|
|
(July 2003) "St. Joseph's College Opens
Weekend Program at LIBI
Long Island Business Institute - Flushing Branch News Archive
St. Joseph's College Opens Weekend Program
at LIBI St. Joseph's College will begin to offer "upper division" courses toward the bachelor degree at their new Flushing location - LIBI. Part of their Division of Adult and Professional Studies, these classes are intended for adults with careers and work experience who are looking for promotions and advancement. They have held classes at Verizon and Keyspan, for example, and at a number of hospitals around the city. Bachelor degrees are available in Organizational Management, Computer Informations Systems, Health Administration, and General Studies. Recently, St. Joseph's has begun to work with occupational colleges and LIBI has signed an articulation agreement whereby St. Joseph's will accept all or nearly all credits for LIBI AOS graduates, as well as additional credits for foreign language skills and college courses from overseas. This means that grads will enter with junior (third) year status toward the bachelor's degree, or even higher. The program will begin this Fall with Saturday classes. These classes are open to LIBI graduates. Just stop in to one of their Saturday "open house" sessions this summer to learn more about the academic program, transfer credits, and available financial aid. The newest college in Queens, Long Island Business Institute's Flushing Branch, is preparing to celebrate its first graduates, the Class of 2003. A gala graduation ceremony is planned for June 19th at the Sheraton LaGuardia Hotel as 85 Associate degree graduates get ready to take their next steps toward careers in accounting, business, and office administration. Uniquely organized to serve new immigrant communities, the LIBI curriculum is a carefully designed two-year mix of English classes, computer applications, general studies, and business specialization aimed at gradually building confidence and skills. Small classes and extensive tutorial services allow for individual attention and a comfortable educational environment. Some graduates are already at work in their chosen professions. One is an accounting assistant at a local CPA firm. Another works as a secretary at an eye clinic, and still another is a medical secretary at St. Vincent's Hospital. Cindy Shi has gone one step further. This accounting graduate has opened her own business, a Japanese restaurant in Sunnyside. "LIBI was so helpful to me in many ways," says Cindy, an Accounting graduate. "I gained confidence with my English, and learned things that help in my new business. I have set up an accounting system and developed good marketing strategies, including advertising on the Web. I appreciate all the help I got from my teachers and from the tutors." Other graduates are looking to continue their education and are exploring bachelor degree studies at area colleges. LIBI officials are particularly excited by opportunities available at St. Joseph's College of Brooklyn and Patchogue. With a long tradition of liberal studies and programs in early childhood education, St. Joseph's has recently opened a division of adult and professional education. Aimed at working adults and graduates of two-year occupational schools like LIBI, this division provides transfer credit for prior work and educational experience, and flexible programming for pursuing a professional Bachelor's degree in organizational management, computer information systems, and health administration. Students can take classes on weekends and evenings while working full time, and can even use their place of employment for carrying out research. "This program has created great interest among LIBI grads," says Dr. Henry Moss, Branch Director and Associate Academic Dean. "Most are older, with family and work responsibilities. They appreciate the ability to translate their knowledge and experience into college credit. They prefer a degree that has practical value and can be organized around their work and family responsibilities" St. Joseph's offers full two-year transfer credits for LIBI graduates.
