Columbia College moves campus to Springfield

Two weeks after starting classes in Springfield, Columbia College and Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce officials today christened the campus with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Classes moved Jan. 9 to 3271 E. Battlefield Road, Ste. 250, from Ozark, where the school operated a Christian County campus since 1996. The ceremony and reception was scheduled 11 a.m.–1 p.m. today at the college’s 5,700 square feet of leased space from Sachs Real Properties LLC.

Tailored toward working adults, Columbia College-Springfield offers associate and bachelor’s degrees via eight-week courses meeting one night a week and a master’s degree online. There are five sessions a year, and evening and online classes can be taken simultaneously, according to Columbia College’s Web site.

College spokeswoman Brandi Herrman said the Springfield campus has four classrooms, and there are three employees and roughly 175 students. With its main campus in central Missouri, Columbia College operates 35 campuses in 14 states. Herrman said the local campus has graduated 188 people in 15 years operating in southwest Missouri.

Last year, Springfield businessman Jim D. Morris sold four acres in Rolla to Columbia College at a discounted rate of $813,000. The roughly $1 million savings represented the second-largest gift from a living donor in the college's history and the single-largest gift given to one of its satellite campuses.

Columbia College-Springfield, directed by Kathy Gress, offers four associate degrees and five bachelor’s degrees in business administration, criminal justice administration, fire service administration, general studies and psychology. Additionally, the college offers 23 associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees online, and last year had 35 enrolled in its MBA program.

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