.floatimg-left-hort { float:left; } .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 12px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} The University of Iowa has multiple plans in place to expand degree offerings at the John and Mary Pappajohn Education Center (JMPEC) at 1200 Grand Ave., as the university continues its efforts to further consolidate its external programs in the Des Moines area into the building it purchased in August 2008.

The Tippie School of Management M.B.A. for professionals and managers program (MBA-PM) moved into the building this past January and it plans to offer an executive M.B.A. (EMBA) class beginning January 2011. The university’s Division of Continuing Education plans to offer a bachelor’s degree in social work next fall on top of the master’s degree in social work it already offers out of the JMPEC.

“To be able to have that in downtown Des Moines, which is really the heart of business in Iowa, is a great opportunity for students who are place-bound or don’t care to move to Iowa City to be able to get a University of Iowa degree,” said Maureen McCormick, marketing director for the Division of Continuing Education.

The 34,000-square-foot facility was originally the Des Moines Higher Education Collaborative, a consortium of Iowa universities, colleges and groups that had a goal to foster continuing education for the business community; the idea never fully gelled.

“The university did decide to acquire it because we did have the (master’s in social work) program already in the building, and we knew we had the MBA-PM and we also knew we had an interest in growing our online and external programming,” McCormick said.

Although the university acquired the building in 2008, it had to wait for some of the previous occupants to leave before renovations could begin. The MBA-PM program, for example, had originally hoped to move into the Pappajohn Education Center last August, but renovations took longer than expected. Primarily, the building was given a technology upgrade, and that’s something that could allow the building to offer more than just traditional classes.

“That building has been outfitted for state-of-the-art technology, so it lends itself well to starting a course from that point and then other people from other parts of the state could sign on online,” McCormick said.

The M.B.A. programs are operated separately from the Division of Continuing Education, but the two are collaborating on their use of the building. The EMBA program is a part-time accelerated program that takes four semesters to complete and is aimed at executives in Des Moines who want to learn new skills and improve career prospects.

“The Des Moines program will offer the same curriculum as the program at the University of Iowa campus in Iowa City and be taught by the same experienced world-class faculty from the Tippie College of Business,” said Tippie EMBA Program Director John Fraser in a press release.

The deadline for admission to the new bachelor’s degree program in social work is April 1, and McCormick said that although it will be mostly classroom-driven for people in the Des Moines area, there could be some components of online coursework as well. McCormick said the building is fairly full now with a variety of programs, including the Lions Eye Bank, the Central Iowa RN-BSN nursing coordinator and the Senior College of Greater Des Moines.

She also said there have been some very preliminary discussions about adding new programs at the center, but the Division of Continuing Education is waiting to pick the subject area as it determines what demand exists here.