Susan Kendrick | ESU Bulletin

Despite the recent decline in Emporia State’s on-campus enrollment, online enrollment has seen a 33 percent increase in the past year.

Monica Quintana, online student, said the cost to enroll in ESU’s program is much less than KU’s or the University of Phoenix’s programs.

“I live in the Kansas City area and have two teenagers and a full time job, so the flexibility of the online classes makes it easier for me to get my degree,” Quintana said.

In addition to affordability, U.S. News & World Report recently recognized ESU’s online bachelor’s degree program in the first ever “Top Online Education Programs.”
The 184 institutions with online programs were ranked in three categories in which they were given point values up to 100. Schools were judged on teaching practices and student engagement, student services and technology and faculty credentials and training. No overall rankings were made.

ESU earned spots in two of the three categories, taking the 89th spot in teaching practices and student engagement and the 61th spot for student services and technology. Fort Hays State also made the list, ranking in all three categories.

“I have no idea why we wouldn’t get the faculty credentials ranking,” said Susan Kendrick, director of interdisciplinary studies and associate professor of English. “I have about 50 to 60 people who have MFAs or PhDs who are teaching online classes. Everybody I can think of are full-time faculty members, and a lot of them develop their courses just for the online program.”

Like traditional students, students taking advantage of the online program must meet degree requirements, completing at least 124 semester hours of credits with 48 general education requirements. They must also maintain a cumulative grade point average of 2.0, according to ESU’s website.

Kendrick said most of the students in the online programs are people who have full time jobs, place bound students, students who want to come back and complete their degrees and stay-at-home moms.

“It is a legitimate and competitive degree, not a program for slackers,” said Kendrick. “It is not something you do because you can’t do anything else and is something that takes a lot of forethought on the part of the student and they have to really know what they want to study.”

Kendrick said the program could stand improvement in its marketing strategy, but for a small campus in a small town, being ranked by U.S. News is a major accomplishment.

Rocky Robinson

Kendrick

In 2001, Susan Kendrick, professor of English and director of the new office of interdisciplinary studies, began teaching at Emporia State and has since been bringing authors like Shakespeare to the modern reader.

“We were discussing English history plays and she compared (a character) to Sigourney Weaver’s character in ‘Alien’… she is good at linking popular culture to Shakespeare and helping us to understand what she’s talking about,” said Josh Johnson, junior secondary English education major.

Kendrick said some of her favorite subjects to teach include Shakespeare and Tudor/Stuart drama because it introduces students to different playwrights.

“I also like teaching the British Women Writers Before 1830 class because it has some authors that students have heard of but also some that they might have missed. I get to teach novels with titles like “The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless,” how fun is that?” Kendrick said.

Other faculty and students had positive comments about Kendrick, and Rachelle Smith, professor of English, nominated her for the Schillinger Award in 2008 which Kendrick received. The Schillinger Award is given to an individual who has made “extraordinary contributions” to the women of ESU over a sustained period, according to the ESU website.

“Dr. Kendrick is smart, incredibly well read, funny and one of the wittiest people I’ve ever met,” said Ellen Hansen, chair of the department of social sciences.

Hansen said that Kendrick is great to work with and always makes meetings more entertaining, but she is also great at brainstorming. Kendrick’s classes are described as challenging and rigorous but also interesting and great fun.

“When I broke my ankle last summer, she helped me many times…I value her as a friend and a colleague,” Hansen said.

Outside of literature Kendrick also enjoys the works of Joss Whedon, like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Firefly” and “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.”

“Joss Whedon is an amazing, creative talent – he’s witty, intelligent and assumes that his audiences have brains,” Kendrick said.

Kendrick has seen the entirety of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” twice and still follows the story through the graphic novel counterparts. She enjoyed “Firefly” for its brief run and would have liked to have seen the show last.

“I thought ‘Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog’ was hilarious in a really sick kind of way, but I teach revenge tragedies on a regular basis, so that makes sense, I suppose,” Kendrick said.

By Charlie Heptas