Graduate Studies

The Office of Graduate Studies serves the graduate education needs of the Fox Valley region through a broad array of degrees, certificates and post-graduate offerings that emphasize educational quality, strong community connections and flexibility in program delivery for learners of many professions.

Highlights 

• The Reading Department and the Wisconsin State Reading Association (WSRA) jointly offered and sponsored a creative offering: a hybrid and onsite reading master's course (705) commencing at the WSRA State Conference in spring 2010.

• A student cohort of the graduate Reading program focusing on reading literacy has been developed for the Lac du Flambeau Public Schools located on the Lac du Flambeau reservation. A cohort with the College of Menominee Nation also was formed for the fall 2010 semester. The purpose is to help teachers earn their 316 certification in Reading and, ultimately, to bring more effective reading instruction to Lac du Flambeau and Menominee nation.
• As a part of upcoming strategic planning for the University, the Reading program has identified initiatives to meet goals regarding diversity, engaged learning, community engagement, student excellence and inclusive excellence.
• The Professional Counseling program has initiated its new digitalized counseling lab program, which features the Landro Play Analyzer. This program enables student and supervisor to "tag" specific portions of counseling sessions for use in supervision, learning, and feedback sessions. This state-of-the-art program was gained with a laboratory modification grant through the College of Education and Human Services.
• The Professional Counseling program has moved forward (fall 2009) with a newly revised portfolio program for students, whereby students’ learning and professional growth can be assessed more efficiently and productively through a range of criteria. The portfolios also enable the program to integrate the portfolio data to address overall program assessment for the department, thus making its strategic planning more focused and productive.

• The Professional Counseling program was recognized recently with two distinct awards. In October 2009 at the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) National Conference in San Diego, the department was honored as the recipient of the North Central Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (NCACES) 2009 Innovative Counselor Education Program Award.
• One hundred percent  of students who received their MS in Experimental Psychology have either found immediate employment in the health industry or continued their education in doctoral programs.

• The Graduate Studies Office, with development done by the Office of Integrated Marketing and Communication, launched a greatly improved web site.
• The Graduate Council, along with the Graduate Education Development Team, formed and charged by the Chancellor and Provost, wrote and adopted a strategic plan and initiatives for the promotion and enhancement of graduate education.
• The Graduate Studies office, in conjunction with the Graduate Council, implemented the use of an electronic information exchange and storage system (TitanFiles) to reduce paper use.
• The Educational Leadership program enhanced its accessibility and affordability by approving to reduce their credits to degree from 36 to 30 effective fall 2010.
• The first cohort of Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) students began their program in summer 2010.
• Planning is underway for a collaborative Clinical Nurse Leader graduate emphasis with UW-Green Bay. The program will be 100 percent online.
• The College of Nursing underwent a successful Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) site visit in April 2010, in which both the undergraduate and graduate programs were granted the maximum 10-year accreditation.

  Throughout the year a number of graduate students were recognized for their academic work and presented their research to colleagues and communities:

• Rhonda Mesko gave a presentation about viruses at a regional meeting of the American Society for Microbiology;
• Ryan Koenigs won the 2010 Sander Award from the Walleye Technical Committee.  He also gave several presentations about walleye age validation at scientific conferences;
• Jessica Dorschner won a best poster award for her presentation about isoprene production at the Annual Midwest / Southeast Photosynthesis Meeting;
• Tim Anderson gave a presentation about aquatic insects (chironomids) in Lake Winnebago at the joint meeting of the North American Benthological Society and the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography.

Click here to read last year's report.