Elizabeth Parmalee: “I come from an academic career of combining things in odd ways."

Elizabeth Parmelee has only been at Metro State for a few months, but she’s been an ally of education for much longer.

Parmelee, who is assistant director of the Center for Individualized Learning, joined the College last August after working for 12 years with the Colorado Partnership for Educational Renewal -- a nonprofit consortium of higher education institutions, including Metro State, that worked with public schools to improve classroom teaching and teacher education.

After receiving her doctorate from the School of International Studies at the University of Denver in fall 2006, Parmelee was seeking “something new” at Metro State, all the while holding steady to her passion for empowering learners. Or rather, turning education and learning on its side.

Parmelee works directly with about 80 students who are taking advantage of the College’s individualized degree program or IDP. Essentially, she advises and assists the students to help align their academic studies with their interests and passions in life.

For example, a student interested in pursuing international studies as a major might also be interested in food security. Parmelee and faculty advisors would meet with the student to recommend courses -- such as geography, economics and political science -- that provide a foundation in international studies and then add in courses dealing with women’s studies, poverty issues and agriculture.

“I come from an academic career of combining things in odd ways,” says Parmelee, who herself completed an individualized degree program as an undergraduate at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. “… this seemed like a great fit for that kind of thinking where I sit down with students and help them think about what they want to do in the future and how different disciplines might create a special individualized major [or minor] that speaks to those interests and so on.”

Parmelee believes that the IDP student has a deeper ownership of and focus for achieving a meaningful and relevant education.

After a student has explored and investigated what he or she wants to study, they must prepare a personal essay that provides the justification and rationale behind creating and pursuing the chosen individualized degree program.

This process, Parmelee contends, gives the students a possible confidence advantage over students who settle into a traditional major and simply follow the requirements for degree completion. She says that most students leave the individualized degree program with a very personalized vision of what they want to do and ownership for what next steps will leverage their professional and personal satisfaction.

“They’ve had that opportunity to really think about how things might fit together differently and then they have the confidence to go out there and do it,” explains Parmelee.

Parmelee’s office also runs the Metro Meritus program, which allows people age 60 or above to audit most College courses for no credit and no charge, and assists students with earning credit for documented experiential learning and training.

“I think I have this sort of broad sense of what education can look like,” says Parmelee. “… I want students to have the chance to see all that education can be or all that learning can be. … I think Metro has an incredible amount of resources to make an amazing education for a student who figures out how to put it together and who knows what to look for.”