HARCUM COMMUNITY NEWS

TWO PROGRAMS SAIL THROUGH ACCREDITATION Harcum College officials announced two significant accreditations in 2020: the Dental Programs and the Nursing Program.

Following the official 2019 visit to the two dental programs (Dental Hygiene and Dental Assisting with EFDA), the Commission on Dental Accreditation delivered the news of a successful reaccreditation earlier this year, granting Harcum the highest possible accreditation status: approval without reporting requirements. The accrediting body for college-level nursing programs (ACEN) awarded Harcum’s program an unprecedented eight (8) year accreditation in recognition of the program outcomes and the high quality of a Harcum nursing education, according to Fran Schuda, Nursing Program Director.

The Nursing Program also boasted its fourth consecutive 100% pass rate for the latest cohort of Nursing graduates, the Class of 2020.

COLLEGE LAUNCHES NEW WEBSITE While it’s always a beneficial idea for any organization to consider updating their website, it can be vexing to go from the consideration stage to the actuation stage. For some institutions, it can be a two-year process or longer.

“After Google reported some ghastly page-load times from those accessing our site from mobile devices, and because sites are now expected to be mobile first, not merely mobile friendly, we had to execute a plan for redesign as quickly as possible,” said Gale Martin, Executive Director of Communications & Marketing.

Regardless of advertising platform, the click-thru traffic responding to College advertisements appearing on the Internet hails from a cell phone 70 percent of the time. It was time to act to best ensure the traffic the College was paying for had the most user-friendly experience.

Harcum approached Anthology for website design packages and chose the Blueprint Template. That option meant that the Communications & Marketing team would have to complete the bulk of the work themselves. Amy Shumoski, digital communications manager, and Martin had worked together on the 2014 redesign.

“Amy had such fluency with the iModules platform, the predecessor to Anthology, I felt confident the team could pull this off without incurring the cost of any additional services they offered,” Martin said.

The entire redesign took six weeks. Besides better backend functionality, it also brought the design and coding behind it into the new decade. The home page features a sweeping horizontal photo that could fully utilize the talents of staff photographer Jackie Pursell and the photos shared by the Photography Program.

Besides a more contemporary and impactful aesthetic, harcum.edu offers a better user experience. New major pages were created under the Admissions tab, essentially fresh, best-in-class landing pages for all the pay-per-click traffic. Early analytics suggest the redesign has increased the length of time visitors are spending on the site and the number of pages viewed.

More Value-Add for Partnership Sites Students

Each academic year, Harcum provides community scholarships to Partnership Sites students, organized in collaboration with I-LEAD and numerous community-based organizations. Since its inception, the program has provided millions of dollars of tuition support, assisting more than 1,200 nontraditional learners in earning college degrees.

Harcum’s Community Scholarship generally pays more than thirty-five percent of students’ annual tuition costs. Early Childhood Education students have a unique opportunity to participate in Harcum’s collaboration with the Commonwealth’s TEACH Program. As such, the Harcum Community Scholarship is applied directly to the tuition rate prior to packaging those eligible.

Beginning in 2020, Harcum strengthened its Community Scholarship by formally recognizing scholarship recipients as Harcum Community Scholars. Each scholarship recipient will receive a formal certificate of recognition and will be invited to participate without cost in I-LEAD’s Leadership Development Program in exchange for their voluntarily pledge to complete their degree within three years, to share their aspirations and accomplishments with their family and peers, and to live up to a community’s Leadership Code of Values and Ethics for Harcum Community Scholars.

TIMELY TWIST ON ART & DESIGN CONTEST FOR SENIORS Because the Murals at Harcum is the most enduring community art endeavor at the College, the Murals Mosaic Community Art Project has been married with the annual Art & Design contest for high school seniors in 2021. Students interested in enrolling as a full-time art & design major for fall are invited to design a freestanding square using any medium—oil, watercolor, charcoal, fabric, beads, yarn, or mixed media.

Like the historic murals, all squares submitted for the contest must reflect the theme: “This Moment in Time” and reflect present-day events influenced by the world of politics, art, sports, or pop culture, for instance. A blank 10” x 10” canvas square will be mailed to any contest participant, free of charge. A link to request a square appears on the homepage of the College website.

Artists must provide all other materials or supplies needed to complete their squares. Winners can apply their scholarship to any Art & Design major: Fashion Design, Fashion Merchandising, Graphic Design, Interior Design, or Photography. Up to $9,000 scholarship dollars will be awarded. The deadline for all entries is May 31, 2021. Winning squares will be exhibited during the Murals Mosaic Gallery Show this fall.

FOUNDED IN 2007, Harcum at Coatesville Partnership Site was cofounded by Bill Shaw of Life Transforming Ministries, who welcomed back 2012 alumna Portia Graham, Leadership Studies, to a special alumni networking event.

HANNAH CARSLEY of Philadelphia won last year’s Art & Design contest, receiving a $5,000 scholarship to the Photography Program.