Coordinates: 41°50′30″N 88°4′18″W / 41.84167°N 88.07167°W
| College of DuPage | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1967 |
| Type | Community College |
| President | Dr. Robert L Breuder, President |
| Faculty | 338 full time, 1250 part time [1] |
| Students | 31,000 (approx.) |
| Location | Glen Ellyn, Illinois, USA |
| Campus | Suburban, 273 acres |
| Website | www.cod.edu |
The College of DuPage, or COD, is a two-year community college[2] in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. The college also owns and operates facilities in the Illinois communities of Addison, Bloomingdale, Carol Stream, Lombard, Naperville, West Chicago, and Westmont. The college serves students residing in Illinois' Community College District 502, which is most of DuPage County and parts of Cook County and Will County.
The college was established in 1967 in Glen Ellyn, with temporary facilities at 22nd Street (now Fawell Boulevard) and Lambert Road. That very same year the student newspaper, The Courier published its first issue and has been printing ever since. Due to the college's early students having to run from building to building for classes, the Chaparral was adopted as the college's mascot. The main campus is also home to WDCB 90.9 FM, a public radio station founded in 1977, as well as the literary magazine Prairie Light Review, founded in 1982.
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Expansion
COD has expanded much over the years. Initially there were temporary buildings on the West side of the campus, and they are still up today. The first permanent buildings were constructed on this site in the 1970s. The first such building was A-building with the first two of its three floors opened for use in the fall of 1973. The A-Building was later named the Instructional Center, or IC building, and is now named the Rodney Berg Instructional Center, or BIC, after the College's first President. Others to follow were the Seaton Computer Center (named for a prominent COD Board trustee) or SCC, the Art Center (now the McAninch Arts Center, named for the College's second President) also called The MAC, the Student Resource Center, or SRC, and the Physical Education Building. Currently the facility master plan calls for expanding the campus. Under it the Early Childhood Education Center, or ECEC building, was built, and the Health & Science (HSC) and Technology Education Centers (TEC) buildings opened during the summer of 2009. The college library is located in the SRC building.
Semester conversion
For most of its history, the College of DuPage offered classes in an 11-week-long quarter format, with four quarters (Winter (January-March), Spring (April-June), Summer (June-August) and Fall (September-December)) in a single calendar year. In May 2002, the Board of Trustees voted to convert to semesters. The conversion was effective August 2005.
Meteorology and storm chasing
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The COD Meteorology Department is one of the more unique programs in the country. It was the first college to offer storm chasing for college credit. Starting in 1989 as a weekend adventure before becoming a 50 day a year full scale college course today. The meteorology department offers classes such as Severe Weather Lab, Mesoscale Meteorology, and Severe and Unusual Weather to help train students to both chase and forecast severe weather events. Meteorology majors from COD have moved on to many universities and beyond to staff such places as the National Weather Service, TV stations, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, National Severe Storms Laboratory, to name a few.
It is also well known for a very comprehensive weather website used by many in both the severe storms fields as well as other disciplines of meteorology. The website was often seen being used by those on the Discovery Channel's Storm Chaser reality show. NEXLAB is short for "Next Generation Weather Lab", a take off on the Next Generation Weather Radar, or NEXRAD, used by the National Weather Service for its Doppler technology.
The COD Meteorology Dept. is also heavily involved in the community skywarn programs helping to host one of the larger spotter training seminars each March in DuPage County.[3] The training is known as the Advanced Spotter Training for the Multi-County Skywarn of the Chicago Metro area. 12 counties participate through the Dupage Office of Emergency Mgmt, the Chicago National Weather Service, and the College of Dupage Meteorology dept (NEXLAB).
