A Conversation With ... Brian Stewart

Company: Bryan College

Education: Travel & Tourism diploma, Bryan College; bachelor’s degree in human resource management, Fringe University; and master’s degree in management, Oakland City University.

Putting students to work: Bryan College’s annual in-field placement rate ranges between 80 percent and 90 percent.

Contact: bstewart@bryancollege.com

Tell us about Bryan College.

It is a Kansas corporation (that) originated in Topeka in 1982. There’s still a college there. I came back to work running Bryan College in 2001 and purchased it in 2004. We offer diploma and academic associate degrees in a variety of career fields. It’s career-focused training.

What does your role as a new commissioner for the Accrediting Council of Independent Colleges and Schools entail?

The council is made up of 15 commissioners, and we will meet four times a year to review council actions, to make sure the criteria that governs our accredited institutions is in order. If there are any updates, we will discuss and set criteria for the future for our accredited institutions. The council accredits 707 member institutions throughout the United States and in several other countries.

What’s the student demographic for Bryan College?

Our students mainly are an age group of around 26 to 34. Typically, they’re working adults, parents … and we’ve tailored our delivery method to accommodate that group. So as rising gas prices hit us, we were already in the phase where someone can be a full-time student here and … only report to our campus two days a week. They take two courses every 10 weeks, campus-based, and they take one course online. We do day and evening classes.

What does Bryan College offer in the information technology realm?

Gaming and robotics. The gaming is video game design. On the robotics end, for larger manufacturing facilities, they’ve gone to more robotics, and that’s what these students learn how to do. It’s a younger demographic … for that program. We’re kind of in the middle of the Silent Generation. Nobody wants to talk, they want to text or e-mail. And we still have our networking program … geared toward Microsoft certifications.

What challenges do private career schools face?

We’re more heavily regulated, because (we are) a private, for-profit sector. We work by a different set of criteria. … One of the requirements from the Department of Education is that not more than 90 percent of our revenue can be generated through … federal student loans. What’s interesting is that when you look at the socioeconomic status of our students … most of them need that. It’s a balancing act on the part of the institution and the student to make sure we comply with that federal regulation. Student outcomes are another important area, not only for our institution, but as part of (our accreditation). Another is institutional outcomes, ranging from graduation rates to in-field placement rates to retaining students.

What’s on the horizon for Bryan College?

We’ve just recently been approved (on Aug. 25) by the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education to offer complete online programs. Our initiative for the past 12 months has been to move all of our systems to a two-day-a-week format and develop our online course offerings. We have a business administration and management program that has emphasis areas in management, finance, accounting, human resources and travel and tourism, and it will be a complete online program. Students take the business elements of it and choose a major, basically, from those emphasis areas. We also have a medical billing and coding online program that will be launched.

Tell us about your family and hobbies.

My wife, Karen, and I have two boys: Garyn, 10, and Dalen, 5. Karen works with us in various capacities at the college. The boys are into any kind of sport you can imagine. I spend a lot of time with the family. I like to golf, and I like the (Kansas City) Chiefs, but it’s going to be a hard year to like them.

Interview by Features Editor Maria Hoover. [[In-content Ad]]