Professional Education

What Professional Education does

Professional Education is the open-enrollment, non-credit side of Continuing Education, run out of Business & Industry Outreach in Millwright Hall. Its courses are for people who already have jobs: a machinist who needs to program the new machine, a lead hand who has just become a supervisor, a buyer who orders 40,000 boxes a month and wants to know what an edge crush number means. There is no application, no transcript to send and no grade beyond pass or not yet.

In 2025–26 there were 1,140 enrollments from 212 employers, and 71% of the fees were paid by an employer rather than the participant. Courses meet in the same labs and shops Porter students use. They are taught by Porter faculty and by practitioners who have done the work in Valley plants. For training built around one company’s equipment, see corporate training. For process-improvement consulting, see manufacturing extension services.

2026–27 course catalog

Dates run from November 2026 to April 2027. The Porter Lifelong Learning Institute, which offers courses for adults 50 and over, is a separate program; see PLLI.

Pricing for employers

• Group pricing. Three to five people from one employer in the same section get 10% off each seat. Six or more get 15% off.
• Private cohorts. Any course can run for a single employer with up to 16 people, on campus or at your plant, on your shift schedule. Private cohorts are usually quoted at 70–80% of 16 list-price seats, and we can use your equipment and parts.
• Invoicing. We bill the employer directly on net-30 terms, accept purchase orders, and send a completion letter and attendance record for each participant.
• Grants. Valley Workforce Board incumbent-worker grants cover up to half the fee for employers with fewer than 250 workers in Porter County and the five neighboring counties. In 2025–26, 64 employers used them.
• Alumni get 10% off any course. This discount cannot be combined with group pricing.

CEUs, certificates and credit

Each course awards continuing education units at one CEU per ten contact hours, recorded on a Porter non-credit transcript you can request at any time. Completers get a certificate and a digital badge. Some courses also prepare people for an outside exam or test, and each course page says so plainly when that is the case. Professional Education does not claim authorizations it does not hold.

Non-credit courses are not degree credit. Several do line up with credit programs, though. After enrolling in a degree or certificate, completers of CNC Programming, Project Management Essentials and Data Analytics with Spreadsheets can ask for prior learning assessment toward the matching credit course. Working adults considering a degree should also look at adult and returning students and the graduate certificate in project management.

Policies

• Minimum enrollment. A section runs with eight people. If it does not fill, we tell you ten business days before the start and give a full refund.
• Cancellations. You get a full refund up to ten business days before the start and 50% after that. Once a course starts there is no refund. An employer can substitute another person at any time at no charge.
• Weather. If the university closes (see weather closures), the session is made up on a date the class chooses.
• Access. Tell us about accommodations at registration. Every room we use is accessible, and an ASL interpreter needs five business days’ notice.
• Parking is free in Lot C1 for evening and Saturday sessions. For daytime sessions, buy a $6 daily visitor permit. See visitor parking.