Northern Enlightenment: For Continuing-Ed Seekers, Baltimore is a Land of Opportunity

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A FEW YEARS AGO, Mollie Myers was just another 20-something college grad letting real-world practicality trump her true passion. A graphic designer with a B.A. in education from Baltimore's Goucher College, Myers pined for the hands-on, creative thrill of 3-D art. So, in 2003, the Silver Spring resident enrolled in a welding class offered by the School for Professional and Continuing Studies at Baltimore's Maryland Institute College of Art, followed by a chain of jewelry classes there that led to a stint as a commercial jeweler.

This summer, the 29-year-old celebrated the opening of Studio Ag, her new art jewelry boutique in Maryland's historic Savage Mill, where she sells her handcrafted baubles and teaches classes on jewelry making. And she's taking more classes at MICA — business basics for creative professionals.

"I don't know if I could have opened a studio without their business class," Myers says. "My needs as a business owner are completely different than, say, a plumber." She is also planning to take a marketing class in the creative entrepreneurship series.

Myers was drawn to the institution's top-notch reputation and evening classes, and she figured the area's rush-hour traffic makes driving to Baltimore about as convenient as trekking to downtown D.C.

As a master's degree student in the Johns Hopkins School of Education, Gurpreet Takher, 30, was also drawn to his school's prestige, evening courses and not-so-terrible commute. "The name has quite a nice sound to it, in this area especially,"admits Takher, who lives in LeDroit Park.

As a participant in the New Teacher Project in the Baltimore City Public School System since last winter, Takher considers the mentorship support that comes with a Johns Hopkins education crucial to his on-the-job survival. "I would have a mentor come visit me in the classroom and give concrete feedback that I could actually apply the next day, which was amazing," he says.

For Nathan Gehlert, a 31-year-old Cleveland Park resident, the choice to pursue higher education in Baltimore was a no-brainer. Loyola University is the only American university to offer what he was looking for: a Ph.D. in pastoral counseling, a program that integrates psychology and spirituality. Though he had hoped to stay in D.C., he says he feels blessed to live within reasonable driving distance.

"Loyola is designed for students who are commuters, so I was able to always schedule all my classes on just one day a week," Gehlert adds. The moment he stepped on campus for orientation back in the fall of 2005, he says he knew he belonged. "I remember just feeling, 'Oh, my gosh, these are my people,'" says Gehlert, who currently works as a psychotherapist at the Pastoral Counseling and Consultation Centers of Greater Washington.

Though the D.C. area has never been short on top-tier educational institutions, its northern neighbor holds its own when it comes to spots to get schooled.

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
» Where: Homewood Campus is the main campus in northern Baltimore, with smaller outposts in Rockville and Dupont Circle; JHU's medical institutions sit in East Baltimore adjacent to the university's renowned hospital; Jhu.edu.
» Offerings: Under the umbrella term Advanced Academic Programs, JHU provides part-time graduate degrees and certificate programs with flex schedules and online offerings designed for working professionals. Programs range from applied economics and advanced biotechnology to environmental sciences, government, communication, national security studies, museum studies and writing. Plus: Engineering for Professionals, the School of Education, the Carey Business School, Continuing Medical Education and the Institute for Johns Hopkins Nursing, with specialty programs and seminars for health care professionals.
» Cost: From $477 to $1,309 per non-doctoral credit; up to $2,173 per credit for Ph.D.

LOYOLA UNIVERSITY
» Where: Main campus in northern Baltimore, with graduate studies mostly at Columbia and Timonium branches; Loyola.edu.
» Offerings: Working professionals-turned-graduate students earn advanced degrees in computing/software engineering, business and finance, education, Kodály music education (a sequence-driven teaching method), liberal studies, psychology, pastoral counseling and speech-language pathology. Students can choose among a variety of scheduling formats, many of which feature weekday evening classes and year-round schedules.
» Cost: $291 to $685 per credit.

MARYLAND INSTITUTE COLLEGE OF ART
» Where: Near Penn Station in Bolton Hill; Mica.edu.
» Offerings: A fixture on listings of the nation's top art schools, MICA offers advanced degrees and certificate programs designed for artists, designers and creative entrepreneurs. Classes include graphic and Web design, architecture, business basics for artists, jewelry making, glass-blowing, painting, digital photography, drawing and more.
» Cost: $1,375 per credit; continuing-ed classes range from $85 to $1,080.

TOWSON UNIVERSITY
» Where: Main campus sits on 328 acres in suburban Towson, eight miles north of Baltimore; Towson.edu.
» Offerings: Towson has an extensive inventory of graduate offerings available: four doctoral programs, 43 master's programs and 25 certificate programs.
» Cost: $309 per credit in state, $649 per credit out of state.

UNIVERSITY OF BALTIMORE
» Where: Just south of Penn Station in Mt. Vernon; Ubalt.edu.
» Offerings: Continuing-ed certificate programs include information design, new media publishing and professional counseling studies; master's programs are available in negotiations and conflict management; legal and ethical studies; applied psychology; human services administration and health systems management; criminal justice; public administration; publications design; information architecture; fine arts and more. UB also has schools of law and business.
» Cost: $539 to $1,028 per credit in state, $781 to $1,501 out of state.

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, BALTIMORE
» Where: Downtown Baltimore; Umaryland.edu.
» Offerings: Graduate programs include dental, law, medicine and pharmacy schools, plus graduate programs in physical therapy, genetic counseling, life sciences, medical and research technology, and pathology. There's also a clinical nurse leaders program in which students become equipped as advanced generalists in direct patient care. UMB's School of Social Work is the nation's second-largest continuing-ed program for that field.
» Cost: Tuition varies; $485 per credit in state, $869 per credit out of state for graduate school.

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, BALTIMORE COUNTY
» Where: Just off I-695 between BWI and downtown Baltimore; Umbc.edu.
» Offerings: Ranked No. 1 among up-and-coming national universities by the latest "U.S. News & World Report America's Best Colleges" rankings, UMBC offers 22 doctoral degrees, 30 master's degrees, 16 graduate certificate programs, an accelerated degree program, and both credit and noncredit offerings through its Continuing and Professional Studies. Programs include biotech; IT and engineering; education; social sciences; emergency health services; geographic information systems; management of aging services and more.
» Cost: From $445 per credit in state, $736 per credit out of state.

Written by Express contributor Katie Knorovsky
Photos courtesy Will Kirk/Johns Hopkins University