Success story
Area resident takes advantage of key educational opportunities
By Larry Meyer
Argus Observer
Wednesday, October 14, 2009 12:50 PM PDT
ONTARIO — She calls it a smooth transition.
Yet Michelle Rosales’ education story line personifies the link between a regional college, a local higher learning center and an individual’s drive to succeed.
Rosales, a Payette High School graduate, is the director of Eastern Oregon University’s Malheur County Regional Center and very much a product of the program she now leads.
She began her college career at Treasure Valley Community College and then transferred to EOU to finish her degrees. Rosales graduated from TVCC in 2001 and then stepped right into course work at Eastern.
“It was a smooth transition,” she said.
Not only does the job bring her back to the college she started at, but it brought the Payette native back home.
“I’ve been here since March 2008,” Rosales said.
She said she obtained her bachelor’s degree in business in 2006 and her master’s in business using the distance education program through EOU and attending the La Grande campus.
At the time, Rosales was working at Blue Mountain Community College. Her husband, also a Payette High School and TVCC graduate, was working in Pendleton.
His job brought them back to Eastern Oregon and western Idaho and the position at the EOU center opened up.
“I was absolutely thrilled,” Rosales said. “It seemed to be perfect fit.”
The Malheur site has been operating for 30 years, she said. There are five people in the office. Dr. Kerrie Wenger and Dr. Jan Dinsmore teach elementary education, which is one of the main programs in Ontario. Heidi Purnell is the placement coordinator and elementary education adviser, and Lilly Herby is office manager.
“They are real professional and dedicated to students,” Rosales said of her staff.
About one quarter of the students at the Malheur EOU center are in the elementary education program and the rest are involved in any one of the nine degree programs and 18 minors available through the EOU distance education program.
Besides education, business is another popular program. The majority of students at the center are transfers from TVCC and are from Oregon and Idaho, Rosales said.
“We help students throughout the United States. They are assigned to us,” she said.
Through the distance education program, center staff have worked with students from as far away as Texas and Michigan, Rosales said. One of the drawing cards is that EOU does not charge out of state tuition.
Often, distance education is the only option for working adults and people who are not able to move to the main campus, Rosales said.
Larry Meyer is a reporter for the Argus Observer. He can be contacted at (541)889-5387, ext. 413.
Jaynell wrote on Oct 14, 2009 6:36 PM: