Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2003 | 8:56 a.m.
For more information on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' Educational Outreach programs, call 895-3394.
For more information on the Community College of Southern Nevada's Continuing education programs, call 651-5790.
In the world of continuing education a clearinghouse of niche dabbling, professional development and passing fancies it's not as easy as one might think to keep the masses intrigued.
There are only so many centerpiece-making, gourmet-cooking, party-planning courses one can take. And with thousands of prospective students awaiting the seasonal catalogues, the pressure is on.
"You kind of need to know what's hot, what's not," said Candia Ferrandiz, program coordinator for continuing education at the Community College of Southern Nevada. "People are fickle. I mean, it can go out tomorrow.
"If classes aren't successful for a semester or two, we'll pull it."
Ferrandiz has a history in the continuing education industry, working first as a coordinator at De Anza College in Cupertino, Calif., then moving to Las Vegas, where she took over the continuing education program at the Community College of Southern Nevada.
CCSN sends direct mailers to 650,000 people, offers 525 community education classes each semester and tries to introduce 50 new classes each session.
"Somebody will come up with something so crazy, so wonderful, we'll put it in," Ferrandiz said. "Sometimes we'll think it's the best class and it dies."
But just as there's someone looking to teach Argentine tango, desert survival, finance, stocks or watercolor painting, there's someone from the community willing to learn.
UNLV enrolls as many as 18,000 students a year in its Division of Educational Outreach programs and sends out catalogues in August, January and April. CCSN enrolls between 10,000 and 15,000 students each year in its continuing education courses. At both schools, most of the fall classes begin this month.
In addition to to Zen Buddhism, Halloween Centerpiece Making, Intermediate Beading and Self-Hypnosis, there are The Basics of Stained-Glass Making, Japanese Animation, The Art of Beer Making and Electronic Pressure Cooking 1.
Computer programming, business etiquette and mortgage lending courses are available to anyone unable to commit to an entire semester of classes. Other courses, namely personal development or Artistic Balloon Design, might not be available for credit.
"We can offer classes to fit almost every milieu," Ferrandiz said. "Basic software programs, people want those classes because their jobs are requiring it. Our basic culinary classes are filling because there really are people who don't know how to cook."
Finding a niche
But gauging how many students will turn out for a course titled What Happened at Roswell or How to Start a Home-Based Medical Transcription Business (both offered this fall at CCSN) can be tricky.
The minimum number of students required for a class is usually seven. Early registration is imperative to the course's survival.
Ferrandiz scours trade magazines and articles while trying to get her "finger on the pulse" of trends, then tracks down potential instructors. Success is hit and miss. One year she organized a backyard pond and water gardens class and anticipated a big turnout. There wasn't one.
"I broke my neck getting those people to teach that class," Ferrandiz said. "We thought it was going to go, and it just died."
Dick Benoit, public relations manager for UNLV's Educational Outreach Program, also tries to anticipate trends and uses the "Hula-Hoop" factor, a term coined by a predecessor in the department.
"When I first came to work here 17 years ago, he would say, 'OK, what's the latest Hula Hoop?' " Benoit said.
Despite full classes and hearty efforts, cancellations do occur. Benoit formed a casino public relations course with a colleague, assuming it would draw public relations professionals who had moved to Las Vegas.
"We never could get enough registrations to get it going," said Benoit, a former Air Force public relations officer who moved to Las Vegas 20 years ago. "A course like that, I would have jumped on it."
Humor, anxiety, spirits
But if there were ever a longevity award in continuing education, Ira David Sternberg would have collected. His comedy writing class has been a mainstay at UNLV for 25 years.
Sternberg's course teaches how to write one-liners on topical subjects, then shows how they can be woven together. At the end of the course, students have the option of presenting an entire monologue and having it videotaped.
"From the very first class, they're writing," said Sternberg, a talk-show host, public speaker and president of IDS Creative Communications Inc. He also writes a weekly newsletter of topical jokes that he e-mails to local public relations representatives.