Two years ago, at night, after most of the stores in Flushing were closed, Prince street was so quiet sometimes people were afraid to walk alone. However, ever since light from LIBI's night classes started to illuminate the street, "Prince" has become gentle and tender. One can smell the fragrance of books and feel the warmth and love there, from a family member or friend, especially at night. Prince Street has been reshaped by LIBI to be so touching! So motivating! Every night at 9:00 or 10:00 when classes end, the cars line up in front of LIBI. A husband with kids in the car, waiting for the wife's class to be over, a young boyfriend and girlfriend driver's anxious eyes tells me never to delay the class. From the end of January to the middle of May this year, I always saw a pregnant driver patiently waiting in front of LIBI for her full-time technician and full- time student husband. She was my student Kevin's wife. Kevin runs to get to class nearly every evening after a busy 8-hour day job in a printing company in Long Island City. "I finish my job and run to the subway, not even having time to drink a drop of water. I hate being late, but sometimes I am," he once told me, embarrassingly, when he was 20 minutes late to my class, "With empty stomach, after all these 100-meter dashes, sometimes I feel my heart ready to jump out....," he explains. It is really very hard for me to blame him and others for being late. Kevin is in my Marketing and Business Management classes. His English is not as good as an ABC student, however, his wide range of knowledge and experience in the business field sometimes surprises me. Once I lectured on the "UL Standard" and the "ISO 9000", when he raised his hand and told the class how his electrical appliance factory in Wenzhou China had applied for the UL label and ISO 9000, with all the complexities involved in such applications. I sometimes let him drink or eat little bit in class if it is really necessary. One night, I noticed him leaning on his chair with his face upwards. He had a nosebleed. I suggested he go home and rest, but he refused. These students, though mainly new immigrants, have already adopted the American appetite for learning and desire to be the "toughest." Following in the tradition of its main campus, LIBI Flushing has created a practical, well-tested curriculum that can be updated as things change in the dynamic labor market of the New Economy. Despite the 9/11 terrorist attack, and despite the struggling economy in New York, LIBI Flushing, a staunch baby born in 2001, is growing, and with great vitality! With about 450 students in day and evening classes, and more than 300 computer, LIBI's student to computer ratio already that outranks many other colleges in New York. Recent additions to the curriculum have included business programming using C++, Oracle, SQL, Java, and other languages, as well as a "medical office option" in the Office Technology program that includes insurance, billing, and coding. In six classes I have taught in LIBI, 100 percent of the students have business and work experiences either overseas or in the USA. There are export and import managers, marketing and sales representatives, licensed real estates brokers and traders, licensed estheticians, cosmeticians, restaurant owners, garment designers, driving school owners, advertising agents, musicians and more. It's unusual to find all students at six classes in a school to be entrepreneurs or experienced workers, Right? This is what makes LIBI unique. Ivy W., a simple and unadorned mom of two boys, and wealthy immigrant in Brooklyn, was in my class, among the first group of graduates who to receive their Associate in Occupational Studies degrees at a June 19, 2003 graduation ceremony. When I asked why she paid the tuition to study at a college so far from her home in Staten Island, having her husband drive a brand-new Mercedes all the way from there to pick her up after class, Ivy replied, "Knowledge! Knowledge is power! It's my drive!" Ivy always talks about the well-known saying of Robert Kiyosaki, author of "Rich Dad, Poor Dad": "I don't work hard for money, I'll let money work hard for me." As a founder of United Family Corporation, Ivy has built up her real estates business since 1999 after quitting a 38K accounting position in a CPA firm. Using "real estate strategic-finance leverage" she and her husband have watched their properties grow from $280,000 to $2.3 million market value in 2003 at hot locations in Brooklyn and Staten Island. During her 20 years in New York, Ivy has never given up the idea of "Learn! Learn! and Learn!" She says her idea of "buying-holding-trading-selling" in real estate took hold in 1999 after reading Robert Allen's book "How to Buy a House Without a Down Payment." Ivy paid one-dollar for the book in a Brooklyn secondhand bookstore. Since then, she has used this "gold key," as she says, to buy, upgrade, hold, and estates decisively and timely. As a now-wealthy Chinese immigrant, Ivy, has never stopped studying. Using the marketing and management techniques Ivy learnt at LIBI, her company continues to gain competitive advantage in the real estate business, the only high performing sector in the economy in recent years. Another great Mom-student in my class is Minna C. A devoted mom and wife with three children, though shouldering a gigantic burden of family and a restaurant, Minna, after two years at LIBI, is also among those who will graduate on June 19th. Minna, a sincere Christian, rented an empty, smoke-blackened store on Long Island that had had a fire in 1986. The monthly rent was $800.00. After working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week while carrying three small children along, Minna and her husband turned the shabby place into a beautiful Chinese restaurant. In just a few years, they bought a house and the building that housed their restaurant. In a SWOT analysis of her final exam essay, Minna is tailoring her new marketing strategies to satisfy the wants and needs of her local customers. She is also planning to expand the production of her core specialties, particularly the "Minna-style" sauce and fish balls that are so loved by her customers. She also emphasizes that she will apply ethical principles in her business: Never use unhealthy foods for making Chinese spring rolls, like some other restaurants do. Jai Chul K., a strong Korean