The Evening Division was established at La Salle College in 1946. However, there were a few, short-lived attempts to offer similar programs earlier in La Salle’s history. The first attempt at offering evening classes was in 1874. Though the program was popular, it only lasted one year because of the burden that teaching both day and evening courses had on some faculty members. A second attempt was made in 1915, though this program was dropped in the midst of World War I. Evening classes were offered again in the early 1940s but the program was again cancelled.

At the end of World War II, La Salle College expanded its facilities to accommodate the expected surge in enrollment of returning veterans. The school decided to expand its course offerings to include an evening program at this time as another form of accommodation. Dr. Joseph Sprissler was named the Evening Division’s first director, and classes began with 36 students in the fall of 1946.

Initially, the Evening Division had a vocational focus and only offered courses in business administration. A large percentage of students in the early years of the Evening Division received some form of tuition aid from their employer—mostly local Delaware Valley businesses. As enrollment grew to over 1,000 by the early 1950s, the Evening Division expanded its science offerings. By 1953, students could earn degrees in business administration, chemistry, and physics. In the 1960s, courses of study in the liberal arts were added.

The Evening Division continued to expand its program offerings through the decades. In the spring of 1967 it began offering enrollment to women, three years before La Salle College as a whole went coeducational. In 1974 it also established the Continuing Education for Women program. Though the Evening Division was already open to female students, this program was aimed at women over age 25 who wanted to resume their college career, or begin college courses for the first time. The program offered opportunities for women to return to school after an extended absence and placed an emphasis on counseling these students.

The Evening Division added weekend classes and summer sessions in the early 1970s. Off-campus sites were added in others areas of the city of Philadelphia and in Bucks County in the 1980s.

In 1991, the Evening Division was renamed the School of Continuing Studies and was further restructured as the Office of Continuing Studies in 1995.

In 2005, the Office of Continuing Studies was again restructured and renamed the College of Professional and Continuing Education.

1946-1953

Dr. Joseph J. Sprissler

1953-1961

Brother Gregory Paul

1961-1969

Brother Francis Emery (Brother Emery Mollenhauer)

1969-1970

Brother Walter Paulits

1970-1977

Thomas M. Coffee, Ph.D.

1977-1984

Brother Claude Demitras

1984-1985

Joseph Brogan, Ph.D.

1985-1994

Glenda Kuhl, Ph.D. (Evening Division and School of Continuing Studies)

1996-2005

Elizabeth Heenan, M.Ed. (Office of Continuing Studies, continued as Assistant Dean of CPCS)