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Earn a Certificate in Physician Office Coding and Billing through the Adult Fast Track program
By David Hamilton

College of DuPage’s Physician Office Coding and Billing Certificate program, a four-course certificate that can be completed in as little as six months, is offered through the Adult Fast Track (AFT) program to meet the needs of adult students 24 years of age and older.

Many AFT students use this program to launch new careers because employment prospects in the coding and billing profession are “very attractive,” said Roberta
Sell, AFT director.

“A good number of our students already work in a health career field,” she said. “Also, many of our previous students have been nurses, lab technicians and pharmacy technicians – all looking to augment their skills.”

The AFT certificate program helps prepare students to code and bill for employment. Once they have completed the certificate and have two years of work experience, students then can become certified in Physician Office Coding and Billing. The credential CCS-P (Certified Coding Specialist for Physicians) is obtained after passing the Certified Coding Specialist for Physicians exam offered by the American Health Information Management Association in Chicago.

“Of our recent graduates, more than 90 percent would recommend this program to friends,” Sell said. Typical comments she has received from students include the following:

• “Quality teaching – a great experience.”
• “It has given me the knowledge and confidence to apply for coding jobs and continue my education.”
• “Very appropriate for working adults and professionals – it empowered me with knowledge.”

AFT students can complete the four-course program in as little as six months, Sell said. Classes meet once a week from 6 to 10 p.m. at the college’s Westmont Regional Center, 650 Pasquinelli Drive. The location of future classes is subject to change. For more information, go to the Adult Fast Track web site.

Journalism Student Earns National Co-op Award
By David Hamilton

Jordan Glover was shocked just at being recognized by College of DuPage, let alone by the National Cooperative Education and Internship Association as the top Two-Year Program Student Achievement winner.

“I never really thought about the national competition because I knew I didn’t stand a chance,” Glover explained. “I still can’t believe I got it.”

The 21-year-old Naperville resident, a Journalism major and former editor of the College of DuPage student newspaper, The Courier, earned the award based on a journalism internship she completed under the guidance of C.O.D. journalism professor Cathy Stablein, who also serves as adviser to the Courier’s staff of student journalists. Glover received a plaque of recognition and a $500 honorarium.

Glover said that she has applied for transfer to Roosevelt University in Chicago.

“I will use the award money to continue my education in Chicago, or perhaps to put money down on an apartment, I am not sure yet,” Glover said. “People keep telling me to use it to buy myself something big, something expensive.”

Glover said that she intends to continue looking for internship opportunities at Chicago
publications.

“I never knew getting into this internship how beneficial it was going to be for me,” Glover said. “The opportunities this internship has given me are endless, both for my resume and real-life experience.”

College of DuPage offers an Associate in Arts degree that helps students transfer to baccalaureate-granting institutions with bachelor’s degrees in Journalism. The Cooperative Education/Internship Program offers students numerous opportunities. For more information, call (630) 942-2611 or e-mail.

 

C.O.D. Naperville Center to Offer Cosmetology Courses
By Ken Reed

Responding to increased demand, College of DuPage will begin offering cosmetology classes at its Naperville Regional Center this August.

Located at 1223 Rickert Drive, the Naperville Regional Center will become the second C.O.D. location where students can earn a certificate or an Associate in Applied Science (A.A.S.) degree in cosmetology. C.O.D. began offering Cosmetology classes at
the Addison Regional Center, 301 S. Swift Road, in August 2006.

Students interested in enrolling at the Naperville location must first call for an appointment at (630) 942-4700, according to Bea Brown, program coordinator.

“The students in our Naperville program will have the unique opportunity to ‘earn while they learn,’” Brown said. “While the students are learning the art of cosmetology, they can also earn a certificate or A.A.S. degree.”

Meanwhile, students interested in registering for classes at the Addison Regional Center should call (630) 942-4600 for an appointment. Cosmetology classes at the Addison Regional Center are conducted Mondays through Thursdays from 5 to 9:50 p.m.

