Jeff Shires was appointed as PNW’s first executive director of concurrent enrollment/dual credit. Concurrent enrollment helps high school students earn college credit while still attending high school.

Shires, an associate professor within the Communication & Creative Arts Department, has taught at Purdue University North Central since 2002.

In Fall 2015, there were 3,785 students enrolled in a dual credit course at PNC and PUC combined, according to Joe Ward and Gillian Leonard in Institutional Research. Over 77 percent of dual credit students were enrolled at PNC. In order to be admitted into a dual credit program, high school students must be in their third year of high school and acquire a 3.0 GPA or higher. To be considered for a specific course in the program, students must meet all required prerequisites.

“The Concurrent Enrollment Program serves numerous people throughout the region. I look forward to working with everyone to build on the strengths of the programs as we work to develop a single approach for our university,” Shires said.

Shires has set many goals for the dual credit program for both campuses.

“Goal one is to work to develop one program for one university. I also want to maintain the level of service to the community and work on making sure students in the Concurrent Enrollment Program have a high-level academic experience while they are taking our courses,” Shires said. “The Calumet and North Central campuses have used two different systems to run their programs. The plan is to look at the strengths of each system and to develop a ‘third way’ that maintains the strengths of each of the programs.”