Melanie Ellison-Roach has spent most of her career focused on providing continuing education opportunities for adult learners.

“I think that as long as you’re learning, you’re continuing to grow. I’m a lifelong learner myself; I know that there is a lot of gratification that comes from just learning for the joy of learning and learning for professional development and career advancement,” she said. “If you are an adult student, education tends to increase your earning capability and your options for advancement. I like the idea of a place that zeroes in not only on traditional learners but on a wide diversity of people who would benefit from continuing their education.”

Ellison-Roach has been helping to ensure that Temple University Center City (TUCC) is the perfect location to pursue a broad diversity of continuing education initiatives for 24 years and will continue to do so as the new Director of the Center City campus.

“TUCC has always been tied into the original mission of Russell Conwell when he founded Temple — to provide educational opportunities for people who are for the most part working. Our classes are offered primarily in the evening, and we additionally have a whole range of non-credit programs that accommodate a lot of different populations,” she said. “I think one of the things that is unique about the campus is that we offer learning opportunities to people from near infancy to later adulthood, from music preparatory programs for very young children offered by the Boyer School of Music and Dance to the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.”

Prior to becoming Director of Temple Center City, Ellison-Roach was the Marketing Director for the campus, becoming Associate Director during a time of leadership transition.

“Melanie has such a long, rich history with Temple Center City that I know she will be the perfect person to guide the campus into the future,” said Dr. Vicki Lewis McGarvey, Vice Provost for University College, of which the Center City campus is a significant part. “She knows the programs and the myriad students and community members who see Temple Center City as a vital resource for career development and personal enrichment. The campus turns 50 in 2023 with a proven leader to guide it — we are excited to see what the next phase in Temple Center City’s history will bring!”

Ellison-Roach arrived at Temple with a wealth of experience in adult learning and continuing education programming.

“I worked for the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL); I was involved in initiatives that advanced lifelong learning. We worked primarily with a contract for Verizon, which was looking to find alternative careers for a lot of jobs that were becoming phased out,” she said. “They were advancing educational opportunities such as helping people get college credit for prior learning, initiatives in general that spoke to lifelong learning and the benefits of continuing education for working adults — it was comparable to what we do at Temple Center City.”

When the opportunity to become the Marketing Director at TUCC presented itself, “it seemed like a natural progression,” Ellison-Road said.

“While I was working at CAEL, I became more and more interested in the notion of adult learners and lifelong learning. Prior to that I worked for an organization called the Women’s Opportunities Resource Center and I was involved in helping people who were under employed start their own businesses,” she said. “My interest has always been centered on educational opportunities and developing yourself as an adult. I was on the periphery of education for a while working for John Wiley and Sons publishing and selling college textbooks — I’ve always kind of been drawn to the field of education in some fashion.”

As Temple Center City plans to celebrate its 50th anniversary this year, “one of the things that I’d like to do is to increase enrollment numbers and expand people’s awareness of the Center City Campus,” said Ellison-Roach.

“For adults who are looking to expand their education, it’s a natural location for people who live and work here,” she said. “Over the years we’ve built up our graduate programs in addition to undergraduate program offerings as well. I see the Center City campus as a hub for continuing education.”

The campus has additionally gone through a series of recent renovations, Ellison-Roach said.

“Our event space was renovated, and several classroom spaces were upgraded so that we have more flexible learning capabilities. I’m interested in making sure that internal customers are aware of that,” she said. “We’d like more of Temple’s schools and colleges to offer programs here with the understanding that we have this new capability. We’ve combined a few classrooms as well so that we can have greater capacity courses.”

Working collaboratively with Temple departments and external partners, Temple Center City is home to a wide range of programs and initiatives, including the Real Estate Institute, which is one of the largest real estate training programs in the city; the evening MBA offered by the Fox School of Business; the Master of Public Policy, which has been expanded at the campus; Philadelphia Neighborhoods offered through Temple’s  Department of Journalism; the Small Business Development Center; the Pennsylvania Innocence Project; and numerous music practice rooms for both credit and non-credit programs. Temple’s office of Off-campus Programs and Training is also based at the Center City campus.

“I think that speaks to the great diversity of activity that is happening on campus every day. We also have a robust conference center business — we do a lot of work with the City of Philadelphia,” Ellison-Roach said. “Philadelphia’s Office of Human Services offers a lot of training here throughout the year. TUCC is also a place where a lot of non-profit organizations gravitate to if they need training space, which I think is wonderful, because we want to be that kind of essential resource for the community.”

For students at Temple Center City, Ellison-Roach said, “I hope they get the typical excellent education that Temple can provide, but in a way that is most convenient for them and a way that will ensure their success.”

“TUCC works very hard to meet people where they are while they’re juggling multiple responsibilities,” she said “We offer advising, for example, at times that is most convenient for people; we offer the typical services that students need access to at times that are best for a population that is predominantly working adults.”

Since its creation in 1973, TUCC has offered undergraduate and graduate courses, degree programs, and professional development programs for working adults with classes offered primarily during the evenings and on weekends. Learn more about Temple University Center City at https://centercity.temple.edu.