man, nine years in New York, two years at LIBI, and also a June 19 graduate, runs a driving school. Many times he came to my class after just dropping his driving students off, frequently, like Kevin, without dinner or a break. In his supplementary business of selling MC2 health insurance, Kim now practices well the new marketing philosophy he learned at LIBI. "Before, I thought 'selling more' was marketing. Now I understand that to create customer value and satisfaction is the quintessence of modern marketing." Kim said. He extends his service to customers who buy health insurance from him by offering free rides to the hospitals and providers they need. C.C. Wei, owner of C.C. Wei Designer & Co., designs and produces fine womens knitwear. She had the opportunity to design costumes for Broadway shows and movies in 1997. "It is really my favorite area; not only for the money, but for maximizing my talents. It is the arts!" she told me excitedly. C.C. is a diligent student. Her mission is to design unique fashions and to use the computer to do the designs. Again, a proud graduate of LIBI. And more will come. LIBI is not big; however, like some old Chinese sayings: "Sparrows,
though small, possess all the sense organs." and "A mountain
does not necessarily have to be the highest; as long as there is
a celestial being there, it will be well-known. A pond, does not
necessarily have to be the deepest; as long as there is a dragon
there, it will be renowned.", History will prove that it is
a place of "Hiding Tiger and Crouching Dragon!" Following two years of experience providing college-level occupational studies in business and computers, the Flushing branch of Long Island Business Institute has announced plans to open a special center that will concentrate on English language study for new immigrants seeking immediate access to the workforce. The New World Language Center will take advantage of LIBI's experienced ESL faculty, but will concentrate on short, intensive programs aimed at integrating skilled new immigrants into the workforce. "We're very excited about this Center," said Dr. Henry Moss, Director of the Flushing Branch. "Many recent immigrants already have skills that could make them productive members of the U.S. workforce, were it not for lack of English. These individuals are not looking for a college degree or skills training," he continued, "but rather a fast track into the workforce. The U.S. government has a special program that provides grants for this kind of training for permanent residents. Not enough new immigrants have taken advantage of this funding, but it is available immediately upon arrival at our shores." The first program being planned by the Center will run 10-12 months providing English language training starting at the basic-beginner level. It will address all skill areas - speaking, listening, reading, and writing - but will emphasize communicating in practical context in the community and workplace. The program includes computer-based English language study for reinforcement and practice. The teachers will be highly-skilled and experienced with Queens new immigrant communities. The projected start is June 30, 2003. In preparation for what it expects will be a resurgence of demand for computer tech specialists, Long Island Business Institute - Flushing Branch has developed a new occupational Associate degree program in Computer Programming/Client-Server Technology and is now enrolling for the Spring semester (January 30th) at its Main Street/Northern Boulevard area location. The program prepares graduates for business application programming careers by teaching the most current languages including C++, Visual Basic, Oracle, SQL, HTML, Java, and XML. Students learn programming and client-server basics, computer application software including Word, Access, and Excel, and then specializations in object-oriented, database or Web-based programming. Courses in business, English, and psychology round out the degree curriculum. Branch Director, Dr. Henry Moss, is optimistic about the future for programmers. "The Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the Computer and Data Processing Services industry as the fastest-growing sector of the U.S. labor market over the next six years," says Dr. Moss, "as businesses continue to convert to networked information systems, or expand into e-commerce and multimedia. Despite highly productive standard software systems, there will be a growing need for programmers working with teams that customize, integrate, upgrade, maintain, and repair these systems for the most needed business applications." Dr. Moss cites a recent report from the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) suggesting that, despite a period of layoffs, demand for skilled IT workers is growing and many jobs are currently unfilled. "Programmers rule", says the ITAA report, and "companies employ programmers more than any other type of IT worker." Their recent survey of IT managers showed that "the C++ programming language is the most in-demand technical skill, followed by Oracle, SQL, Java, and Windows NT." New York City is the business capital of the world and these trends will be even stronger here. Long Island Business Institute, headquartered in Commack, Long Island where it has been the premier college for Court Reporting since 1968, has been serving Asian and other local communities in the Flushing area through its new branch for over a year, The Flushing campus offers two-year (16-month) degree programs in office technology, business management, and accounting, emphasizing business computer applications. LIBI - Flushing specializes in teaching these fields to new immigrants. "We differ from the large, impersonal public colleges," says Lead Computer Programming Instructor, Mr. Shahed Mustafa "with small classes, one-to-one tutoring, and personal counseling in areas like financial aid and job search. " "This new program adds depth to our offerings," adds Mustafa, who has a Masters Degree in Information Systems from Stevens Institute of Technology, "and should be particularly attractive to students with a logical mind and a interest in going even deeper into the latest computer technologies. This program is designed to get a student into the computer technology workforce in just 16 months. Our faculty is qualified and experienced in this area and we will be ready to go in January." |