"That can be intimidating, but that's good because I can show them they can write material."
His students range from homemakers to lawyers, business people, judges and screenwriters.
"It's not just for people who want to become comics," Sternberg said. "A technical writer will want a little more humor so they'll take it, or it could be a business person who wants to think funny.
"Humor is a social lubricant. A lot of these business and technical types tend to be a little dry. Someone could be a really good expert on something, but they might rub someone the wrong way."
If humor doesn't help your social skills, there are personal development classes at CCSN that narrow in on human behavior: Communicating Better with Anybody and What to Do, What to Say, Where to Go.
And at UNLV, tasting courses for wine, vodka, caviar and champagne can help the beer drinker make the transition into high society. CCSN's Wine Sense class fills in 24 hours, Ferrandiz said.
Though we're living in an area lacking lush lakes or streams, John Campbell's fly fishing classes draw 10 to 12 students each session.
"There was basically nobody teaching anything about it," Campbell, an expert fly fisherman, said. "There was obviously a market for it.
"You've got a huge population of people here who are stressed out to the max. You get a chance to get away from the neon and relax."
Campbell offers the courses at UNLV and CCSN. He said he taught it for years at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.
"It's not as difficult as people think that it is. It's all about timing and finesse. This is an intellectual type of thing."
Community history
Teachers leading the classes come from the community.
For three years UNLV offered Crime Scene Investigating for Writers that was taught by someone from Metro Police who liked to write, Benoit said.
"People with expertise will call and want to instruct," Benoit said. "We get their resume and ask for course idea proposal. It's an offering that is based on community need.
"Most universities have an array of courses that expand from the light, heavy to fitness to fun. Not all of what we do is, and I quote, 'basket weaving.' I cringe when I hear that."
But, he added, "Basket weaving could be heavy if it were taught by an anthropologist and covered many cultures."
Continuing education was developed in the 19th century in conjunction with the construction of universities, says Cyrus Homayounpour, director of membership for the University Continuing Education Association in Washington, D.C.
"The government gave land to a lot of states to establish universities. But as a part of the plan, the universities had to give to the community," Homayounpour said. "Originally, they started helping the farmers, helping them improve seeds, cultivation and classes on issues relevant to them. And that's how it started.
"Little by little, it improved. As the country changed, it became more urban, it extended to other groups in the community. Now continuing ed is very widely defined. It's any program that's targeted for adult part-time education, non-degree or degree."
UCEA now represents 420 institutional members, which includes colleges and universities, some associations and nonprofits.
In October, UNLV will host the UCEA West 2003 Regional Conference held at the Excalibur. The conference is titled "Thriving and Surviving: Challenges for Continuing Education."
"In some states, they've virtually eliminated fee-based noncredit programs and in other states it's growing by leaps and bounds," Ferrandiz said. Homayounpour said that continuing education falls under the mission of the university to offer teaching, research and outreach. But it also generates some revenue for the colleges.
"The role of generating revenue has increased, especially with all the cuts in higher ed," Homayounpour said. "So continuing ed has been important in that."
With a vast array of accredited courses, why would people bother with a dabbler class?
"Professionals in continuing education don't want a class that's a semester long, don't want grades or homework," Ferrandiz said. "It's life-learning skills. Maybe they just want to learn a language. Maybe they find a niche there.
"A lot of the students are degreed. So they're not taking community ed for that. It's lifelong learning. You're never too old to learn something. Ever."
Gail Caraway, an administrative aid at CCSN's Community Education department, has dabbled in a garden variety of courses, from an acting class to a CPR course taught by the American Red Cross to Pine Cone Wreath Making to a course in stained glass making.
"I work security also so I thought CPR would help," Caraway said. "I learned more than I thought I would."
Caraway is now certified in first aid. She's making pine-cone wreaths to give as presents and cutting stained glass and sizing patterns for stained glass making.
The acting?
"Mm, I sat on a couple sessions," Caraway said.
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