The Addison center also offers a full-service salon (Salon 301) staffed by C.O.D. Cosmetology students, which is open to the public Mondays through Thursdays from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Clients can call (630) 691-7500 for an appointment. Walk-ins are welcome.

Brown said the popular cosmetology field is experiencing a growth rate of 10 to 20 percent per year. Almost half of cosmetologists, barbers and other personal appearance workers are self employed and either own salons or lease booths or chairs in a salon. She said many trained cosmetologists move into management, distribution and sales for major cosmetic and salon chains.

The average annual income for full-time salon professionals in Illinois is $30,000 to $50,000. Brown said people who succeed in cosmetology have excellent customer service, listening and design skills.

For more information, go to the Cosmetology web site.

 

Photography Student Gains Exhibit at Museum
By David Hamilton

In the world of nature photography, the sky is the limit for photographer David Mayhew.

Or rather, the sky is limitless in the subjects it provides for him to photograph.

Some of those subjects were shown at the Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago, when Mayhew’s first solo exhibit “Skyscapes: Meteorological Phenomena” was on display this past spring. A College of DuPage photography student and assistant campus photographer, Mayhew specializes in photographing severe weather. His exhibit included 27 framed photographs showing some of the Midwest’s most breathtaking storms.

In some, severe “supercell” thunderstorms hover over defenseless barns, while in others, tornados roar over quiet prairies, rousing a sense of awe and danger in the viewer. “Skyscapes” also includes cityscapes as Mayhew has frozen in time the colossal thrusts and parries of dueling lightning bolts illuminating the Chicago skyline.

“Most landscape photographers don’t pay much attention to the beauty of the sky, despite the sky generally occupying a large portion of each of their photos,” the Chicago resident said. “My approach is to seek the sky I want to photograph and then seek a subject that may enhance the scene, or I simply frame the sky and cloud formations. The severe weather of the Midwest plains provides the best opportunities for me each spring, and it takes me anywhere from Texas to Canada.”

Traveling far to find the right sky to photograph is no hindrance for Mayhew. Since he left his father’s farm in rural Suffolk in his native England, he has traveled throughout the world, stopping in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii, and even making a hitchhiking trek across Canada.

He has traveled up to 1,000 miles in a day searching for supercell storms – often the cause of tornados – from Mexico to South Dakota with a College of DuPage stormchasing class led by Meteorology professor Paul Sirvatka.

Before becoming a professional photographer, Mayhew worked as an engineer after earning a Bachelor of Engineering in Product Design. An engineering job did bring him to Chicago, where he met his future wife Jennifer. Working and living in the Chicago area also brought him into contact with C.O.D. and Sirvatka’s storm-chasing courses.

Investigating those courses led to other discoveries. By 2003, Mayhew made the transition from engineer to full-time photographer and photography student. He gives much credit to the college’s Photography program, headed by professor and coordinator Jeff Curto.

“The program for photography here is very complete and indepth, and the class size is 20 per class if not less. So you get that one-on-one attention that you would not get anywhere else,” Mayhew said. “Any question you have, you will get it answered.”

College of DuPage offers an Associate in Applied Science degree and a certificate in Photography. For more information, check out the Photograph web site or e-mail the program coordinator.

Manufacturing Program Recognized as Certified Education Center
By David Hamilton

In order to interest young people in careers in the metal-forming industry, the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, Intl. (FMA), has recognized College of DuPage and 10 other institutions as “Certified Education Centers (CECs).”

This partnering designation is FMA’s response to a shortage of trained labor and its new CEC network includes educational institutions in the U.S. and Canada. The CEC network is also open to companies.

“The FMA searched manufacturing programs on the web that they considered to be good programs,” said Mark Meyer, professor/coordinator, Manufacturing Technology/ Welding Technology. “They looked at curriculum and degree offerings and they selected us. We are one of the 11 programs in this inaugural group.”

As one of the largest Manufacturing Technology programs in the Midwest, the College of DuPage program offers four associate’s degrees, six certificates and maintains a 100 percent placement rate for students completing any of these programs, Meyer said.

