MCC Credit-Free Programs Announces Nearly 100 New Courses for Spring 2014
Manchester Community College Credit-Free Programs has released its latest catalog of course offerings. The Spring 2014 catalog includes nearly 100 new in-depth courses taught by instructors who bring hands-on expertise as well as academic knowledge to their classrooms.
Every spring, thousands of adults opt to further their knowledge and expertise through Credit-Free Programs, according to Ann Bonney, the college’s director of credit-free programs. Last spring, nearly 2,000 students enrolled. “To help keep students engaged, each time we release a catalog, we strive for 25 to 30 percent of our courses to be new,” Bonney said. “This term, we are very pleased to be able to give our students a broad range of enrichment courses for personal as well as professional development.”
Credit-Free Programs courses are shorter in length than a typical college semester, and they start periodically throughout the term, so it is never too late to register.
There is something offered for everyone. New courses include “Watercolor Wonders,” which runs for six two-hour sessions beginning April 3. The course is taught by local artist Carmen Canal, who has exhibited her watercolors and drawings in various solo and group shows and has appeared in local and national publications. She was the recipient of art awards and honors in Connecticut, Colorado, and Washington D.C., and is writing and painting her own extended all-ages version of “The Sleeping Beauty.”
Canal is one example of Credit-Free Programs’ instructors. MCC Credit-Free courses are taught by leaders in their industries, many of whom have decades of hands-on experience and have been published in trade journals, magazines, and by major book publishers. “Most have advanced degrees and other professional certifications,” Bonney said.
Other new courses include “Make Delicious French Tarts,” which begins on April 5. It is a one-session, four-hour course held in MCC’s award-winning Culinary Arts Center and taught by Sofia Bilgrami, who earned her professional baker’s certificate from MCC, and has also worked at a French bakery, La Petite France, in West Hartford. She holds an M.B.A. from the University of Connecticut.
The full range of MCC Credit-Free Programs covers Computer Technology — with workshops in building mobile apps and managing databases, and computer skills training that prepare students to take certification tests – to certification courses in the Allied Health fields, including Certified Nurse Aide and Phlebotomy Technician Certification Training; to courses designed for personal enrichment such as Art and Crafts; Culinary; Dance; Drama; Fitness and Recreation; Principles and Practices of Real Estate; and many others.
The 70-page Spring 2014 catalog will be mailed to the homes of everyone who has been a Credit-Free Programs student in the past. It was also distributed through the Reminder newspaper and is available at many retail stores, restaurants and libraries throughout MCC’s 15-town primary service area. In addition, shoppers at the Buckland Hills Mall can pick up a copy at the MCC Continuing Education kiosk on the lower level near Sears.
The catalog can also be viewed online at MCC Credit-Free Programs’ website: Credit-Free Catalog Now Available, or via their Facebook page.
For more information or to request a catalog, call Continuing Education at 860-512-2800. For registration, call 860- 512-3232.
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