For many alumni of IWU, graduation does not mark the end of formation. It marks a continuation.
That pattern is especially visible among students in IWU’s National and Global (N&G) programs. Designed for working adults, N&G allows students to complete degrees while balancing careers, families, and responsibilities. Increasingly, those same students return years later to continue their education.
For many, the answer goes beyond career advancement. It reflects a deeper process of formation, one that continues shaping how they lead, serve, and live out their faith long after their first degree.
“You are the light of the world,” Jesus tells His followers in Matthew 5:14–16. For some IWU alumni, that calling does not end at graduation. It expands.
For Dora Sanchez and Karla Ontiveros, returning to N&G to pursue a graduate degree became part of that ongoing formation.
B.S. in Management | M.S. in Human Resources | Re-Enrollment Advisor
Dora Sanchez first enrolled at IWU through N&G while working in human resources at a casino where conversations about faith were discouraged. The environment left her searching for work that aligned more closely with her beliefs.
Encouraged by a colleague studying through N&G, Sanchez decided to pursue a bachelor’s degree in management.
“I had to take that leap,” she says. “Do I stay where the money is, or go for something more meaningful?”
Through her studies, she encountered something new: a learning environment where faith and professional life were not separate. That experience reshaped how she understood her work.
Years later, Sanchez returned to N&G to earn a master’s degree in human resources, this time with a clearer sense of purpose. She wanted to lead others with the same faith-integrated perspective she had gained as an undergraduate.
Today she serves as a re-enrollment advisor for N&G, helping adult learners who stepped away from their education find the confidence to return.
“IWU has helped me shine brighter,” she says. “Now I help students shine brighter too.”
Her story reflects a broader pattern. Formation does not stop at completion. It multiplies. What she experienced as a student now shapes how she invites others back into that same process.
B.S. in Education | M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction | Associate Professor, School of Teacher Education
Karla Ontiveros also began her IWU journey through N&G, earning her bachelor’s degree while balancing work and family life.
When she returned to pursue a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction, the decision was rooted in trust.
“I felt like I could trust the program,” she says. “My first degree at N&G had already shown me it was designed for people like me.”
That design is distinct. Unlike traditional residential programs, N&G meets students in the middle of full, complex lives. Coursework is not removed from daily responsibilities. It is integrated with them.
For Ontiveros, that meant what she learned could be applied immediately in her classroom.
In 2009, she joined the IWU faculty and now serves as an associate professor in the School of Teacher Education, preparing future educators.
Today she reminds her students that formation is not confined to a single season of life.
“No matter where you are,” she tells them, “that place is important to your development.”
Stories like these point to a larger reality within N&G.
Adult learners are not stepping into formation for the first time. They are returning to it, often with greater clarity, deeper responsibility, and a stronger sense of calling. The structure of N&G allows that formation to happen in real time, shaped by workplaces, families, and communities where students are already living and leading.
In that way, N&G differs from traditional undergraduate pathways. Formation is not centered in residence halls or campus life. It unfolds in the context of everyday responsibilities, where learning and practice are inseparable.
For Sanchez and Ontiveros, returning to IWU did more than advance their careers. It deepened their calling and expanded their influence.
The light that began during their first experience at IWU did not end with graduation.
Through continued learning, it grew stronger and began to reach others.
