As Felician College Prepares to Graduate its Largest Class it Celebrates a Year of Firsts

On May 19, 2002, Felician College will be graduating 300 students—its largest class in the history of the college.  As the graduates prepare to begin a new chapter of their lives, Felician College celebrates a year of firsts.

In the Division of Teacher Education, four students will serve as the first class of graduates to receive a Master of Arts degree in Education, while three others will be the first to graduate from the program’s supervisor certification track.  As Felician’s fastest growing program, enrollment in the Division of Teacher Education undergraduate and graduate programs has grown by 500% over the last decade, with approximately 500 students enrolled in teacher education programs at Felician during the 2001/02 academic year.  Felician College teacher education students taking New Jersey’s teacher-licensing exam were among students from just four other New Jersey colleges to boast a perfect 100% pass rate. 

Among other firsts for the college during the past year, was the granting of chapter membership to Felician’s Department of Business Administration in the Sigma Beta Delta International Honor Society for Business, Management and Administration.  Membership in Sigma Beta Delta is the highest national recognition a business student can receive at a college or university with a Sigma Beta Delta chapter.   In the Division of Health Sciences, ten nursing graduates were inducted into Sigma Theta Tau, MU Theta Chapter, of the National Nursing Honor Society on April 27.

The completion of a quest will be celebrated by 90 adults who returned to college 18 months ago to complete their undergraduate degrees through Felician’s accelerated degree program.  Inaugurated in 2000, the accelerated degree completion program, “Success at Felician,” has experienced immense success with adults who have an associate’s degree or 60 prior college credits and want to complete a bachelor’s degree in business by attending class just one night a week for 18 months.  The program graduated its first class of 16 in 2001.  One hundred corporations, non-profit organizations, state agencies, schools, colleges and hospitals are currently represented in the class cohorts of Felician’s accelerated degree completion program which also offers on-site classes at UPS sites in Mahwah and Morristown, New Jersey.  Thanks to a new “fast-track” Associate in Arts Degree program in Business Administration, Federal Reserve Bank employees will be able to complete their 64-credit course sequence in a little over four years, as opposed to six years in a traditional program.