School at Work (SAW) participants at Heartland Health in St. Joseph, MO recently received an incredible graduation gift: college credit certificates. A recent collaboration between Heartland and Missouri Western State University (MWSU) has assigned three credit hours to SAW.
Heartland, a former Malcolm Baldrige recipient, joins the growing list of Catalyst Learning customers to provide college credits to graduates.
“Obtaining college credit for SAW greatly increases the likelihood that students will earn a college degree. It paves the way for successful long-term outcomes, which creates a win-win for the hospital and employee,” says Catalyst Learning CEO Lynn Fischer.
Heartland’s SAW Co-Coaches David Mueller and Mary Bryson championed the idea during a March meeting with MWSU officials. Heartland provided MWSU with several documents including a listing of current class participants, a copy of the pre-assessment, a copy of Modules 9 & 10 on-line self-check, and copies of the student work books.
Bryson says that shortly after the productive meeting, “We received an email that MWSU ‘would be glad to provide our colleagues with three credit hours of Continuing Education Department credit, upon their successful completion of the SAW course’… Heartland picked up all the expense associated with the credit hours – what a great gift to our graduates!”
Many Heartland SAW alumni were as pleased by the announcement as their newly graduating peers, such as former graduate Erynn Griffin.
“It’s awesome that MWSU and Heartland are giving that to the SAW students. I just finished my first year as a part-time student at MWSU and will be starting full-time in the fall.”
Another former student, Roxanne Maggart, recently received a BA in Social Work from MWSU. “My graduation from MWSU is a direct result of SAW and because of support from Mary Bryson and Dave Mueller,” she says.
To learn more about how to work with local institutions and bring this about at your organization, please contact Catalyst Learning. To speak with a representative from MWSU to learn about the process from the university perspective, Gordon Mapley, Ph.D., Dean & Executive Director may be reached at gmapley@missouriwestern.edu.
