Change in status a boon to school

Friday, October 24, 2003

By Eleanor Chute, Post-Gazette Education Writer

It's a good thing that Point Park College skipped putting the word "college" on any athletic uniforms it has bought for the last couple of years.

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That's one less thing Point Park will have to change as it becomes a university.

State Education Secretary Vicki Phillips yesterday signed the document approving Point Park's university status.

"We're very excited," said Point Park President Katherine Henderson.

"This is a recognition of what we are. I also think it's a message to the community that Point Park is an institution of excellence, an institution of many offerings, a full-service institution with residence halls and athletic teams and graduate students and a school of business and many, many professional and preprofessional programs."

While Point Park can begin using the name Point Park University now, it is planning to celebrate its new status next September, when it will officially change its signs and have a new marketing program.

Henderson expects the university's campaign will emphasize Point Park's urban location, career preparation, faculty experience and its high percentage of adult and first-generation students.

About half of its students are over the age of 25. Most students are first-generation college students.

Point Park this fall has 3,228 students, of which 2,831 are undergraduates and 397 are graduate students. It started its first graduate-level program in 1981 and now has seven programs leading to a master's degree.

Henderson said enrollment has increased by 1,000 students in six years.

Requirements to become a university, if any, vary from state to state.

"Pennsylvania is known for its paying attention to the quality and rigor of higher education by virtue of its regulations," said Carol Gisselquist, higher education specialist in the state Department of Education.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education must approve the change in status.

The process includes providing information on everything from finances to academics to student life. It also includes a site visit by a review team.

State law requires a university to be divided into three units -- including the study of arts and sciences -- at the undergraduate level and at least five professional programs at the graduate level.

Also required are advanced-degree programs to the doctoral level, with an exception. Point Park, like some other applicants in recent years, was able to show that such programs would duplicate what already is available.

Point Park is the first college in Pennsylvania to be granted university status this year. In the past three years, there were eight, including Seton Hill University and Robert Morris University.

"I think we've probably hit the peak and are starting to decline," said Gisselquist.

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