U of A Lakewood Ready for Classes in January

On Wednesday, the campus hosted its .

Prospective students and their parents trickled into the built-out space in the Bailey Building at the corner of Detroit Avenue and Warren Road.

On the first official day of classes on Jan. 9, a couple dozen students are expected, said , the director of UA Lakewood.

But that’s just the beginning. 

The school is partnering with  and  to offer training in the university’s College of Education and Nursing.

Within a couple years, university officials expect "a couple hundred" students to grace the downtown Lakewood campus.

We sat down with Metelko to get the scoop on the classes offered, the future of the campus and why Lakewood was the right fit.

Lakewood’s often been called a college town without a college. What do you think about that?

Anybody who has lived here for any length of time says that. We are always the college town without a college, but not anymore. was at the table from the very beginning. We’ve got a lot of great partnerships. UA Lakewood is a unique and a very Lakewood-tailored project we have here.

What can we expect this spring?

We’re talking about RN to BSN (programs), a masters degree through the college of education, there’s a masters program for IT in the classroom, there are five general education classes. I love the fact that they’ve got intro to ethics and intro to psychology and economics — all classes that people who are starting (college) are going to need for core.

Once fall comes, we (hope to offer) an MBA class. We also need a masters in social work also.

What’s the growth of this campus going to look like?

I have high expectations for the growth of this campus because I represent the committee that put this project together so I bring the expectations of that committee with me — as well as the expectations of the community.

We are a community of life-long learners; we have a demonstrated track record in our support of higher education, our public schools, our libraries and our arts centers.

When you think about a partner in economic development, you think about college. You think about a college — you think about a university.

So there could be a couple hundred students here within the next couple years?

Absolutely. If you just look at the kids coming out of the high school, you’ve got kids that want quality, four-year education but they can’t afford room and board. They can’t afford the travel. They’ve got a job at Marc’s and they live at home. This is a community where you can get around on your bicycle or on your feet if you don’t have a car. They need to be able to come here for one, two or three years and then matriculate to the main campus — or who knows what we’ll be by that time. 

I think, frankly, that this could seriously outpace the facility we’re in in a very short period of time. But, I’d love that. What a great problem, a seriously great problem to have.