As vice president and store manager for the Robinson/May division of a May department store in North Hollywood, California, Marcia Goldstein has her work cut out for her. The 46-year-old mother of two teenagers and wife to a husband who is disabled manages a $50 million store with 300 employees and is used to the typically long hours associated with the retail business.

During her free time, however, Goldstein has managed to dedicate herself to earning a master’s degree through RIT’s online cross- disciplinary professional studies program. "My kids are both competitive students and I felt kind of left out," she says. "They were busy with school, so I decided that I’d get busy with school also."

Goldstein is currently one class and one capstone project away from completing the program. "For me it’s been perfect," she says. "The nice thing about the cross-disciplinary professional studies program is that you can design a program that meets your specific needs. It’s not a canned program."

RIT’s online cross-disciplinary professional studies program is specifically designed to enable experienced professionals to fashion a customized plan of graduate study tailored to his or her educational or career objectives. Online concentration can be drawn from a number of subject areas.

Goldstein is enrolled in a dual concentration in business management and human resources, both applicable to her job. "I do a lot of training and development of people, and I felt that the coursework in human resources would help me. I also selected management because I am a manager.

"All of my classes have helped me with my job. I have felt that ever since I started the program," she adds.

Goldstein began as an online learner during the Spring quarter of 1999 when her company implemented a tuition reimbursement program for senior-level employees. When she found out that her employer would pay 75 percent of tuition costs, she immediately went online to find a degree program. "I must have gone to every single distance learning Web site," she claims. "There were not many programs where you could do the entire degree online. A lot of them wanted me to take the GRE, and I did not have any time to take the GRE and really did not want to wait to start."

She says that she contacted Larry Belle by email, who at the time was director of the program, and she got a quick response. "I was impressed with how promptly he replied to my queries. And then I got hooked up with my academic advisor Eileen Fishman (academic advisor for RIT’s Center for Multidisciplinary Studies), who was just spectacular." Goldstein added that both Belle and Fishman played a very positive role in getting her to come into the program and get organized.

Goldstein also has high praise for RIT’s online library services. "I had one librarian give me her home phone number because it was a Friday afternoon and she was worried that I’d have trouble with one of your databases. . . It was amazing.

"As a distance learning student, one of the things that made the biggest difference was what a good job RIT did helping me as a learner," she continues. "There are facilitators that assist with making distance learning work. I would say that the majority of them at RIT understand their role of customer service. RIT is a private university, and I am the customer, and they did a good job of taking care of me."

Goldstein took care of herself by pacing her studies at one course per quarter, except for one quarter when she took two online classes. "I actually made a mistake and took two classes at the same time last spring, and I will never do that again," she admits. "Two classes were beyond too much work. When I pushed the button on my computer to send off my last paper, my husband said ‘welcome back dear.’"

In relation to study habits, Goldstein has discovered that the best time to study and complete her homework assignments is on her days off or in the morning of one day each week when she doesn’t have to get to work until noon. "I can’t study in the evenings," she says. "After a day at work, I can’t study. I don’t write well in the evenings, and I’m too tired to retain what I’m reading."

Overall Goldstein has nothing but positive remarks about her experiences as an online graduate student. "For me it has been perfect," she says. "I think it (online learning) would be great for a new Mom who does not what to leave her baby. RIT is ideal. So far I’ve had intelligent people designing these classes that understand who the courses are designed for. I’ve had flexibility when I needed it," she adds, referring to one time when she was traveling and had to submit some assignments late.

"I’m doing this for my own enjoyment and edification," she concludes. "It’s not a race. It’s been a great experience, and I’ll miss it when it’s gone."

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