A new partnership between Heartland Community College and Exelon gives employees at the Clinton Power Station customized courses towards an associate’s degree.
The partnership provides access to on-site classes in Clinton taught by HCC staff.
Heartland Vice President of Continuing Education and Advancement Kelli Hill said the program will help Exelon’s many employees who don’t yet have associate's degrees.
“They have a lot of experience and expertise, a number of them came through the military,” Hill said. “So they don’t necessarily have traditional college credits and by earning an associate's degree, it opens up some doors for them in the future as well as some doors to advanced educational programs.”
Clinton Power Station Site Vice President Ted Stoner said he hopes to have 10 employees enrolled in the program for the spring 2019 session.
Enrollment in this program is optional for Exelon employees and not available to those not working at Exelon. Those who finish the two-year, 62-hour course schedule will receive their associate’s degree in applied science and industrial technology.
Hill said most courses will be taught in Clinton, with some online or hybrid and the possibility of some classes being at Heartland’s campus in later semesters.
“We’ll use our faculty, but we also have worked with Exelon and in some of the technical courses we will be able to, or we hope to be able to, use some of their existing employees who have advanced degrees,” she said.
Hill said faculty already travel to HCC’s Pontiac and Lincoln locations, so faculty teaching at the Clinton site will be compensated in similar ways.
This partnership allows Heartland to further demonstrate its commitment to their students’ needs, she said, because the customized program is convenient to current Exelon employees and relevant to their workforce needs.
The program begins spring 2019 and costs the same as the school’s traditional associate's degree.
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