Penn State University began offering distance-learning degrees with its first correspondence study program in 1892. More than a century later, the concept is still going strong with more than 70 online degree and certificate programs. Undergraduates can major in business, psychology, criminal justice, hotel restaurant and institutional management, and nursing, among other disciplines. The school offers graduate degrees in applied statistics, software engineering, education, earth science, homeland security and public health awareness, public administration and more. Distance learning from Penn State is under the administration of a virtual campus, the Penn State World Campus, with nearly 10,000 students in more than 40 countries. The World Campus shares faculty with the bricks-and-mortar campus.
Penn State World Campus
The Pennsylvania State University
128 Outreach Building
University Park, PA 16802
814-865-5403
[email protected]
Naropa University in Boulder, Colo., doesn't yet offer an online degree-conferring course, but its individual courses represent an immersion in the experience of meditation and Buddhist teachings. First-time distance-learning students are taught proper meditation posture and technique and a half hour of meditation is then required before the start of each class session. One course might begin with the assignment to develop a relationship with a place near you and to spend at least 90 minutes a week journaling in that place. Subjects for contemplation might be: What is natural or unnatural about this place? What is its history of human interaction? How can it be healed? An assignment could include a visit to a local Zen center and participation in a meditation session. Classes are taken for credit or noncredit, but enrollment space favors credit-seeking students. Students typically transfer their Naropa credits to the university in which they are enrolled. Courses offered through the year include ecopsychology, meditation practicum, transpersonal psychology, compassionate teaching, integral psychology, perspectives in sacred learning and more.
Naropa University
2130 Arapahoe Avenue
Boulder, CO 80302
303-444-0202 or 303-546-3511
naropa.edu/distancelearning/contact.cfml
The University of Cincinnati offers an online Master of Science in criminal justice degree that requires 48 quarter credit hours but no on-campus residency. In 2010, U.S. News & World Report magazine ranked the University of Cincinnati as one of the top three criminal justice schools in the nation. The criminal justice professors teach both campus and distance courses. Graduates go on to careers in law enforcement, the legal system, corrections, forensics, the federal government and higher education. The Master of Science in criminal justice is offered anywhere in the world but must be taken in English.
School of Criminal Justice
University of Cincinnati
600 Dyer Hall, Clifton Ave.
P.O. Box 210389
Cincinnati, Ohio 45221-0389
513-556-5827 or 800-645-5078
cjonline.uc.edu