College of DuPage
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Coordinates: 41°50′30″N 88°4′18″W / 41.84167°N 88.07167°W
| College of DuPage | |
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| Established: | 1967 |
| Type: | Community College |
| President: | Dr. Robert L Breuder, President |
| Faculty: | 338 full time, 1250 part time [1] |
| Students: | 31,000 (approx.) |
| Location: | Glen Ellyn, Illinois, USA |
| Campus: | Suburban, 273 acres |
| Website: | www.cod.edu |
The College of DuPage, or COD, is a two-year community college[2]. The college also owns and operates facilities in the Illinois communities of Addison, Bloomingdale, Carol Stream, Lombard, Naperville, West Chicago, and Westmont. The college serves students residing in Illinois' Community College District 502, which is most of DuPage County and parts of Cook County and Will County.
The college was established in 1967 in Glen Ellyn, with temporary facilities at 22nd Street (now Fawell Boulevard) and Lambert Road. That very same year the student newspaper, The Courier published its first issue and has been printing ever since. Due to the college's early students having to run from building to building for classes, the Chaparral was adopted as the college's mascot. The main campus is also home to WDCB 90.9 FM, a public radio station founded in 1977, as well as the literary magazine Prairie Light Review, founded in 1982.
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[edit] Expansion
COD has expanded much over the years. Initially there were temporary buildings on the West side of the campus, and they are still up today. The first permanent buildings were constructed on this site in the 1970s. The first such building was A-building with the first two of its three floors opened for use in the fall of 1973. The A-Building was later named the Instructional Center, or IC building, and is now named the Rodney Berg Instructional Center, or BIC, after the College's first President. Others to follow were the Seaton Computer Center (named for a prominent COD Board trustee) or SCC, the Art Center (now the McAninch Arts Center, named for the College's second President) also called The MAC, the Student Resource Center, or SRC, and the Physical Education Building. Currently the facility master plan calls for expanding the campus. Under it the Early Childhood Education Center, or ECEC building, was built, and the Science and Tec buildings are being constructed. The college library is located in the SRC building.
[edit] Semester conversion
For most of its history, the College of DuPage offered classes in an 11-week-long quarter format, with four quarters (Winter (January-March), Spring (April-June), Summer (June-August) and Fall (September-December)) in a single calendar year. In May 2002, the Board of Trustees voted to convert to semesters. The conversion was effective August 2005.
[edit] Meteorology and storm chasing
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The COD Meteorology Department is one of the more unique programs in the country. It was the first college to offer storm chasing for college credit. Starting in 1989 as a weekend adventure before becoming a 50 day a year full scale college course today. The meteorology department offers classes such as Severe Weather Lab, Mesoscale Meteorology, and Severe and Unusual Weather to help train students to both chase and forecast severe weather events. Meteorology majors from COD have moved on to many universities and beyond to staff such places as the National Weather Service, TV stations, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, National Severe Storms Laboratory, to name a few.
It is also well known for a very comprehensive weather website used by many in both the severe storms fields as well as other disciplines of meteorology. The website was often seen being used by those on the Discovery Channel's Storm Chaser reality show. NEXLAB is short for "Next Generation Weather Lab", a take off on the Next Generation Weather Radar, or NEXRAD, used by the National Weather Service for its Doppler technology.
The COD Meteorology Dept. is also heavily involved in the community skywarn programs helping to host one of the larger spotter training seminars each March in DuPage County.[3] The training is known as the Advanced Spotter Training for the Multi-County Skywarn of the Chicago Metro area. 12 counties participate through the Dupage Office of Emergency Mgmt, the Chicago National Weather Service, and the College of Dupage Meteorology dept (NEXLAB).
[edit] Athletics
In sports, the College of DuPage Chaparrals are a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA).
- Men's Sports: baseball, basketball, cheer team, cross country, American football, golf, soccer, swimming, tennis,track & field,and diving.
- Women's Sports: basketball, cheer team, cross country, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track & field, and volleyball
[edit] National championships
- NJCAA Men's Division III Basketball Championship (Champion: 2002; Runner-up: 2001, 2003)
- NJCAA Women's Division III Basketball Championship (Champion: 2000, 2002; Runner-up: 1998, 2004)
[edit] Notable faculty and students
- James Belushi, an American sitcom actor
- John Belushi, the late American film actor and comedian
- Steven Best, an American animal rights activist, author, talk-show host, and associate professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at El Paso
- Sean Hayes, Actor and Comedian Will and Grace
- Marisol Nichols, an American Actress
- Bob Odenkirk, an American comedy writer and actor
- Paul Spicer, NFL football player
- Dave Della Terza, Internet entrepreneur founder of Vote for the Worst.
- Diane Zak, author of numerous technology-related texts
- Tom Pukstys, Olympian in the javelin
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ http://home.cod.edu/generalInfo/factSheet.aspx
- ^ http://www.cod.edu/president/AboutCOD.htm
- ^ [Dupage Severe Weather Conference Website http://dupagesevereweather.com/]
[edit] External links
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