Check it out…

The upcoming “Planting the Seeds of Inclusion: Supporting the Growth of All Children” conference, which will be held at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh March 3, will be no different. On a larger scale, the conference serves as a classroom. The annual topic and focus: Inclusive education.

“We’re the only conference in the state that pulls together teachers, administrators, related service professionals and families to look at inclusive education from this broad of a perspective,” said Stacey Skoning, chairperson of the conference, which is hosted annually by the College of Education and Human Services’ departments of curriculum and instruction, reading, special education and educational leadership.

The goal of the conference is to bring together professionals and families who support the growth and learning of all children, from birth through age 22, in inclusive settings.

Skoning said the topic of inclusive education is so important because “our children with and without disabilities live together in the same neighborhoods and will work together in their future careers.”

With more than 20 breakout sessions, the conference will provide practical information and training on a variety of topics, which include educating children with medical needs, behavioral interventions, accessibility, models of co-teaching, reading and math instruction, assistive technology and more.

This year’s keynote speaker Lynn Manfredi/Petitt, a nationally recognized early childhood expert, care-provider and co-author of Circles of Love and Relationships, The Heart of Quality Care, will share her experiences and thoughts around relationships. She’s been caring for children of all ages for almost 30 years and stresses nurturing adult relationships.

Annually, Skoning said, the conference attracts more than 300 people, including many students learning to be teachers at UW Oshkosh.

“For our students, it’s an introduction for them in engaging in professional development, which is something they have to do to maintain their teaching licenses,” she said. “A lot of our student teachers are still placed in segregated classrooms so it’s good for them to see how inclusion works.”

New this year, the conference will also include a resource fair, which is open to the public regardless of participation in the conference. The resource fair is open to all, but is intended as a one-stop resource for those who have or work with children who require special education services.

Cost of the conference is $60 for professional educators and $30 for students and family members of children with disabilities. Students, educators, therapists, caregivers, teachers and parents are welcome; preregistration is suggested.

Learn more:

• Planting the Seeds of Inclusion: Supporting the Growth of All Children
• College of Education and Human Services

Burgos

Irma Burgos, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh director of the Center for Academic Support and Diversity, will receive the UW System Regents Individual Diversity Award on Feb. 10. The following release was posted by the the University of Wisconsin System announcing Burgos and other winners of fourth annual Regents Diversity Awards throughout the UW System:

MADISON, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents will honor the fourth annual winners of its Regents Diversity Awards on February 10 in Madison. The awards program was established by the Board to recognize and support individuals and programs in the UW System that foster access and success in university life for historically underrepresented populations.

The awards honor winners in three distinct categories. This year’s winners are:

• Individual category: Irma Burgos, Director of the Center for Academic Support and Diversity, UW-Oshkosh. Burgos’ commitment to the educational success of students of color attending UW-Oshkosh spans more than two decades. In that time, she has held numerous positions (advisor, counselor, career planner, tutor coordinator, and program manager) and carried out responsibilities aimed at increasing the retention and graduation rates of students of color. The Multicultural Retention Programs Tracker initiative, which Burgos developed, is an early warning system to alert campus staff, faculty, and administrators when students of color are struggling academically or socially. Burgos previously received the TRIO Achievers Award, the UW System Women of Color Award, and the 2011 College of Letters and Science Diversity Award.
• Team category: UW-Eau Claire Honors Program. To address an honors population that previously was dominantly white, Director Jeff Vahlbusch and Faculty Fellow David Jones developed and implemented, with the help of a campus-wide team, an innovative holistic admissions pilot project that takes into account other factors such as service and extra-curricular activities in addition to academic performance and potential. Since 2009, when the program was revamped, representation of students of color in the UW-Eau Claire Honors Program has increased from 1.7% to 9.6% in 2010. As a result, a larger number of deserving and capable students are taking part in high-impact practices that are known to be powerful in enhancing student learning and success.
• Institution/unit category: UW-Green Bay’s First Nations Studies Program. The interdisciplinary degree program works collaboratively with the Oneida, Menominee, Mohican (Stockbridge-Munsee), and Brotherton Nations to break down stereotypes and foster a greater understanding of First Nations peoples in Wisconsin. First Nations Studies incorporates the teaching and learning approaches of tribal people, offering students a new way to learn within the academy. The program emphasizes the oral tradition of First Nations people as preserved and shared by tribal Elders. In partnership with UW-Green Bay’s Professional Program in Education, the First Nations Studies program also has created an innovative Fusion model to teach teachers how to deliver culturally relevant instruction about the history, culture, and tribal sovereignty of First Nations people. The program has grown almost 30 majors and minors in five years.

