South Hills teachers will soon be able to earn a masters degree through a program offered by Erie-based Gannon University.
The university, in partnership with Performance Learning Systems, is expanding into the South Hills a program it has offered elsewhere in Allegheny County and across the state. The program allows students to earn the degree off campus.
The university is accepting applications for the master of education program in curriculum and instruction in the South Hills. Applications are due March 1, and classes will begin March 23. No more than 24 students will be accepted into the program.
Where the program will be offered has not yet been determined, said Debbie Meszaros, director of graduate recruitment for Gannon.
Meszaros said Gannon has partnered with Performance Learning Systems since 1989. Gannon offers the core courses required for the degree, while Performance Learning Systems offers the elective courses, she said.
The degree is a 36-credit, non-thesis, portfolio-based program. The Gannon core curriculum of 24 credits is taken over 18 months, and as many as 12 credits earned from Gannon's Performance Learning Systems courses can be used as electives.
Students can complete the program in less than two years through continuous enrollment. Classes will meet every other Saturday during the academic year and during two one-week sessions in the summer.
Meszaros said Gannon first offered the program in Monroeville in the fall of 1998 with others following in Greensburg, Beaver Falls, Mars, Sharon and Altoona. She said students taking the elective courses in the South Hills asked for the rest of the program.
"The students have been coming to us for years asking to bring the rest of the program to their area," she said.
A tuition reduction of $300 per credit is guaranteed for the length of the program. Credits earned from Performance Learning Systems courses will apply to the Gannon degree.
Students will be able to meet and work with other teachers from the area and up to six credits from other graduate programs may be used as electives.
Gannon University, with 3,400 undergraduate and graduate students, is a liberal arts Catholic university affiliated with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Erie.
For more information or to request an application, call Gannon's Office of Graduate Studies at (800) 426-6668 or (814) 871-7474. The university can also be found on the Internet at www.gannon.edu.