Controversy
In May 2008, the school board abruptly removed the college president, Sunil Chand.[4][5]
In October 2008, COD board chairman Michael McKinnon sued three former college trustees for defamation. The defamation suit was dismissed in mid-February, 2009. The three trustees had alleged that he had sexually harassed them.[6][7][8] Mary Mack, one of the trustees, then counter-sued McKinnon for defamation.[9]
In November 2008, according to Insidehighered.com, faculty members and students protested a board meeting by attending the meeting with tape over their mouths. This was to protest changes to the college rules modeled on conservative activist David Horowitz's controversial "Academic Bill of Rights", which takes control over the curriculum away from teachers and gives it to the school board.[10][11] If adopted, as the Board of Trustees has proposed, this reform would make College of DuPage the first institution of higher learning in the nation to adopt Horowiz's "Academic Bill of Rights"[12] The faculty association sent a letter to the board noting that the changes were never discussed and no complaints over curriculum have been filed by students.[10] Another controversial change to the college rules was that control over the student newspaper will be given to the College president. This comes after the newspaper criticized the school board. The Student Press Law Center advised the newspaper that the changes may violate Illinois state law.[10]
In February 2009, a board meeting in which trustee candidates contested objections to their candidacy drew over 100 people. The objections to the candidacies had been filed by Kory Atkinson, an outgoing trustee. The board barred audience members from commenting on the procedures. Candidates charged that the process was flawed and undemocratic. [13] [14]
Athletics
In sports, the College of DuPage Chaparrals are a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA).
- Men's Sports: baseball, basketball, cheer team, cross country, American football, golf, soccer, swimming, tennis,track & field,and diving.
- Women's Sports: basketball, cheer team, cross country, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track & field, and volleyball
National championships
- NJCAA Men's Division III Basketball Championship (Champion: 2002; Runner-up: 2001, 2003)
- NJCAA Women's Division III Basketball Championship (Champion: 2000, 2002; Runner-up: 1998, 2004)
Notable faculty and students
- James Belushi, an American sitcom actor
- John Belushi, the late American film actor and comedian
- Steven Best, an American animal rights activist, author, talk-show host, and associate professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at El Paso
- Tom Krieglstein Entrepreneur and COD's first student ever named to USA Today's All-USA Academic First Team.
- Werner Krieglstein, COD professor, a University of Chicago fellow and Fulbright Scholar, he is an internationally recognized philosopher, author, and actor.
- Marisol Nichols, an American Actress
- Bob Odenkirk, an American comedy writer and actor
- Tom Pukstys, Olympian in the javelin
- Paul Spicer, NFL football player
- Dave Della Terza, Internet entrepreneur founder of Vote for the Worst.
- Diane Zak, author of numerous technology-related texts
See also
References
- ^ http://home.cod.edu/generalInfo/factSheet.aspx
- ^ http://www.cod.edu/president/AboutCOD.htm
- ^ Dupage Severe Weather Conference Website
- ^ [Board Abruptly Ousts President of College of DuPage http://chronicle.com/news/article/?id=4565]
- ^ [College of DuPage President Chand ousted http://www.dailyherald.com/story/print/?id=198241] 27 May 2008 Daily Herald
- ^ Ted Gregory, [Defamation suit rocks college calm http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2008/oct/24/local/chi-college-of-dupage-24-oct24] October 24, 2008 Chicago Tribune
- ^ Catherine Edman, [COD board chair files defamation suit against ex-colleagues http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=244708&src=2] Daily Herald 10/23/2008
- ^ [Governing Board's Chairman Sues 3 Former Trustees of Community College http://chronicle.com/news/article/5386/governing-boards-chairman-sues-3-former-trustees-of-community-college] Chronicle of Higher Education
- ^ Dan Petrella, [Ex-COD trustee fires back at board chairman http://www.mysuburbanlife.com/wheaton/news/x1277295857/Ex-COD-trustee-fires-back-at-board-chairman] Suburban Life Publications Tue Dec 23, 2008
- ^ a b c "Power Grab at DuPage" http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/11/24/dupage
- ^ [More Board Turmoil at College of DuPage, as Faculty Bridles Over Proposals http://chronicle.com/news/article/5552/more-board-turmoil-at-college-of-dupage-as-faculty-bridles-over-proposals]
- ^ "College of DuPage Trustees Move to Adopt Academic Bill of Rights"
- ^ Christy Gutowski, [http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=271016&src=40 "Crowd watches College of DuPage candidates fight objections" 2/10/2009 Daily Herald]
- ^ Brian Hudson, "UPDATED: Election committee considers objections" Glen Ellyn News Tue Feb 10, 2009
External links
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