“The people and programs we are honoring with our Regents Diversity Awards are shining examples of how innovative thinking and dedication can come together to impact students’ lives in very real ways,” said Regent Judy Crain, who chaired the special Regents’ committee to determine the winners. “While their methods may differ, they all share a keen respect for human differences, attentiveness to the learning process, and responsiveness to students and their educational needs. We are proud to recognize their accomplishments.”

Other Regents on the committee include Regent Edmund Manydeeds and Regent Chuck Pruitt.

The winners will be honored at an awards ceremony on Feb. 10, in conjunction with the Board of Regents meeting. Each winner will receive funding to support professional development or to continue the program being honored.

Read more:

• UW System News

The University has become only the 25^th institution to date in North America and the first in Wisconsin to earn the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s (AASHE’s) Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS) “Gold” rating.

“This is the most detailed and extensive externally-driven assessment that we have ever done that confirms that we are one of the leading universities in the country for sustainability,” said UW Oshkosh Director of Sustainability Michael Lizotte. “In the past we have been making this claim based on expert opinion,… but this is by far the best measure we have of it.”

AASHE collaboratively designed the STARS award assessment to: “Provide a framework for understanding sustainability in all sectors of higher education; enable meaningful comparisons over time and across institutions using a common set of measurements developed with broad participation from the campus sustainability community; create incentives for continual improvement toward sustainability; facilitate information sharing about higher education sustainability practices and performance; and build a stronger, more diverse campus sustainability community.”

UW Oshkosh is one of 313 institutions to have registered for STARS. Upon approval of its extensive submission on Feb. 4, the institution became the 25^th to earn the Gold status – the highest echelon yet achieved by the 156 institutions in the United States and Canada to have earned a STARS rating. Only 16 percent of STARS-rated institutions have earned “Gold” status. UW Oshkosh joins two others comparable, comprehensive institutions (Cal. St. U. Monterey Bay and the University of Northern Iowa) to have earned Gold STARS status. Other public and private institutions that have attained Gold ratings include prestigious research universities such as Duke University, Arizona State University and Cornell University.

While there is a “Platinum” designation in STARS, no institution has yet earned it, Lizotte said. To date, UW Green Bay and UW River Falls are the other two UW institutions to have achieved a STARS designation, each earning Silver status.

“I am proud that our University of Wisconsin System institutions working on sustainability have committed to high standards for measuring and reporting results to the public,” said UW System President Kevin P. Reilly. “The achievement of UW-Oshkosh, UW-Green Bay and UW-River Falls shows the dedication of our faculty, students, and staff to continue the long legacy of environmental awareness and stewardship in Wisconsin.”

While UW Oshkosh has been repeatedly honored with listings among The Princeton Review’s “Guide to Green Colleges” and the Sierra Club’s “Cool Schools” designations, Lizotte said he and campus administrators believe the rigorous and all-encompassing STARS assessment process is the strongest, most-quantifiable validation of UW Oshkosh’s sustainability practices yet. It reinforces a point that he and other members of the University’s Sustainability Team have stressed since the Campus Sustainability Plan was established in 2008 – that sustainability is about far more than just “being green.”

“Our commitment to engagement, collaboration and ‘green’ environmental principles guides our strategic and operational planning, while our dedication to liberal education reform, student success services, faculty development, sustainability and integrated marketing and communications makes our academic community distinct,” UW Oshkosh Chancellor Richard Wells states in the letter that accompanied the institution’s STARS submission. “We have used these strengths to develop a truly campus-wide approach to sustainability.”

UW Oshkosh was one of STARS charter participants and one of 31 institutions to participate in the pilot program. Lizotte said there was originally some skepticism about how comprehensively and fairly an assessment like STARS could be designed, authentically rating all the varying facets of sustainability within a University community. However, Facilities Director Steve Arndt and other sustainability leaders on campus helped AASHE shepherd creation of a rating – not ranking — instrument that genuinely and transparently gauges the variety of widely-accepted sustainability targets at an institution.

