college report
College of Education and Human Services
The College of Education and Human Services is distinctive in its commitment to preparing “Educators/Professionals as Caring Intellectuals.” This conceptual framework drives all decisions made by College faculty and staff. The framework focuses on the preparation of the following broad outcomes for educators, human services professionals and counselors: knowledge of content, culture and learning; understanding of pedagogy, diversity and curriculum; and the skills and dispositions of reflective professionals, skillful practitioners, change agents and lifelong learners.
Community
- Students in the College teach a unique, independent decision-making course to incarcerated women at area correctional institutions and have reached more than 200 individuals in the past three years.
- Patricia Scanlan was elected president of the Wisconsin State Reading Association—one of the largest educational organizations in the state. She is the seventh faculty member of the College to be elected to this position. More presidents have come from UW Oshkosh than any other institution in the state. In addition, Steve Rose has been elected president of the Wisconsin Council of Social Studies.
- The UW Oshkosh National Writing Project celebrated its 20th anniversary, making it one of the longest-running, professional development programs for teachers in the state. The Fox Valley Writing Project is a consortium between local districts and UW Oshkosh. It received a $2,000 grant from the Frank C. Shattuck Community Fund. This grant provided scholarships for students to attend workshops during the summer Young Writers' Camp.
- Education students continued to provide diagnostic and tutoring services for area students with needs. Prior to graduation, human services graduates donated thousands of hours of service to area agencies and organizations.
- Judy Lambert and Lorraine Gerhart received funding to offer the first Literacy Standards Institute. Teams of area educators participated in the institute.
- Margaret Genisio received continued funding for the Greater Oshkosh Even Start program (GOES), which serves families in need of support for education. GOES received a $107,341 grant from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
- The College hosted the Bilingual Reading Conference for area educators and families during summer 2004.
- Judith Hankes and Gerry Fast received a $21,200 grant for the Intertribal Pre-College Program from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
- Kelli Saginak and Kristi Hill, a counselor education graduate student, had a Student Civic Engagement grant funded by the Campus Compact. The project involved university students eating lunch with sixth-graders at Traeger Middle School in Oshkosh and talking about civic and social issues.
Teaching
- The College implemented the Praxis II requirements mandated by the Wisconsin Department of Instruction. Several teacher education students received the Educational Testing Service Recognition of Excellence for their outstanding performance on the PRAXIS II exam. In seven content areas, 100 percent of students passed the test on their first attempt.
- The College implemented the second phase of its performance-based assessment system for admission II, prior to student teaching. The College also developed and approved the final phase of it performance-based assessment for program completion exit requirements to be implemented in fall 2005.
- College faculty identified and approved specific knowledge, skills and dispositions as refined outcomes for its Educator as Caring Intellectual conceptual framework.
- UW Oshkosh collaborated with UW-Sheboygan to offer a master’s of science degree in education, emphasizing curriculum and instruction. The three-year program, designed to develop today’s professional teachers, is accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). Of the 36 credits required for the degree, UW Oshkosh offers seven.
- The College developed three certificate programs for educators, including social justice, global education and instructional technology. Perry Rettig and Courtney Bauder presented the global education program proposal at the "Engaging the Global Community: Best Practices in International Education" conference in Lake Geneva.
- The College started two new international programs in Uganda and New Zealand, funded by internal grants. Alfred Kisubi and Melissa Stinnett guided the African and New Zealand projects, respectively. The College continued to support an international program with the University of Thessaly in Volos, Greece.
- Rob Cimera, Susan Cramer, Penny Garcia, Billie Jo Rylance, Barb Van Haren, and Henry Winterfeldt received summer stipends from a UW System Teacher Quality Initiative grant. They developed curricular materials to support the professional development of educators through alternative delivery models. John Lemberger, Peter Meyerson and Susie Sandrin received a $68,899 grant for a Children’s Literature and Science Project from the Title II Higher Education Professional Development Program.
- Lenore Wineberg was awarded a Faculty Development Undergraduate Student and Faculty Collaborative Research project for her work with student Lisa Barnes. Their project is entitled "Urban Field Experiences: Evaluating the Impact on Pre-Service Teachers' Attitudes and Interests in Teaching."