Like the FMA, College of DuPage has recognized the issue of skilled labor shortages throughout the United States and has partnered with Caterpillar, Inc.’s Education to Careers (ETC) program to offer high school seniors and first-semester college students
a chance to work at the Aurora plant while obtaining a degree from the college in the technical/ manufacturing field. The internship program pays for two years of tuition and fees, as students work part-time at Caterpillar and earn their associate’s degrees. The students also take part in a paid, fulltime summer internship to round out their hands-on training and incorporate a variety of skills they have learned during the program internship with CAT, all while pursuing degrees in the technical/manufacturing field.

College of DuPage also offers a certificate in Welding, where students develop skills in oxyacetylene, arc, MIG, TIG, and plasma welding/cutting processes, using both manual and semiautomatic applications.

Some of the advantages of being designated a CEC include admitting College of DuPage faculty to FMA events for free, providing fabrication equipment curriculum support, locating FMA members to support and mentor instructors and students, and assisting with marketing the college’s Manufacturing programs.

Meyer, who said this inaugural group of CECs is most likely to expand, expects to see many positive effects of FMA’s new North American network.

“A lot of technology is changing so rapidly and FMA and other groups set the standard,” he said. “This network will enable our program faculty to receive high-quality training and give our students the opportunity to participate in internships and eventually secure future employment.”

For more information, check out the Manufacturing Technology program web site or e-mail the program coordinator.

What Are Soft Skills and Why Are They So Important?

Sometimes the best tools for your career are those that you gain outside of the rigors of the classroom.

Known simply as soft skills, they are key components to any career and are not technical or task-oriented. Good examples of soft skills include the following:

• Effective communication
• Compassion
• Honesty
• Trust
• Understanding
• Strong work ethic

And these are the skills that employers want. According to the NACE (National Association of Colleges and Employers) 2007 Job Outlook survey, communication skills and honesty/integrity are most important, according to NACE Executive Director Marilyn Mackes. In addition, the survey reported that motivation and initiative, along with strong interpersonal skills and a strong work ethic, are key attributes.

Often people lose jobs not because of lack of skills but because of many other factors, including lack of responsibility, poor time management skills, no tact, weak communication skills, lack of motivation, lack of work ethic and unethical behavior.

At College of DuPage, you can determine what skills you have and how to improve them.

“When students take Career Development – Education 1105, we spend time discussing and identifying skills,” explained Carol Giegerich, counselor and associate professor at C.O.D. “There are multiple levels of skills: functional skills, work content skills and adaptive skills. Soft skills fall within the adaptive skills category. They may pertain to your personality in a certain way, and we all should be aware of how we utilize these skills.”

Some people are naturals at soft skills. To get a better understanding of where you rate, ask yourself some questions that look at past situations that required you to use soft skills:

1. Describe a difficult boss or employee you had to work with and how you handled the situation.
2. Describe a time when you worked with a team and how your contributions contributed to the team’s success.
3. How do you prioritize your time and activities, and discuss a specific time when you had your calendar set for the day, then something came up where you had to change your whole schedule?

You may be surprised at the many skills you have learned through your experience. The NACE Job Outlook survey indicated that employers are looking for people with soft skills obtained through work experience, internships or cooperative education programs.

If you have work experience, jot down specific examples of what helped develop your soft skills. Have you ever handled a difficult customer? Were you successful in making the customer happy? If so, think about the skills you used, such as listening, understanding and compassion. These are all soft skills!

If you ever settled an argument between co-workers or helped get a team project on task, you used soft skills!

“They are important in the workplace – how you interact with others and how you are perceived by others,” Giegerich said.

Soft skills have also been termed “emotional intelligence.” Developing your emotional intelligence will help you:

• Pick up on unspoken rules governing success in organizations
• Be content and effective in life
• Become closer in relationships at work and home
• Best handle office politics
• Be more persistent

(Goleman D. 1995 Emotional Intelligence: New York: Bantam Books)

Check out the web site to learn more about Career Development – Education 1105.