GREENVILLE, Pa. – Thiel College is launching five pioneering graduate degree programs – including clinical mental health counseling – to go with its 38 undergraduate programs.
Applications are now being accepted for the first class of students for the Master of Arts degree in clinical mental health counseling, which will begin this summer. It joins new graduate programs in business administration, communication and leadership, physician assistant studies and speech-language pathology.
All of Thiel’s graduate programs include a fifth-year option. If accepted into the program, students can graduate with a master’s degree and a bachelor’s degree in five years.
Also new is the college’s collaborative nursing program with a local hospital that gives students all the advantages of a college experience and the practicality of earning a registered nurse degree.
A recently completed $3.5 million project created a floor of dedicated lab, office and classroom space for the college’s physician assistant and speech-language pathology students. It was the first phase of a $16 million project that will include more class and lab space as well as major improvements to the college’s Academic Center and athletic and health and wellness facilities.
These academic and physical changes are among the reasons growth at Thiel College is anticipated to continue, according to Susan Traverso, college president.
Enrollment increased by 7.5% in 2020 and just shy of 10% in 2021, Traverso says. Undergraduate enrollment grew about 4% each of the last two years.
“We do keep our eye on the demographics. There is a declining number of 18-year-olds in this region, which is a challenge for all colleges,” she says.
“I’m happy to report that our efforts to offer new undergraduate and graduate programs have led to enrollment increases.”