Scholarship
- A College faculty colloquia included presenters Melissa Stinnett, Theresa Duren, Steve Rose, Penny Garcia and Peter Meyerson. Marguerite Parks held a separate colloquium with students reporting from the White Privilege Conference.
- The College is home to Human Services Today, the only online international journal in the human services field. College faculty members edit the journal, which is advised by an editorial board that has grown to include members from five different countries.
- Thomas Fischer and Wayne Wanger produced the critical annual study “Teacher Supply and Demand” for Wisconsin. This was the seventh year of their leadership in the study.
- Susan Cramer and JoAnn Carr, of UW-Madison, received a $49,000 grant, entitled “Improving Access to Learning Objects for Teacher Education,” from the UW System. Ling-Ling Tsao received a grant from UWO’s Faculty Development Board for her work entitled “Social Intervention for Children with Autism.”
- Judy Lambert and Marguerite Parks were two of the first four teaching scholars supported by the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Initiative on campus. Lambert’s research project was entitled "The Evolution of a Course: Reading 305." Park's research project was "Colorblind or Not: Who We Are, What We See." Patricia Scanlan contributed her article “Grading Students’ Performances in Real World Settings” to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning website. Suzanne Fondrie was named a UW Oshkosh Teaching Scholar. Her project is entitled "Student Expectancies and Democratic Learning Pedagogy."
- Kathy Henn-Reinke wrote the book The Reading Club: A Guide to a Literacy Intervention Program for Reluctant Readers in Spanish and English, which was published by Scarecrow Education. Jean Erdman had poetry published in the Wisconsin Association for Middle Level Education Journal in spring 2004 and the Wisconsin State Reading Association Journal. She conducted a poetry reading at the Wisconsin Association of Teachers of English/Language Arts Annual Meeting. Project Adelante Co-Director Don Hones edited the book Our Stories: Immigrant and Refugee Families in Wisconsin, which is produced by Document Services. Judith Hankes and Gerry Fast published the book “Lost, Found and Found Again” and the game “Taiwan’s Math Path,” available online at ritesandrightrep.com.
Partnership
- The College is a partner in two license renewal centers, critical new forums for PI 34 license renewal for area educators. The College also partnered with and participated on the advisory boards with CESA #6 in the Center for Professional Excellence and a consortium of local school districts in the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. Thirty faculty and staff from COEHS and COLS have now been trained to serve as Institute of Higher Education representatives on new Professional Development Teams.
- The College partners with the College of Menominee Nation on a federal grant to prepare Native American teachers for classrooms. The first cohort of students has completed its first year of preparation.
- Susan Finkel received a UW System and Waisman Center State Improvement Grant “Accelerated Licensing Program for Early Childhood Professionals” to strengthen and expand the articulation agreement between UW Oshkosh and the technical colleges to help early childhood educators complete licensure requirements. Lenore Wineberg was a collaborator on another UW System and Waisman Center grant entitled "Early Childhood Special Education Collaborative Online Master's Program."
- Michael Beeth developed a program to encourage a local K-12 teacher to co-teach the elementary science methods class at UW Oshkosh. The partnership enhances the preparation that UWO students receive by merging the practical experiences of highly qualified teachers from an area school district with the pre-service science methods course. Beeth also was awarded a $4,350 grant for “The Applicability of University Coursework to Pre-Service Teachers” from UWO’s Faculty Development Board.
- Scherie Lampe and Joan Simmons were appointed to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Administrative Content Standards Task Force. Michael Ford served on the DPI PI 34 IHE Task Force. Bert Chiang, Barb Van Haren and Sue Russ received a $25,000 grant from CESA #1 for an evaluation of 31 Wisconsin pilot schools participating in a statewide initiative project on professional collaboration. This supplements a previously received $200,000 Special Education Eligibility Criteria Study grant.
Stewardship
- The College newsletter, an outreach vehicle for constituency groups, was disseminated electronically.
- Two of the four Teachers of the Year honored by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction during the 2004-2005 school year were College alumni. Also, an alumnus became the first science educator in the state to ever receive the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Foundation Educator Award.
- The College hosted two area educators—Lynn Betts (Reading) and Cynthia Smazinski (Special Education)—at its annual Professor for a Day Celebration.