that will provide you the income you need to retire in comfort. As the economic climate has been shaky since 2007, unless unemployment goes down, imagination will be the most important consideration. Can you turn a fulfilling hobby or passion into a career? Have you studied the curriculums at Chicago’s many colleges? Do you need another advanced degree to change careers?
   
It you’re thinking of a move to the Middle East, you might check out Truman College’s Arabic language program. Truman also offers real world experience in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy by matching up student internships with local chemists to help students get an opportunity to learn with hands-on lab experience. Undergraduates can learn on-the-job at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
  
Northwestern University’s School of Continuing Studies offers a Summer Institute in Negotiation. This summer they also offered FILM! The Moving Image and How it Shapes our Lives. Money and Banking sounds intriguing and topical. Summer Session courses included courses in Elementary Portuguese, The Presidency, and Trumpet Master Class. In their Environmental Policy and Culture: The Politics and Culture of Food is a topic in the news. Their Master of Arts in Public Policy and Administration is unique. The Continuing Studies Program provides accessibility to learning and exceptional teaching to nontraditional students. Northwestern offers a Master of  Science in Medical Informatics. They also offer Predictive Analytics online. For sports buffs, they also offer a Master of Arts in Sports Administration. They also offer both a MA and MFA in Creative Writing.
   
The University of Chicago’s Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies offers an online certificate in Medical Writing and Editing and an online certificate in Clinical Trials Management. They also offer a Summer Writers’ Conference as well as Decision Making for Climate Change. The school offers students both credit and noncredit courses in many fields, including a Master of Science in Threat and Response Management, a Master of Liberal Arts degree, a graduate Student at Large, as well as noncredit studies in Travel Study, and Corporate and Custom Training. Unusual options are Leadership in Healthcare and Writing for the Web.
  
DePaul University’s Continuing and Professional Education is well-known for its Law, Management and Financial Planning programs in all their locations. Their Pharmacy Technician  Certificate Program and Advanced Hospital Coding and CCS Prep Certificate Programs are also popular, given the expected changes in the medical fields. DePaul also offers Custom Programs for companies and government agencies looking to enhance the skills of its employees.
   
Roosevelt University offers 42 master’s degree programs and 4 doctoral programs including a College of Education, College of Pharmacy, College of Business, and College of Arts and Sciences. The University offers Hospitality and Tourism Management and Political Science and Public Admortization, and Mathematics and Actuarial Science.
  
The School of Art Institute of Chicago offers Adult Continuing Education courses including certificate and teacher programs with access to the Art Institute of Chicago Museum. They offer the latest trends in art and design as well as courses in NonProfit Management.
   
Loyola University offers study in Managerial Arts and Leadership at a graduate level.
  
The Chicago Botanic Garden offers Master Gardener Programs at the Regenstein School.
   
Columbia College can unlock the dancer in you as well as entertainment and media management, photography, film and theater.

Published: August 19, 2012
Issue: Fall 2012 Issue