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NEIU-El Centro
Northeastern Illinois University-El Centro campus provides educational, career, and cultural opportunities primarily, though not exclusively, to the Latino community. NEIU-El Centro is located in the northwest side of Chicago, just four miles south of the Bryn Mawr campus. NEIU-El Centro makes available the general education program of the University to students who are interested in taking classes primarily during the evening hours and/or on the weekends. NEIU-El Centro offers courses from the Educational Leadership Program leading to a Masters Degree and Illinois Type 75 Certification for educators working in bilingual schools and programs or teachers with research interests in the Latino community.
Students at NEIU-El Centro have access to a higher education environment with modern facilities and high quality university and technical resources, including a state of the art computer laboratories equipped with PCs and Macintosh computers. All the classes at NEIU-El Centro are taught in English, with the exception of the language courses. Upon completion of the general education program, students enroll at the main campus to fulfill their major requirements. In addition to the courses offered for academic credit, non-credit offerings such as lecture series, seminars, and workshops are held throughout the academic year.
Mission
NEIU-El Centro's campus provides accessible, high quality, and affordable undergraduate and graduate programs, primarily to the Latino community. NEIU-El Centro assists students to achieve their academic, career, and personal goals.
History
The idea for a community-based educational center evolved from Northeastern Illinois University's creative response to the Puerto Rican challenges of 1966 in the city of Chicago. The idea for a structural response to meet the needs of Latino students came from Rose Branzel, a white Jewish female at Northeastern Illinois University who was the Work Studies Coordinator. She inspired Latino students to become proactive. As a result, in 1969 a storefront operation by the name of "¡Aqui Estoy!" [Here I Am] was opened. Rosa Hernandez-Ramirez became the first director and served until 1972.
That same year, under the leadership of Miguel Velásquez the name was changed to CLASES (Comunidad Latino Americana Adelantando Sus Estudios Secundarios). However, the new name "CLASES" never became operational. In 1975, Jose Acevedo became the third director and the name was changed to NEIU-El Centro de Recursos Educativos [Center for Educational Services]. After twenty-three years of service to the Latino community, Jose Acevedo retired in 1998, leaving Zaida A. Cintron as an interim director until 1999. In 2001, NEIU-El Centro celebrated its 25th anniversary, a few years later and welcomed Caleb Rosado as its fifth director.
In 2003, Daniel López, Jr., became its sixth Director. Under his leadership, El Centro de Recursos Educativos became NEIU-El Centro. Dr. López also supervised a major building renovation and expansion project. Completed in 2004, this project expanded its current academic facility to include more classrooms, a multi-purpose room, two state of the art computer laboratories, and a student/community resource center. This project also allowed NEIU-El Centro to house the Antonia Pantoja Alternative High School of ASPIRA Inc. of Illinois for high school dropouts and "students at risk". The purpose of this partnership is to facilitate the transition of its graduates from high school to NEIU-El Centro. In addition, NEIU-El Centro also houses the Weekend Institute for Professional Development, an undergraduate program offering courses on weekends. The future looks very promising for NEIU-El Centro. In the next decade, we anticipate an increase of student enrollments, class offerings, and student and community services--all in an effort to continue to address the needs of the growing Latino community.
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WHAT'S NEW AT
EL CENTRO
El Centro Newsletter Spring 2008
(to view click here)
FEATURED EVENTS
PHOTO GALLERY
Archived Photo Gallery
(to view click here)
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