APSU included among top universities for adult, nontraditional learners

Clarksville, TN – A life of learning is at the heart of Austin Peay State University’s mission. With that goal, APSU recently joined the Coalition of Adult Learning Focused Institutions (ALFI).

ALFI institutions seek to advance programs and promote services for adult students. To do that, they observe their adult degree programs and share “best practices.”

“Austin Peay State University is pleased to join the Coalition of Adult Learning Focused Institutions,” APSU President Dr. Alisa White said. “Adult learners enhance our University because they bring a unique perspective and passion to their studies, forged by their life experience and maturity. We recognize and embrace what they bring to the University, and we are committed to do whatever we can to foster lifelong learning.”

APSU distributed surveys: the Adult Learner Inventory (ALI) and the Institutional Self-Assessment Survey (ISAS). Over 3,000 APSU adult students received the ALI, while faculty and staff received the ISAS. Questions identified and compared how students and employees value the services offered at APSU. The data identifies strengths and challenges as the University plans for the future.

Universities receive a score in nine categories that represent the scope of adult learning. Included categories are outreach, life and career planning and student support systems.

“Austin Peay was compared to 105 other institutions going through the same process, and it turns out our score was higher than the mean of those institutions in most cases,” Loretta Griffy, director of the APSU Center for Teaching and Learning, said. “There was nothing noted as (inadequate) on the report, but that does not mean that we can’t keep improving.”

For more information on adult and non-traditional student opportunities at APSU, visit www.apsu.edu/adult