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Since 1913, Blackburn’s student managed Work Program has made the
dream of a college education affordable for thousands of first
generation students by keeping the cost of our private liberal arts
education within their reach. Over the years, our students have
built Blackburn – literally brick by brick. In fact, Blackburn
enjoys the distinction of being the only college campus in the
United States to have been largely built by its students. Today our
students carry on this tradition by staffing mission critical jobs
as plumbers, carpenters, painters, landscapers, cooks, servers,
administrators, computer technicians, janitors, graphic artists,
security officers, assistant coaches, tutors and teaching
assistants.
At Blackburn, students are fully vested in every aspect of their
college experience, whether it’s success in the classroom, managing
or staffing their campus job or in governing the life of the
institution.
Blackburn builds character
Each student that enrolls at Blackburn as an on-campus resident does
so knowing that he or she will be required to participate in the
Work Program. They do so with the understanding that they may be
assigned to their ideal job – or perhaps not. Student workers report
to student supervisors that have a full range of managerial
responsibilities including job training, scheduling, performance
reviews and disciplinary action.
The Work Program is administered by two student general managers
that bear full responsibility for approximately 500 student
employees. Although there are six work colleges in the United
States, Blackburn’s is the only program that is student managed.
In addition to working 10 to 15 hours per week, Blackburn’s students
are engaged in a challenging academic environment. Small class sizes
and student-to-teacher ratios create an atmosphere that is conducive
to learning, and although professors come to know their students
well in and out of the classroom, the expectation is that academics
come first despite the demands we place on our students.
In life outside of the classroom and their jobs, Blackburn’s
students manage their own clubs and organizations and play an active
role in governing the College as members of the Student Senate,
Planning Committee and Budget Task Force.
As an NCAA Division III school, Blackburn affords its students an
opportunity to compete in intercollegiate athletics in 6 men’s and 7
women’s sports including cross country, football, soccer,
volleyball, basketball, baseball, softball, tennis and golf. It’s a
commitment made by nearly 40% of the College’s student body.
Balancing their obligation to academics, work, student life, college
governance, and athletics places incredible demands on our students.
Blackburn strengthens the character of its students by forcing them
to confront real world issues with real world solutions. The John M.
Templeton Foundation agrees, citing Blackburn as one of America’s
character-building colleges in its most recent publication.
Blackburn builds leaders
Blackburn’s unique culture requires that its students learn to work
in a team environment in order to accomplish common goals - whether
in the classroom, workplace, athletic field or committee. Within
this realm, opportunities for leadership emerge as students work
together to solve problems or create new ways to conduct the work of
the College.
For the student willing to take advantage of these opportunities,
the potential for personal growth is significant. The College has
historically been a magnet for first-generation students, who in
their drive to succeed have found Blackburn’s culture stimulating,
and a place where their personalities can be molded into that of
true leaders. As a consequence, Blackburn alumni have risen to
become leaders of very prominent organizations:
CEO of Kodak; President of Rand McNally Book Manufacturing; CEO of
General Re Corporation; President of Allstate International; and
President of Binghamton University.
Blackburn is an institution where initiative flourishes and the
seeds of entrepreneurial behavior are sown. Consequently many alumni
have gone on to create and run successful businesses in a wide
variety of industries. Blackburn alumni have become high school
principals, an Illinois State Senator, U.S. Congressman, and
Commander of the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels.
Blackburn has always asked much of its students and in doing so,
provides the leaders within its student body with some of their
first significant opportunities to demonstrate their capacity to
lead.
Blackburn builds inquisitive minds
Blackburn students are given a rigorous and distinctive liberal arts
education designed to instill a love for learning that is intended
to last a lifetime. Whether the student’s next step is graduate
education or entering the workforce, Blackburn graduates have always
been well-prepared to continue their “education”.
At Blackburn, our culture has created a community that allows
students to enjoy close relationships with their professors. With
these close relationships come opportunities for learning that don’t
exist on other campuses. As lab assistants, teaching assistants and
tutors, our students work alongside their professors and are given
opportunities to participate in significant research and take on
roles and responsibilities that most colleges typically assign to
graduate students.
This climate of accountability has been especially effective in the
College’s department of Natural Sciences. From this dynamic
environment where undergraduate students have long accompanied their
professors to conferences for the presentation of scholarly papers
have come hundreds of Blackburn graduates who’ve gone on to become
physicians, dentists, veterinarians and Ph.D.’s.
In elementary and secondary education classrooms throughout Illinois
and the United States, children are challenged and inspired to
achieve their potential by graduates of Blackburn’s Teacher
Education program.
Our culture provides students with intellectual stimuli in every
aspect of their campus experience with faculty and staff ready to
mentor them every step of the way.
Blackburn builds community
Every day, as has been the practice for nearly 100 years,
Blackburn’s students have risen early and left their dorms to carry
on the essential work of the College. Once, students milked cows and
stoked a coal furnace to generate heat for the campus. Now, as
technologies have evolved and new needs have arisen, campus jobs
have evolved as well, with students tackling computer networking and
software problems and providing a safe and secure campus by
patrolling the campus as members of the College’s security force. Of
course, some jobs never change so trash cans must be emptied, floors
mopped and toilets scrubbed.
There is an interdependency that exists at Blackburn that fosters
life long friendships and a very strong sense of community. The
College depends upon its students to cut the grass, edge the
sidewalks and to clear walkways and parking lots after a snowfall.
Science faculty couldn’t maintain their readiness to teach without
student lab assistants to care for live animal specimens and to
maintain plants in the greenhouses. Faculty in the Teacher Education
program rely on students to staff Blackburn’s literacy outreach
program to neighboring school districts. And students in need of
academic help turn to tutors, their peers. Students in turn are
given mentoring and support from their professors as well as staff
in whose departments they work.
Within this microcosm of society that is Blackburn College, our
students learn to be adaptable, and to understand the true meaning
of community and service to others so that when they graduate from
our world, we send them into the larger world fully prepared to be
responsible and productive citizens.
Copyright ©2007
Blackburn College. All rights reserved.
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Our
students build the College. 
About Blackburn
