Loyola College will offer traditional and fast-track master's degrees in business administration and professional development in a partnership with Harford County that will provide expanded local educational opportunities to residents of northeast Maryland.
Loyola will offer the programs at the Higher Education and Applied Technology (HEAT) Center, now under construction in Aberdeen.
The HEAT project is a collaborative effort involving the county, Harford and Cecil Community colleges, the city of Aberdeen and the state. It was created to attract degree programs to the area.
"Loyola College is delighted to be part of this initiative and to bring quality graduate business programs to the citizens of Harford and Cecil counties," said the Rev. Ronald Anton, dean of Loyola's Joseph A. Sellinger School of Business and Management. "We count on this to be the beginning of a long, rewarding relationship."
The partnership was formally signed in two ceremonies last Monday -- one at Loyola's Baltimore campus and the other at Harford Community College.
HCC will coordinate the programs of each participating institution at the HEAT Center, which is expected to open in the fall of 1995.
"Loyola is a strong quality capstone for the HEAT Center," said W. Stephen Pannill, interim president of Harford Community College. "It will set the tone for other partnerships."
The College of Notre Dame was the first institution to sign on as a HEAT partner. The college currently offers a bachelor of arts degree in business administration and a bachelor of science degree in nursing at the HCC campus.
Notre Dame also announced last week it will add a HEAT baccalaureate program in teacher education.
One of the advantages of the new Loyola program is that residents will be able to complete a master's degree in business administration after obtaining an associate of science degree in business from HCC and a bachelor's degree from Notre Dame, all in Harford County.
"It will allow students to make a seamless transition," Mr. Pannill said.
Students at the HEAT facility will have such benefits as access to the Loyola/Notre Dame Library.
HCC officials also are discussing similar arrangements with several other institutions, including Towson State University, University of Baltimore, Morgan State University and Villa Julie College.
"We're moving ahead in discussions with them," Mr. Pannill said. very confident we will have more announcements soon."
Mr. Pannill said having the late Father Sellinger's name on the business school is a plus. "When Father Sellinger came to Loyola in the '60s, he moved Loyola to a new level, from a commuter or regional college to an international institution," he said. "This [partnership] move could have the same type of impact on us."