Methodist College and Eureka College Form Strategic Partnership

Methodist College and Eureka College are proud to announce a strategic partnership that will create new opportunities in health science education.

The presidents of both colleges will sign a Memorandum of Understanding during a public signing on Aug. 5 at 1 p.m. at Methodist College’s new campus, 7600 N. Academic Dr. in Peoria.

The agreement includes the development of closer institutional collaboration in several programs, including nursing. Early steps in the nursing collaboration include placing Eureka College students into the Methodist College nursing program after completing approximately two years at Eureka. Plans are underway for some of the freshman and sophomore nursing courses from Methodist College to be offered at Eureka College’s campus. Those courses would meet requirements towards a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Methodist College.  In addition, the gerontology certificate program developed at Methodist College is being designed as a collaborative initiative with course delivery on both campuses.

“This is an exciting time for both Eureka College and Methodist College,” said Eureka College President Jamel Santa Cruze Wright.  “It’s important to form these strategic partnerships with our neighbors that will ultimately benefit more students and contribute to their unique experiences at our institutions. We look forward to growing this relationship even more in the future.”

 “Methodist College is very excited to enter into this agreement with Eureka College,” said  President Kimberly Johnston. “Our colleges complement each other well and provide the opportunity for several collaborative programs that will provide even greater choice in higher education programming for the citizens of Illinois and surrounding states. Methodist College is looking forward to our continued work with Eureka College.”

Both colleges hope to expand programming through this partnership in the future.  Discussions continue in other areas where joint programming may be attractive and provide employment opportunities to students, especially in the health care fields.

“Both Eureka College and Methodist College are dedicated to service and community engagement,” said Methodist College Vice President of Academic Affairs Deborah Garrison. “This alignment of mission provides a strong foundation for collaboration.”

“Through this partnership Eureka College and Methodist College are bringing together our academic strengths and resources to provide high quality programming that benefits the region and beyond,” said Eureka College Provost Daniel Blankenship.  “We will continue to work towards that end as we explore other collaborative opportunities.”

Eureka College is proud to now have agreements in place with the two largest nursing education institutions in central Illinois.