Staff assistance training program allows employees to take adult education classes

Learning can often be diminished into a collection of numbers: 180, 55, 125, five, one–translating into 180 units for graduation and between 55 and 125 for a major. And so the list goes on. While it is not always the case, checking classes off a list can be the lackluster and ultimate prerequisite for a job after graduation. But for employees enrolled in the Continuing Studies Program (CSP) and Staff Training Assistance Program (STAP), learning is never reduced to a numerical necessity.

CSP, Stanford’s adult education program, was founded in 1988 to provide opportunities to the surrounding communities and access to the intellectual life on campus. Adult education programs at other universities encouraged faculty and community members to reach out.

“It was an embarrassment that Stanford, as great as it was, didn’t extend itself in liberal arts in an organized way to the adult community,” said Marsh McCall, classics professor emeritus and founding dean of CSP.

The program began with a four- to six-page catalogue offering six courses per term for nearly 200 students, but the catalogue has more than quadrupled in length since then. It now offers more than 35 courses per term with 12,000 enrollments this year, according to McCall.

Dan Colman, associate dean and director of CSP, said courses encourage personal enrichment and allow people to learn what they have never had the opportunity to learn in the past.

“It is important that faculty members know how to talk to a broader audience,” Colman said.

Their audience consists of students who come from a variety of professional backgrounds and interests. Sixty-five percent of them have advanced degrees.

Among these students are many employees. In the last year and a half, 10 percent of overall enrollments in CSP have been STAP-eligible employees, and 20 percent consist of people with a Stanford affiliation, including part-time employees or alumni.

Patti Smilovitz, manager of Stanford’s Human Resources Data Services, said the STAP program was established in 1973 to encourage regular staff members to use education and training to promote learning and personal growth. Any University employee who works 50 percent time or more is eligible to receive a yearly grant of $800 toward continuing their education. Faculty, students, temporary employees, retirees or other non-staff University affiliates are not eligible. The STAP program is one of three educational assistance programs provided by Stanford’s Human Resources department.

“It’s wonderful for employees,” said CSP assistant director Elana Hornstein. “STAP funds are virtual dollars. It enhances a career and nourishes the life of the mind when you have a job sitting in front of the computer eight hours a day but can then delve into subjects you don’t have time to read at home.”

According to the Human Resources’ website, employees will be reimbursed if the course, seminar, or workshop is directly related to performance of their current job at Stanford or if it is part of a planned career development effort. These can include courses in the Health Improvement Program and Information Technology (IT). CSP courses, however, were not always included as part of STAP.

In the first two years of CSP’s establishment, McCall and his colleagues proposed including CSP in STAP-eligible courses.

“Here is a terrific opportunity for our University to make a huge statement about what this University believes to be the proper and full definition of professional training,” McCall said. “Why should STAP be restricted to a narrow and professional sense?”

For two years, they met with Human Resources to persuade them to allow STAP eligible employees to allocate their funds towards CSP courses.

“With a few shining exceptions, we met one narrow-minded, petty bureaucrat after another,” McCall said. “We are at Stanford University. What kind of statement is that to our employees that your training and improvement is limited to computer courses?”

After several meetings, the eligibility for STAP funds was changed and qualifying courses were extended to include liberal education as well as personal and professional development.

“I bet only 5 percent of those that use STAP funds have any memory that there was a time they couldn’t use their funds to sit with other adults in a serious educational context with some Stanford teacher and get the experience that all Stanford students were getting in the daytime,” McCall said.

Maggie Diamond, a full-time employee in the Office of Development, is a testament to this. She has used STAP almost every year, once to attend a conference with a writing workshop for fundraisers and later to enroll in several writing classes in the CSP.

“Part of the reason why I wanted to work for Stanford [was] its atmosphere that really values learning and is a great opportunity to either study something in more depth or study a new topic,” Diamond said.

STAP administrative associate Judy Ray has used STAP for workshops in information technology courses, software application and communications to enhance her job and to earn degrees. She now helps improve the program for other employees.

“It is still trying to grow,” Ray said. “Some employees don’t have information about STAP, and when they do get information, it is at the end of year and too late to use it.”

Another problem the program faces is that STAP’s popularity wanes with employees who stay at Stanford longer, according to Smilovitz.

In the next year, Human Resources Information Systems is planning to study the use of the three educational assistance programs to find out what percent of employees are using the money.

“If we find that utilization is low, we need to take a look at it and make sure employees know about it,” Smilovitz said.

Smilovitz and Ray are working to expand awareness of STAP with the hope that more employees will seek out the benefits the program has to offer.

“Employees who would not have otherwise taken certain classes or would not have spent their own money can now enhance their job skills and develop themselves,” Smilovitz said.

Diamond agreed, citing the importance of being in an atmosphere with a mix of people from different backgrounds, levels of experience and interests.

“It’s good that Stanford invests in its employees’ development,” Diamond said. “A world-class university should have a world-class staff.”