16. Avila College
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Education
Telephone: (816) 501-2400
Address: 11901 Wornall Rd.
Description: The Catholic college was the first college in Kansas City to offer programs in nursing, gerontology, and social work. It is also the first (and currently only) four-year college in the city to offer a paralegal program approved by the American Bar Association and one of only 23 colleges in the country to offer a four-year degree in radiological technology.
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Education
Address: 8700 Northwest River Park Dr.
18. Rockhurst University
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Education
Telephone: (816) 501-4000
Address: 1100 Rockhurst Rd.
Description: The university serves approximately 3,000 students (about 72 percent Catholic) at the main campus in Kansas City’s cultural district and the Ignatius Center of Rockhurst University/Saint Louis University, located in suburban Kansas City. Older students also choose Rockhurst for a superior education. Its Continuing Education Center, through subsidiary National Seminars, is the nation’s largest provider of adult continuing education. And Rockhurst’s Executive Fellows MBA program boasts an alumni list that includes more than 400 top leaders in major organizations throughout the Kansas City area and the nation.
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Education
Address: 5100 Rockhill Rd.
20. William Jewell College
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Education
Telephone: (816) 781-7700
Address: 500 College Hwy.
Description: The college adheres to the principles of a century and a half ago: Provide a superior quality education while retaining its Missouri Baptist heritage. One of the college’s strengths is its incoming freshman program that links new students with five mentors, including two faculty members and three students. Newbies get acquainted fast thanks to team-building exercises held at the new Tucker Leadership Lab. This same facility, including rock climbing walls and towers, challenging rope and bridge courses, and the “Sweet Chariot” 250-foot swing ride, is also popular with corporate teams and not-for-profit groups.
21. Baker University School Of Professional And Graduate Studies
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Education
Telephone: (913) 491-4432
Address: 6600 College Blvd.
Description: Working adults can complete a degree almost as fast as they can say the name of this program. Well, almost. Students can obtain an undergraduate degree in just three years of intense work. Baker’s SPGS offers accelerated MBA and MSM degrees as well. It’s quite a commitment; students typically attend one three-hour class a week with interim group study assignments. With a main campus in Baldwin City, Kansas, the university maintains satellite locations in Overland Park, Kansas, and Lee’s Summit, Missouri.
22. Henry W. Bloch School Of Business And Public Administration
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Education
Telephone: (816) 235-1111
Address: 5100 Rockhill Rd.
Description: This school, located at the University of Missouri–Kansas City campus, offers both an MBA, which can be completed as a part-time student, and an Executive MBA, which is a 21-month, intensive program with classes that meet every other Fri and Sat. One of the school’s strongest points is its connections with and support from area businesses that can lead to job placement.
23. Midamerica Nazarene University
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Education
Telephone: (913) 782-3750
Address: 2030 E. College Way
Description: Busy professionals can complete an MBA degree within two years at MidAmerica with the help of other students, caring instructors, and a personal laptop computer that’s part of tuition. Here, courses are laid out in a structured manner in which each class builds upon the last to provide a feeling of integrated knowledge. This system is one reason the university has such a successful completion rate for its program.
24. University Of Kansas Edwards Campus
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Education
Telephone: (913) 897-8400
Address: 12600 Quivira Rd.
Description: Now adults in Kansas City can chant “rock chalk Jayhawk” while driving just a few miles to campus. The master’s program is designed to meet the needs of a typical student, who is 33 years old, works full-time, and has a family; most classes meet one night a week, and computer labs are open days, evenings, and weekends.
25. Communiversity
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Education
Telephone: (816) 235-1448
Address: 5327 Holmes
Description: Called the university without walls, this is a mixed bag of adult education classes taught by volunteer instructors at various homes, gardens, and classrooms throughout the city. Want to learn how to buy a house, and then decorate it the feng shui way? Learn breathing techniques from a “recovering lawyer”? Here’s where to find these and dozens of other classes in categories like Arts and Crafts, Inner and Outer Paths (yoga to reading auras), Food (tamales and paella to dim sum), and Business and Legal Issues that tackle reading an investment prospectus or writing a news story. There’s even a class on chain mail—as in armor. Other teachers, called conveners, include professional chefs, financial planners, and artists.
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Education
Address: 7917 Foster
27. New Writer’S Workshop
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Education
Telephone: (816) 630-7063
Address: 6000 Lamar
Description: If you long to unleash your writing potential or want to find out how to get your work published, this is the course for you. New writers will find a relaxed, supportive atmosphere and an instructor (always a published writer) who will help develop creativity, writing skills, and marketing techniques. Classes are held mornings for eight consecutive sessions each fall and cover fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Fees range around $50, and there are classes made just for young writers.
28. Theatre For Young America Acting Classes
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Education
Telephone: (816) 460-2083
Description: Some students at this theater and education center are seeking acting careers; others simply want to improve their voices, body movements, creativity, and self-esteem. Classes for ages 3 through 18 are taught by professional actors and experienced theater craftspeople. The center also provides work/study programs to give students a chance to learn scene crafts, lighting, directing, and other behind-the-scenes skills. The classes are affiliated with the not-for-profit Theatre for Young America.
29. The Writer’S Place
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Education
Telephone: (816) 753-1090
Address: 3607 Pennsylvania
Description: Newcomers to the craft of writing as well as frequently published sages come together in this grand stone mansion in Kansas City’s elegant Valentine Neighborhood. Before its rebirth as classroom, library, and literary community center for readers and writers, the handsome building—complete with turret—spent time as a private home, brothel, and church. It could even serve as inspiration for one genre of fiction—the ghost story: Some say it’s haunted. The Writers Place also hosts ongoing events, open to the public, that include book discussions, poetry readings, and dramatic presentations. Fund-raising events are always a lively soiree. The organization currently has 1,000 members; dues are $40 per year for individuals, $60 for families, and $20 for students.