Tabor College to award first masters degrees
This Saturday, 137 Tabor College students will receive diplomas, the largest class ever to graduate from the school.
But for the first time ever, not all of those students will be earning bachelor's degrees. Seven men and women will be accepted master's degrees — the first masters students to graduate since the start of the program two years ago.
Five of those individuals will receive the master of education degree. Two will receive the master of science in accounting degree.
Although Tabor's masters programs are young, they've proven successful, said Howard Keim, vice president for academic affairs at Tabor.
"We're pleased with the response so far," Keim said.
Keim said that interest from the local school district has also boosted the program — three of the five individuals receiving master of education degrees teach at Hillsboro elementary and high schools.
"We're pleased with the way the local school district has responded," Keim said.
The accounting program has most of its classes at the Tabor-Wichita campus, while the education program classes are at the Hillsboro campus. Accounting classes are typically held on evenings and Saturdays, while education classes are held during the normal semester schedule and during the summer.
Currently Tabor has no plans to expand beyond these two degrees.
"These were two areas we had a strong faculty in and had a passion for," Keim said.
Maura Wiebe, a fifth-grade teacher at Hillsboro Elementary School, is one of those receiving a master of education degree on Saturday. She began work on her degree in January of 2000.
"I thought the program was very good, very practical," Wiebe said.
Wiebe's been teaching at HES since 1995. She decided to pursue a master's at Tabor because the location was convenient and the college accepted graduate coursework she'd already done.
Her master's project was extremely practical, Wiebe said — she studied the relationship between reading in writing in the elementary classroom. She was able to research the learning habits of her own students.
"It was a lot of hard work," Wiebe said.
A Hillsboro resident receiving a master's degree in accounting is Bryce Wichert, who works at Adams, Brown, Beran, and Ball.
Wichert began work on his degree in the fall of 1999. He graduated from Tabor with his undergrad accounting degree in 1997.
Wichert's original goal was to become a certified public account, or CPA, and to do that he needed 150 hours of coursework.
After graduating in '97, Wichert still had about 20 hours to go, so he decided it would be wise to get his master's in the process. He passed the CPA exam last November.
What he's learned has been practical to his everyday work, he said.
"I've enjoyed it," Wichert said.
Jennifer Carr of Wichita has also earned a master's degree in accounting. Those earning master of education degrees, besides Maura Wiebe, are HHS music teacher David Clark, HHS English teacher Bob Woelk, Carisa Funk of Hillsboro, and Gladys Egy of Wichita.
