Midyear milestones
In spite of cold temperatures and the promise of snow, the mood was warm as graduate and undergraduate students received degrees at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s 43rd Midyear Commencement ceremony Saturday, Dec. 15.
Of the more than 1,000 students who graduated, eight had returned to UW Oshkosh as part of the Graduation Project. The program allows UW Oshkosh students whose progress toward a degree is interrupted to return to campus to finish their education with advising support from the Adult Nontraditional Student Resource Office.
“I always counted on finishing, but when you get older, life gets in the way,” said Brenda Hallman, 47, who received a bachelor of accounting degree at the midyear ceremony. “There were people at the Graduation Project who worked with me to see what I needed to do to finish those credits, and then they connected me with an adviser, who helped me to get into the class I needed.”
Carla Roberts, also a nontraditional student, served as the graduating class speaker. In her address, she spoke of the challenges she faced and the sacrifices she made as a single mother of two going back to school to get a degree.
“When I came to UW Oshkosh two years ago as a nontraditional student, life for me was at its most turbulent, terrifying and tense,” Roberts said. “Today I reached a goal 20 years in the making.”
Visit http://www.uwosh.edu/engage/bonuscontent/roberts.php to see Carla Roberts' Commencement speech.
Podcasting gives class a ‘tune’ up
Don’t assume students darting around campus with earbuds are rockin’ out to their favorite band — it might be a professor at the top of their playlist.
With the application of the podcasting initiative, facilitated through the Instructional Resource Center (IRC), University of Wisconsin Oshkosh students can review lectures while they exercise, watch demonstrations over coffee or brush up on exam material between classes.
Podcasting allows faculty to record lectures and easily upload the audio or video files to iTunes U. Students need only the Internet to access the lectures and demonstrations anytime, anywhere.
Henry Winterfeldt, an associate professor in the department of human services and professional leadership, began podcasting demonstrations for his instructional technology course.
“I demonstrated how to use specific programs so students could use the information at their leisure,” Winterfeldt said. “Because I did the demonstration online, I could spend time in class sorting out problems the students might have.”
Though the transition to the cutting-edge technology may seem daunting to some, students exhibit an overwhelmingly positive reaction to podcasting.
“My teachers provide a lot of relevant information in my classes, and it is a helpful resource to go back and have something to listen to,” said junior Kristine Grill, a political science major.
Going Green
One of the world’s largest Earth Charter conferences was held on the UW Oshkosh campus in October. During the event, Chancellor Richard H. Wells unveiled a draft of the University’s Campus Sustainability Plan. UW Oshkosh is committed to following “green,” or earth-friendly,
principles, building on the Green Master Plan adopted in 2003. The campus leads the state in renewable energy use and ranks 23rd in the nation among all colleges and universities using it. For more information, visit www.uwosh.edu/assets/announcement/sustainability.
University leader in national movement for accountability
The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh will become an early adopter of a national tool known as the Voluntary System of Accountability’s College Portrait, which is designed to assist prospective students in selecting a college or university.
The VSA, a program developed to provide greater accountability by public institutions through accessible, transparent and comparable information, is jointly sponsored by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges. The College Portrait is a Web-based reporting system that provides a template for the communication of VSA accountability data to prospective students and their families.
“UW Oshkosh is pleased to be a leader in this endeavor,” said Chancellor Richard H. Wells. “Defining ‘quality education’ is critical for the University of Wisconsin System to benchmark educational quality for the future.”
To aid prospective students and their parents in selecting a college, the portrait for each university will include:
- Descriptive data about the university, its programs and the characteristics of its students.
- A mechanism for the students to calculate their estimated cost of attendance.
- Various success measures, such as graduation rates and continued enrollment of students who transfer into other universities.
- A measure of post-graduation plans.
- Direct learning outcome measurement of the value added by the university to undergraduates in the areas of critical thinking, analytic reasoning and written communication ability.
- Indicators of the engagement exhibited by the campus’s students in several strategic areas.
More than 80 higher education leaders from 70 public colleges and universities contributed to the development of the VSA program and national data reporting template. Wells chaired one of the three task forces that created the College Portrait template.
LEARN MORE AT www.uwosh.edu/chancellor/systemofaccountability.
Save the date
The community is invited to take part in the eighth-annual Fall Fest on the Fox celebration at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Sept. 19–20. The event is the University’s way of making neighbors in the Oshkosh community feel a little bit more at home when on campus.
Campus clips
- UW Oshkosh Today (www.uwosh.edu/news), a new online publication produced by the University’s Integrated Marketing and Communications (IMC) department, presents news and feature articles for and about students, alumni, faculty, staff and the greater community. Stories include highlights about faculty research and features profiling the off-campus achievements of the University’s diverse population. Other UW Oshkosh Today features include local weather reports, links to University-related Web sites and top headlines at CNN. To offer feedback, e-mail uwot@uwosh.edu.
- The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh opened a new multistory campus parking ramp on the corner of High Avenue and Osceola Street. The parking structure, containing 448 stalls, is the first-ever built at a UW System comprehensive university.
- The UW Oshkosh chapter of the National Broadcasting Society swept the regional awards this year, winning 14 out of the 25 honors given.
- UW Oshkosh introduced 11 German nursing students to U.S. culture this past fall as part of a month-long exchange program co-sponsored by North Central Technical College. Students from the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany, had the opportunity to improve their knowledge of the U.S. healthcare system.
- In one of the first collaborations of its type in the UW System, UW-Green Bay and UW Oshkosh created the University of Wisconsin Northeast Wisconsin (NEW) Learning Center. The center offers courses that are part of the two universities’ new joint bachelor of applied studies (BAS) degree program. The center will make a bachelor’s degree more accessible to northeastern Wisconsin residents.