Bob Martin: Marie, thank you for joining us.

Marie Acker: Thank you.

Bob: Marie, we really appreciate you taking the time out. We think it’s really important. Today’s topic is critically important to you and your students.

We want to get, if we can, an update on what the Lincoln Rhode Island campus is doing (or has done) relative to the current coronavirus epidemic.

Marie: Certainly, Bob. So the Lincoln Rhode Island campus moved, very simply, over to distance education on March the 23rd, where all of our programs were delivered remotely. Extensive training was performed with all of our instructors and continues throughout today. And so we’re assisting our instructors in making the transition so that the experience by our students is seamless.

Lee Doubleday: That’s great. And Marie, this is Lee here, and I just wanted to ask you: I know you had mentioned that your schools are teaching online right now, but are you still open for tours or is that something that a student can do virtually as well?

Marie: Well, we are not open for tours, Lee, and we don’t have access virtually at the moment. So the tours would be done when the students came back into the school.

Lee: I see. And this is Lee again. I’m talking to Marie Acker, campus president of Lincoln Tech in Lincoln, Rhode Island. Now if I’m a student and I am looking to enroll into a future class, when does your next class start?

Marie: Well, we coincidentally have a class start for our medical assisting and our dental assisting program, and we also have day classes starting on April the 21st for our medical assisting, our dental assisting, and our massage therapy program.

Lee: Okay, and if the campuses are closed because of the virus, what will happen? Will the class still start maybe online?

Marie: Yes, absolutely. There’ll began as distance education and the students are aware of that. And then when we return to the campus, they’ll be back on ground.

Bob: Hey, Marie. This is Bob again, Bob Martin, Imagine America Radio. We’re talking to Maria Acker with Lincoln Tech in Lincoln, Rhode Island.

Imagine now, you have always had—you being Lincoln—you’ve always had a very robust high school program; recruiting high school programs has always been a pivotal thing that you’ve done. And as you know, most of these kids are out of school. And many of these kids are not going to have—these high school students are not going to have the opportunity to talk to their counselor and/or see them, possibly see or talk to them, maybe go to career center to view your program or your services or whatever it may be. What would you advise that particular cohort of students, because that’s a large concentration of our listening audience?

Marie: Yeah, yeah, it is Bob, and I would strongly recommend that the candidate would contact our admissions office. Our admissions representatives are also working remotely, and they’d be able to have a conversation with these prospective students and guide them through the admissions process—and ultimately make a recommendation for the best program that would fit their needs.

Bob: That’s great. That’s what I thought you were going to say. In summary, this is what I’m hearing. And correct me if I’m wrong at the end!

First of all, I’m hearing Lincoln Tech in Lincoln, Rhode Island, is up for business and is talking to current students.

Second, I hear that you want to talk to any students that are interested in possibly enrolling at your campus. And to do that, the best thing to do would be to go to your website.

But in the meantime, if you’ve got someone that’s interested in talking about the campus, they would be—you would make yourself available by email to answer any questions and, when it’s available, schedule a visit. And then you can be reached at MAcker@LincolnTech.edu. Is that a fair summary?

Marie: That is correct. I’d be happy to help any prospective students through this process during this transition.

Bob: We appreciate very much your time, and we appreciate the time of this audience for this edition of imagine America Radio. We just finished our conversation with Marie Acker, campus president Lincoln Tech in Lincoln, Rhode Island. On behalf of my colleague Lee Doubleday and myself, please be safe, and we’ll see you soon. Thank you.