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In year of new beginnings, enrollment steady as UW Oshkosh readies for 2014-15

by | Aug 26, 2014 | Campus Life, Headlines

Check out the schedule for Opening Day 2014: uwosh.edu/openingday

In a year of new beginnings, enrollment projections suggest the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh may be in for the proverbial “broken record.”

That’s what the statistical forecast suggests as the state’s third-largest university gets ready to kick off its 2014-15 academic year, one already certain to be historic as the search for its 11th Chancellor winds down and the next leader of the institution is installed.

In late-August 2013, the University projected a student-body headcount that, at that time looked like it would be close to the fall 2012 mark of 13,513 students. However, by January 2014, bolstered, in part, by strong enrollment in the highly respected and successful pre-college-credit Cooperative Academic Partnership Program (CAPP), UW Oshkosh’s final, official enrollment had actually reached a new record-high: 13,903 students.

The latest, fall 2014 enrollment projections suggest UW Oshkosh total student headcount will be approximately 100 students up or down from that 13,903 total. January 2015’s official numbers will reveal the final picture — a picture that could include another record-breaking enrollment. Once again, strong CAPP enrollment projections and statistical models that suggest increases in the numbers of returning freshmen students moving into their sophomore year could help UW Oshkosh reach a new headcount record.

Interim Chancellor Petra Roter

That is a welcome forecast given the demographic trough Wisconsin continues finds itself in. While long projected and no surprise to UW System institutions that have been tracking Badger State births for years, the number of Wisconsin high school seniors continues to remain at historic lows. Fewer outbound high school seniors means fewer inbound college students.

“What is encouraging is that all of the hard work of our faculty, staff, students, alumni and University partners continues to keep enrollment strong and stable,” UW Oshkosh Interim Chancellor Petra Roter said.

“Our UW Oshkosh community applies incredible vision and effort toward developing new, world-class programs and keeping our campus modernized and welcoming,” Roter said. “That is helping us keep enrollment strong and will, no doubt, ensure our next UW Oshkosh Chancellor hits the ground running, benefitting from the highly-regarded reputation for excellence and opportunity we have, together, nurtured.”

 

“Outstanding stewardship of this institution by faculty, staff and students continues to help us address the state’s demographic challenges,” said Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Lane Earns. “We enter year-two of the University Studies Program, our transformation of general education, with good momentum and student success. The faculty-designers of the program and its many new courses are eager for the new semester to start and venture out into the community like never before.”

Another projected increase in the number of students of color enrolling at UW Oshkosh and a projected, almost 30 percent increase in the number of Graduate Studies program applications are more encouraging signs headed into the 2014-15 academic year.

Its start also brings about a number of new programs, initiatives and openings, including:

  • The final weeks of the search for the institution’s 11th Chancellor. Chancellor Richard Wells, who served UW Oshkosh for 14 years, will officially retire on Aug. 31. UW Oshkosh’s Chancellor 21-member search-and screen committee aims to designate finalist candidates for the job and welcome them to campus for final interviews and campus-community meet-and-greet opportunities in September. The new Chancellor is expected to be appointed in October with an anticipated start date, according to original timetables, of January 1, 2015.
  • The launch of the University Studies Program’s (USP’s) “Quest III” phase and UW Oshkosh’s new, collaboratively-developed engineering technology degrees. Quest III of the USP, once classes begin on Wednesday, Sept. 3, will see approximately 800 to 900 sophomore students fan out into the community as part of a “community experience” – a wave of engrossing new courses led, and, in many cases, designed by faculty members that connect student learning with local nonprofits and other organizations (topics, for example, range from developing sustainable food to the history of philanthropy). The courses will give hundreds of sophomore students incredibly high-impact learning opportunities well beyond the conventional classrooms’ walls.
  • Startup of three, responsive engineering technology majors — the result of a hyper-collaborative initiative to develop new knowledge and skill in the region. The mechanical, electrical and environmental engineering technology majors were developed by faculty from the 13 Northeast Wisconsin Educational Resource Alliance (NEW ERA) partner colleges and institutions and by leaders of regional businesses, including those within the Northeast Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance. Students can begin their academic studies at any one of the NEW ERA institutions and colleges and finish the program and earning their degrees at either UW-Green Bay or UW Oshkosh.
  • The dedication of Lincoln Hall – new home to UW Oshkosh’s Division of Lifelong Learning and Community Engagement and Children’s Learning and Care Center – on Sept. 16. The dedication is part of the UW Oshkosh Foundation’s 9th annual “Report to the Community” and Community Breakfast lineup. Lincoln Hall is the renovated, former Oshkosh Area School District Lincoln Elementary School. In another stroke of sustainability, the University worked with the school district a few years ago to acquire, renovate and reuse the building, which is on the edge of campus at Wisconsin Street at Algoma Boulevard.

 

“The new academic year always brings a wave of new beginnings, however, this year, we are particularly excited by the next steps for the USP and our collaborative engineering technology programs — two, prominent academic endeavors that continue to draw national attention and praise to UW Oshkosh,” Earns said.

Roter said the campus community is likewise ready for the transition to its next Chancellor. She applauded the work of the search-and-screen committee, whose members spent their spring and summer representing the institution, giving their time and working thoughtfully to recruit, interview, vet and pare down a list of Chancellor candidates to a handful of finalists, one of which will be the next leader of Wisconsin’s third-largest university.

“We look forward to bringing our finalists to UW Oshkosh during the next month,” Roter said. “We know there is going to be a lot of understandable interest in who becomes UW Oshkosh’s next Chancellor. We will be keep the campus and broader communities up to date on the process and encourage faculty, staff, students, alumni and other stakeholders in Oshkosh and the New North to meet the finalists and learn more about their background and vision for our institution. This academic year is about to get off to an exciting start.”

 

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