UD PCS helping region recover

Scholarships, discounts and payment plans offered for in-demand programs

With laptops in tow, we bid each other adieu and departed from the University of Delaware’s Newark campus and our locations in other parts of the state on Friday the 13th of March.

Just as many of you did as the calendar was turning to spring, we hurriedly turned guest bedrooms, basements, dining room tables, lofts, alcoves and screened-in porches in our Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania residences into makeshift home offices. At this time, terms like “COVID-19,” “coronavirus,” “social distancing,” “stay-at-home orders,” “the new normal” and “WFH” were entering or becoming more prominent in our vocabularies, and we found out that Zoom was not just the name of a former children’s TV series.

Though there certainly was an adjustment period as we replaced in-person meetings, office pop-ins, impromptu hallway strategy sessions and water cooler chats with countless phone calls, text messages, emails and yes, Zoom meetings, we have not missed a beat. We transitioned most of our programs, including our Osher Lifelong Learning Institute offerings, to online delivery and have remained steadfast in our commitment to serve learners across the lifespan continuum and provide educational opportunities for anyone seeking to begin or complete their college career, enhance their academic or professional skills, or enrich their personal life.

Throughout this crisis, which has disrupted all of our lives in way or another, we have been able to draw some comfort by seeing how many of our University of Delaware Division of Professional and Continuing Studies (UD PCS) programs are providing training for professions and skills that have had substantial increases in the need for proficient practitioners because of COVID-19.

While the medical field is quickly adapting to an enormous surge in virtual visits and an increased demand for registered nurses, all industries have been faced with the decision of what, if anything, to post on social media during the pandemic. Big data is being used to help stop the spread of the virus, and IT project managers are guiding the change-management initiative necessitated by the move to working remotely. As you make your way through this guide, you will see that UD PCS programs like Advanced Telehealth Coordinator, RN Refresher, Social Media Marketing, Analytics: Optimizing Big Data, and IT Project Management are just a few of the many examples of our courses supplying necessary and topical training.

As members of the community we serve, our unwavering focus is on what we can do for you, our neighbors and friends. We are concerned about everyone in Delaware and the surrounding region who has lost their job or experienced any other COVID-19-related hardship and are looking to do our part to aid in the recovery. We are pleased to help those affected take the next steps forward by providing in-demand programming supported by financial assistance and complemented with free seminars.

Along with scholarships, we offer payment plans as well as discounts for early registration, active military members and veterans, memberships in business associations, groups of two or more, and UD students and alumni. In addition, anyone who experienced a job loss due to COVID-19 may be eligible for a Delaware Workforce Investment Board (DWIB) training grant.

Your need to upskill, reskill and refocus may now be greater than ever, and we want to help you. We hope we offer something that can be beneficial to you and encourage you to reach out without any questions you have along the way about how we can assist you.

All of us on the UD PCS team wish you and your families a safe and healthy new year!

Visit https://www.pcs.udel.edu/ to learn more.