Learning Opportunities
Continuous learning
At SCPS, student learning isn’t limited to the classroom. Beyond required readings, lectures, and course projects, students can engage with faculty to gain new insights, network with accomplished professionals, and expand their skill set through virtual and on-campus programming crafted specifically for SCPS’s adult learning community.
Learning with Purpose Speaker Series
In September 2025, SCPS leadership launched the Learning with Purpose Speaker Series. The series includes SCPS faculty and distinguished guests leading discussions around timely and critical issues shaping communities and society at large.
Learning with Purpose opened with paralegal studies instructor and career coach Katrice Miller, now a member of the in-house counsel team at Starbucks, leaning into her own experience attending law school in the evening while working full-time as a paralegal to examine how intentional career decisions can lay the foundation for long-term financial well-being.
In the series’ second session, Father James Martin, S.J., the editor at large at America Media, discussed Pope Leo XIV and the future of the Catholic Church. Martin reviewed the pope’s background, from his Chicago-area upbringing to his missionary work in Peru to his appointment as the first U.S.-born pope, to share informed thoughts on Pope Leo’s spirituality and how it might influence the Church.
Additional planned sessions will include topics such as cybersecurity in the age of artificial intelligence and cultivating a growth mindset to drive a sustainable, purpose-driven career.
Networking and skill development events
From prospective and current students to alumni and partners at external organizations, SCPS regularly hosts skill-building and networking events to enhance knowledge and connections.
In April 2025, for instance, SCPS faculty led a four-hour workshop titled Project Management for Beginners. Faculty outlined the foundational principles of project management through hands-on activities, group discussions, and practical tools while touching on topics such as identifying common project risks and communicating with different project stakeholders.
In sharing best practices for effectively planning, organizing, and completing projects, SCPS faculty provided participants the skills to approach any project—leading a workplace initiative, planning an event, or tackling a capstone assignment—with confidence and clarity. Upon completing the workshop, participants earned a Credly badge to demonstrate their competence.
Summer programs abroad
SCPS has pledged a renewed commitment to study-abroad opportunities, specifically academic adventures built with working adult learners in mind.
In an eight-week summer 2026 English course titled Human Values in Literature: Immigrants, Migrants, and Refugees, SCPS students will combine online learning with an embedded study abroad experience in Italy at Loyola’s John Felice Rome Center. Course activities in Rome will include group-led class discussions of readings and reflection exercises based on site visits in and around the Italian capital.
Seeing international study as a way to energize student learning, strengthen community ties, and provide valuable cultural experiences, SCPS leaders continue exploring additional study-abroad opportunities as well as offering scholarships to offset costs.
Nursing prerequisite courses
In the 2025-2026 academic year, SCPS debuted key prerequisite courses for applicants to the Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program at Loyola’s Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing.
Previously, applicants lacking these prerequisite credits were directed to external institutions to complete them. By offering these courses in-house, however, SCPS provides a seamless, supportive, and mission-aligned option for students preparing to enter Loyola’s ABSN program.
With their eight-week online format, SCPS’s nursing prerequisite courses reflect the school’s commitment to flexible, high-quality education for adult learners.
"Whether we are looking to completely change the trajectory of our careers or we are looking for an asset to set us apart in the workforce, there is no time limit on learning, it will always be beneficial. The networking opportunities that come from putting ourselves in a new environment around new people can inspire us.” Morgan Andree, SCPS Ambassador
Learning with Purpose Speaker Series
In September 2025, SCPS leadership launched the Learning with Purpose Speaker Series. The series includes SCPS faculty and distinguished guests leading discussions around timely and critical issues shaping communities and society at large.
Learning with Purpose opened with paralegal studies instructor and career coach Katrice Miller, now a member of the in-house counsel team at Starbucks, leaning into her own experience attending law school in the evening while working full-time as a paralegal to examine how intentional career decisions can lay the foundation for long-term financial well-being.
In the series’ second session, Father James Martin, S.J., the editor at large at America Media, discussed Pope Leo XIV and the future of the Catholic Church. Martin reviewed the pope’s background, from his Chicago-area upbringing to his missionary work in Peru to his appointment as the first U.S.-born pope, to share informed thoughts on Pope Leo’s spirituality and how it might influence the Church.
Additional planned sessions will include topics such as cybersecurity in the age of artificial intelligence and cultivating a growth mindset to drive a sustainable, purpose-driven career.
Networking and skill development events
From prospective and current students to alumni and partners at external organizations, SCPS regularly hosts skill-building and networking events to enhance knowledge and connections.
In April 2025, for instance, SCPS faculty led a four-hour workshop titled Project Management for Beginners. Faculty outlined the foundational principles of project management through hands-on activities, group discussions, and practical tools while touching on topics such as identifying common project risks and communicating with different project stakeholders.
In sharing best practices for effectively planning, organizing, and completing projects, SCPS faculty provided participants the skills to approach any project—leading a workplace initiative, planning an event, or tackling a capstone assignment—with confidence and clarity. Upon completing the workshop, participants earned a Credly badge to demonstrate their competence.
Summer programs abroad
SCPS has pledged a renewed commitment to study-abroad opportunities, specifically academic adventures built with working adult learners in mind.
In an eight-week summer 2026 English course titled Human Values in Literature: Immigrants, Migrants, and Refugees, SCPS students will combine online learning with an embedded study abroad experience in Italy at Loyola’s John Felice Rome Center. Course activities in Rome will include group-led class discussions of readings and reflection exercises based on site visits in and around the Italian capital.
Seeing international study as a way to energize student learning, strengthen community ties, and provide valuable cultural experiences, SCPS leaders continue exploring additional study-abroad opportunities as well as offering scholarships to offset costs.
Nursing prerequisite courses
In the 2025-2026 academic year, SCPS debuted key prerequisite courses for applicants to the Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program at Loyola’s Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing.
Previously, applicants lacking these prerequisite credits were directed to external institutions to complete them. By offering these courses in-house, however, SCPS provides a seamless, supportive, and mission-aligned option for students preparing to enter Loyola’s ABSN program.
With their eight-week online format, SCPS’s nursing prerequisite courses reflect the school’s commitment to flexible, high-quality education for adult learners.