At George Williams College, they take their Plato seriously, as any good liberal arts college would.
And as a graduate school, they`re also serious about cardiorespiratory pathophysiology and other advanced courses.
But what is distinctive about George Williams is the zeal with which the goal of ”educating for human services” is pursued.
”The key here has always been the human service mission,” says John W. Kessler, president of the college. He says the philosophy of the school is that a liberal arts background is an integral part of preparing someone for a careeer in the human services.
The college was born on the shores of Lake Geneva in Wisconsin, slightly more than 100 years ago, in 1884, in response to a need for a school to train leaders for the Young Men`s Christian Association, Kessler says. The school moved to Hyde Park in Chicago in 1906, and to its present 200-acre location at 555 31st St. in Downers Grove in 1966.
In 1933, the school took the name of George Williams, who founded the YMCA in England in 1844. This was its fourth name: It was founded as the Western Secretarial Institute of the YMCA. In 1890, it was known as the Young Men`s Christian Association Training School and became the Young Men`s Christian Association College in 1913.
While the college has continued to prepare leaders for the YMCA worldwide, that role is only part of the way the school interprets its mission of education for human service.
”The college has evolved over the years,” says Nelson Wieters, professor of camping and outdoor education. ”The students are prepared for a human services function, not just for a particular setting or organization.” According to Dr. John Sims, head of the counseling psychology department: ”Human service is anything that works toward the psychological, social or physical health of a person. That includes promoting health or remedying ailments in those three areas. Usually there is no product involved; we`re not interested in manufacturing something.”
A school placement survey of 1983 graduates shows that they are working in careers from fitness center directors to social workers to lab technicians, across the board in not-for-profit organizations, government agencies, as well as in the corporate sector.
The college`s goal, according to Kessler, ”is to become the preeminent institution in the country–if we aren`t already–in preparing people for leadership in human services.”
People inside the college admit that the public is not as aware as the school might wish of its broader role as a human services education facility. ”The public image of George Williams is twice wrong,” says Sims. First, there are misconceptions about today`s YMCA and so also misconceptions about what skills it takes to hold positions of responsibility there, he says.
”When you train people for the Y, many people think you are teaching them how to coach basketball or teach swimming to a child,” Sims explains.
”But the Y has become a very sophisiticated deliverer of human services.
”For example, it offers sophisticated preventive and rehabilitative cardiovascular programs, programs for the aged, marriage counseling, parenting counseling and other counseling akin to psychotherapy. It also gives all kinds of skill courses, including languages and arts and crafts.”
Second, and perhaps more significantly, is that fact that George Williams students are now educated for a variety of human service occupations, no longer just for careers in the YMCA.
Although Kessler only has been president since October, after 15 years in charge of the Minneapolis YMCA during which he also was a trustee of the college, he already has an improvement program which he hopes to implement over the next few years.
The first priority is academics, Kessler says. ”That`s the engine that drives the whole organization.”
He submitted a proposal ”for a whole new academic look” to the board of trustees in April. Although he could not release details of the plan, Kessler says ”it reaffirms our strong liberal arts basis” and calls for some organizational changes among departments as well as particular curricular revisions. The school hopes to implement the plan fully by 1987.
Also high on Kessler`s list is improving the school`s financial situation. Like many small colleges, George Williams faces rising costs and a heavy debt load. A variety of measures are being taken against these problems, he says.
Kessler says he is stepping up development work; 90 acres of the Downers Grove campus is being sold; and the school is seeking to increase enrollment, an important source of income. The college hopes to grow from the 800 full-time equivalent students currently enrolled (with 1,200 students actually taking courses) to as many as 1,100 full-time equivalent students (with up to 1,400 students taking courses) within the next five years.
For the 1985-85 school year, a fulltime undergraduate will have paid about $8,200 in tuition, fees, and room and board. Approximately three out of four undergraduates receive some sort of financial aid.
Two of the school`s academic programs enjoy national reputations, according to faculty members.
One of them is the graduate program in exercise physiology with specialization in preventive and rehabilitative cardiovascular health. The program was founded by Arthur Steinhaus, one of the founders of the American College of Sports Medicine and a noted physiological researcher.
This program is designed to prepare directors to run preventive and rehabilitative exercise programs for voluntary agencies, corporations, and hospital cardiac rehabilitation programs. Kenneth Clarke, a 1953 graduate of the program, is now director of sports medicine for the United States Olympic Committee, faculty members proudly point out.
Another area of considerable strength is the Leisure and Environmental Resources Administration, faculty members say. The program was instituted in the 1920s by Luther Gulick, a pioneer in the use of play to bring about behavior change. Present day graduates frequently go into parks and recreation administration.
