Football hall-of-famer Bobby Bell, 74, is a new alum of the recreation, park, and leisure students program (RPLS), and CEHD staff worked behind the scenes to help make that happen.

Bell was enrolled at the U of M in the early 1960s, long before electronic databases were used to track student progress. Mary Ellen Shaw, coordinator of student progress and scholarships in CEHD Student Services, evaluated his transcript by reviewing a College of Education bulletin from the years Bell was enrolled.

While enrolled in the University, Bell was a recreation leadership major. Shaw and Connie Magnuson, RPLS director, recommended courses for Bell to fulfill his remaining requirements. Shaw built a grid showing all of the requirements for the degree at the time, and the courses that could logically be applied to the degree requirements. Magnuson worked with Bell to create a nine-credit directed study to fulfill his final credits in the major. Bell describes his coursework in this Pioneer Press article, which included holding a youth football camp in Kansas this past fall. View a video recap of the camp.

“Mr. Bell did really well and enjoyed his courses,” says Shaw.

Student personnel coordinator Pam Cook used this grid instead of the typical Academic Progress Audit System (APAS) to clear his degree, since his program pre-dated the APAS.

Shaw is also working with two other students who were out of school for many years. Like Bell, they started their University work in the General College, so now are connected to CEHD for the process of returning to school. In these cases, both students also qualify for the Senior Citizen Education Program, which allows seniors to audit classes for free or take classes for $10 a credit.