Blackburn College, Illinois

Blackburn’s mission is unique in higher education. We feature a student-managed work program that reduces the cost of a quality liberal arts education and links that education to skills that apply long after graduation. We are affordable and set students up for success.

Not only do we have excellent academics, athletics, student life, and work programs, we do all of this in the context of community. Blackburn students, faculty, staff and alumni work together to make sure everyone can achieve their goals. You will not be a number on our campus.

Blackburn College is one of 7 work colleges in the United States and the only one with a student managed work program.What does this mean? You have a chance to build a strong resume, even get management experience, while attending college and reducing your costs because you are not only a student – you are staff!

Blackburn offers more than 30 majors so there is something for every career goal. And that is where the Office of Career Services comes in. Career Services can help those students who have not declared a major focus their search. By using Internet based career planning tools and a variety of assessments, the career counselor can help students match their strengths and interests with a college degree and ultimately with a career goal.

Already have a major selected? Career Services can help those students connect their major to a variety of career options. Career Services can also assist students in preparing a professional resume, in conducting a career search, in researching graduate school programs, and in finding graduate assistantships and internships.Career Services hosts several career conferences to help students explore career fields and create networks of professional contacts. Career Services also hosts graduate school representatives on campus to assist students in selecting graduate school programs.

Career Services also offers two career classes to help students with career planning and career placement. The Office of Career Services collaborates with three area universities to provide Blackburn students with access to career fairs. The Office provides transportation to and from these career fairs.

So make the most of your college experience. Have fun, develop a strong work ethic, gain management experience, build a strong resume and create a career plan that will help you gain the professional life style you want. Join the Blackburn community and let Blackburn College work for you.

The Work Program was first implemented in 1913 by Dr. William Hudson as the “Work Plan.” The plan was modeled after a program at Park College in Parkville, Missouri. Several years later, students were given leadership responsibility for the program. That leadership responsibility has evolved into an organization run and managed by more than 500 young adults.The purpose of the Work Program has been to instill learning and development, community contribution, and reduction of cost for the continued education of our team members.

We are more than 500 people who provide integral quality services primarily to Blackburn College but also to local businesses, regional nonprofit organizations, sports clubs, law enforcement departments, and virtually every school in the Macoupin County District and surrounding area. We also happen to attend a college which provides us with a quality education applicable in every aspect of our lives, including the jobs we work.

The Work Program offers an experience unlike any other college. While living and working at Blackburn College, students gain valuable professional and interpersonal skills long before setting foot in the real-world.Blackburn College offers a real-world work experience which sets our graduates apart and prepares them in a way that’s unmatched by other institutions.

Built in the mid-1960s by student labor, Blackburn’s Lumpkin Library is home to the newly developed Lumpkin Learning Commons. After an extensive renovation project during summer 2014, the Commons now features a refurbished lobby, laptops for checkout, and collaborative work spaces. The Learning Commons is open for student and public use year-round, with phases two and three of the renovation process to follow.

The services we provide include administrative resources, athletic support, building maintenance, cleaning services, educational assistance, financial management, business and retail management, safety and security, counseling services, food and catering services, graphic design, marketing and communications resources, and research.

There is no other college or university in the United States quite like Blackburn College. Our unique campus culture is the byproduct of the purposeful melding of our nationally acclaimed student-managed Work Program and rigorous liberal arts academic curriculum. The result is a unique living laboratory for learning where the boundaries between job and classroom are blurred, and mentoring from faculty and staff knows no clock.

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.