Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College
opens more programs to men

By Brandon A. Evans

For the first time in its history, men will now be able to earn an undergraduate degree from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College through its distance education program.

The college recently announced that what has been known as the Women’s External Degree Program will expand to include the enrollment of men. It will now be called the Woods External Degree Program ( WED).

For more than 15 years, the external degree program has served men as special students pursuing individual courses or teaching licensure.

Now men will be able to earn undergraduate degrees through WED and other adult programs that the college develops in the future. Men may begin applying now, with the earliest starting time this September.

Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College will maintain its mission to the advancement of women’s education and will preserve its campus-based resident undergraduate degree program for women only.

The college is the oldest Catholic liberal arts college for women in the nation.

“A majority of women’s colleges in the United States admit men to undergraduate degree programs designed specifically for adults,” said St. Joseph Sister Joan Lescinski, president of the college.

“Those programs, such as weekend college, continuing education programs and distance education programs, meet different student needs than those designed for ­traditional aged students,” she said.

The decision to expand the distance education program is part of a larger Institution Plan that seeks to ensure a prosperous future for the college.

“This is the first step among many that we are taking to achieve our vision for the future of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, which includes a goal of 1,100 full-time students by 2010,” Sister Joan said.

Right now, there are 885 full-time equivalent students enrolled at the college. About 480 of the 1,225 students enrolled in the Woods External Degree Program are full-time.

Theresa Denton, the college’s chief enrollment services and marketing officer, said that the college receives ­regular inquiries from men who are interesting in earning a bachelor’s degree from the distance education program.

This expansion in the reach of the program could not have come at a more ideal time, she said.

“Thirty years ago, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College created the Women’s External Degree program to address the challenges facing that generation and to help forge new paths for women,” Denton said. “We are now expanding our program to meet the demands of the 21st century, allowing men to achieve their educational goals in the same flexible distance format.

“We remain committed to preserving the campus-based program for women only and to serving women’s unique needs in all our programs,” she said. †