“
It is possible some specialized
courses or electives won’t transfer
to some schools but we try and
make sure our students know
what will or won’t transfer before
they take the class so there aren’t
any surprises,” she said.
They do that by articulating the
courses with at least three four-
year colleges to know where they
will or won’t transfer and, ICC
hopes, give the student choices.
“
If a student comes here with
an idea and what they want to
do beyond ICC and where they
want to go from here, they can
sit down with their advisor and
determine what will and won’t be
accepted for transfer. The goal is
for our graduate to be able to take
their 60 credit hours anywhere
they go,’ she said.
Adult education classes are
increasingly popular at ICC,
Sullivan said, because people are
finding out that a high school
diploma or GED isn’t enough to
get a well-paying job any longer,
or even a job that pays just a liv-
ing wage.
The most popular of the adult
education classes, Sullivan said,
is anything to do with comput-
ers or manufacturing. ICC works
with companies, including Cater-
pillar Inc., for specialized training
on equipment and machines.
Some companies, Sullivan said,
are trying to improve their image
and make people realize the shop
floors are no longer dirty, dingy
places but places with modern
equipment that need workers
with contemporary skills to
operate it.
ICC also works with com-
panies to ensure workers have
a grasp on soft skills, such as
basic communication, reading
and math, even the ability to get
along with others “Anyone can
learn how to run a machine, but
soft skills are often a bigger prob-
lem for companies,” she said.
Also popular at ICC are health
care related fields, law enforce-
ment, paralegal courses and fire
sciences. ICC is the only school
in central Illinois with the latter,
Sullivan said. Also increasing in
popularity is the culinary school
at ICC, complete with the mod-
ern, professional kitchen at the
North Campus.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 30
29
thePeorian.com
A culinary arts student at Illinois
Central College, begins to
prepare a ice cream dish for a
class at ICC’s kitchen facilities
at its North Campus in Peoria.
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