Welcome

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Michaele Whelan

Welcome to the Rabb School of Continuing Studies. One of the four schools of the university, The Rabb School has more than 3,100 enrollments a year across its three divisions, with opportunities for professional development and lifelong learning. Supporting the University in its mission of academic excellence and access since 1992, the Rabb School is dedicated to developing innovative educational offerings and to providing a collegial community for its on-campus and distance learners.

Throughout the summer and the academic year, our students are diverse; they include working professionals taking graduate degree programs, Brandeis undergraduates and undergraduates from other schools taking courses for credit, and mature adult learners taking non-credit enrichment courses. We welcome you to our multiple learning communities and thought you might be interested in some highlights from our divisions.

Michaele Whelan
Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

Division Highlights

Graduate Professional Studies

  • 90% of professional adjunct faculty have advanced degrees
  • Average of 324 individual students per term taking an average of 383 enrollments per term; total course registration: 1149 total enrollments per 2010-2011 AY
  • 5 new professional master's degree programs opened since 2002
  • 1058 graduate degrees awarded from 1999 to 2011
  • Academic rigor: degrees reviewed and voted by the Rabb School Council and the Graduate Professional School Council, and accredited by New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
  • Six out of seven graduate programs available in entirety via distance learning
  • Ongoing course and program assessment based on learning outcomes, promoting continuous program improvement
  • Professional Advisory Committees for academic programs; other links with and professional educational services provided to business and industry
  • Extensive network of new Brandeis alumni in local businesses

Summer School

  • 76% of courses taught by Brandeis faculty or graduate students
  • 80% of the students are Brandeis students
  • In 2007 to 2008, 23% and 25% of graduating class, respectively, had taken summer school courses
  • Incoming midyears in a new pilot program take general chemistry to remain in synch with curriculum for January matriculation
  • Since 2002, 41% growth in registrations

BOLLI

  • Serves between 450 and 500 mature adults each term
  • Recipient of grants, gifts, endowment and awards
  • Offers 80 courses each year
  • Brandeis faculty taught four week-long seminars to BOLLI members in June 2008 and January 2009
  • Approximately 25 students per year are named to the BOLLI Scholars Program, in which graduate students for A&S, Heller and IBS lead one or two classes in a BOLLI class in a semester, receive a stipend and gain teaching experience
  • International Friends program matches SID students with BOLLI members. In five years, more than 200 matches have been made and deep relationships forged, facilitating cultural exchange.
  • BOLLI members provide undergraduates in specific majors with practical information about their career paths through the new Mentoring program, in coordination with Hiatt Career Center. For example, a panel of retired attorneys met with prelaw students, and a panel of retired health care professionals met with prehealth majors.