ODU To Offer Selected Degree Programs At Virginia Beach Center

Responding to the workforce needs of Virginia Beach, ODU President Roseann Runte and Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera Oberndorf have announced plans to open a four-year branch campus at the university’s Virginia Beach Higher Education Center, concentrating on bachelor’s and master’s programs in health services and education and counseling.

Students will be able to enter as freshmen or graduate students, or as transfer students from local community colleges, to pursue degrees on a full- or part-time basis.

ODU at Virginia Beach will open the majority of the programs to 500 freshmen and junior transfer students in fall 2006. The remaining programs will be initiated the following year with a second cohort of 500 students.

The following degrees will be offered in health services: B.S. in health sciences (leading in the fifth year to an M.S. in community health); B.S. in psychology; B.S. in medical technology; B.S. in nursing; M.S. in community health; and an M.S. in nurse leadership.

The following degrees will be offered in education and counseling: B.S. in human services counseling; B.S. in interdisciplinary studies - teacher preparation (leading in the fifth year to an M.S.Ed. degree in elementary, early childhood or special education); M.S. in education/PK6/elementary; M.S. in education/reading specialist; and an M.S. in special education.

Additional degrees to be offered include: B.S. in communication; B.S. in interdisciplinary studies - work and professional studies; and a B.S. in professional writing.

A premedical track degree and the M.S. in engineering management degree are also under consideration.

“All degree courses will be offered live by on-site faculty,” said ODU Provost Thomas L. Isenhour. “In addition, the targeted degree programs will be supplemented by our award-winning TELETECHNET distance learning network.”

Approximately 4,500 Old Dominion students live in Virginia Beach, and more than 3,500 students take classes at the center each year. The city is home to some 15,700 ODU graduates.

The university opened the Virginia Beach Higher Education Center, located on University Drive between Princess Anne and Rosemont roads, in August 1999, and has operated a center in the city since 1988.