STARS point-based system covers four categories, including “Education & Research,” “Operations,” “Planning, Administration & Engagement” and “Innovation.” Within each category, subcategories offer a number of points for institutions to apply for and, if successful, claim. An institution’s STARS score is based on the average of the percentage of applicable points it earns in each of the three main categories, according to AASHE.

Lizotte said UW Oshkosh’s commitment to campus planning earned it every single point in that subcategory. Earning nearly every point in the “Diversity” subcategory was “very pleasing to see,” he said. The University also scored well in the “investment” subcategory, he said, noting the UW Oshkosh Foundation’s support for innovative, renewable energy and high-impact learning facilities such as the institution’s dry fermentation anaerobic biodigester.

“A lot of universities aren’t doing this or are not able to do it because they haven’t decided to have staff work on this issue,” UW Oshkosh Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services Tom Sonnleitner said. “In our case, having a full time director means we can measure our progress and, more importantly, follow up with comprehensive actions plans where our efforts might be falling short.”

Institutions have been submitting STARS data since 2010, according to the AASHE’s website for the rating system.

UW Oshkosh’s review and submittal process was a long and involved but, in itself, incredibly rewarding Lizotte said. The final report is nearly 230 pages and includes an opening, sustainability-minded plea to readers to think twice before hitting “print.”

“It took a little more than a year to complete, so, it was that extensive,” he said. “We got a lot of help from STEP (Student Titan Employment Program) interns to get the work done. It involved a lot of interviews on campus and enhanced our concentration on areas we didn’t have fully addressed in our sustainability plan, including diversity, human resources and investment.”

Lizotte said it was the cooperation and collaboration of the entire 13,500-student and more-than 1,700-employee campus that affirmed the institution-wide embrace of sustainability.

“For me, it was a really great way to build relationships and talk to a much wider variety of people on campus about sustainability and how are they related to it,” he said.

About AASHE:

AASHE is an association of colleges and universities working to create a sustainable future. AASHE’s mission is to empower higher education to lead the sustainability transformation. It provides resources, professional development and a network of support to enable institutions of higher education to model and advance sustainability in everything they do, from governance and operations to education and research.

Read more:

• Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education STARS
• UW Oshkosh STARS ratings
• UW Oshkosh Sustainability

Miazga will be honored at the Russ Young Awards Banquet on Saturday, Feb. 18 at the Hilton Garden Inn of Oshkosh, 1355 W. 20th Avenue. The guest speaker for the event is former Green Bay Packer running back William Henderson.

Tickets to the banquet can be purchased at Bergstrom GM of Oshkosh, 355 N. Washburn and University Books & More in UW Oshkosh’s Reeve Memorial Union, 748 Algoma Boulevard.

The Russ Young Leadership and Achievement Award, established in 2009, recognizes individuals who demonstrate the ideals of Russ Young’s legacy through their record of accomplishments, community service, moral character and positive contributions to the world of sports. Young served as the head football coach at UW Oshkosh from 1963-76.

Miazga played tight end for UW Oshkosh from 1970-73. He was most proud of his contributions to the 1972 team that won the Wisconsin State University Conference (WSUC) championship with an 8-0 record (8-2 overall).

Upon graduating from UW-Oshkosh in 1974, Miazga moved back to Rhinelander and started employment with Oneida Sales and Service, a beer distribution company owned by his father. Miazga later took over the company and expanded its region from the Rhinelander area to most of northern Wisconsin.

Throughout his business career, Miazga has been very involved in the Rhinelander community and with UW-Oshkosh athletics. He helped the Rhinelander School District with its fundraising efforts to renovate the Rhinelander High School Gymnasium (now named the Miazga Community Gymnasium). Miazga also supported the UW-Stevens Point forestry program in the Rhinelander area. In addition, he has been a strong advocate of UW Oshkosh athletics and an active supporter of the school’s football program.

• For more information on the Russ Young Awards Banquet and the UW Oshkosh Titan Touchdown Club, contact John Morelli at (920) 216-0591 or jmorelli1218@sbcglobal.net.

Read more:

• UW Oshkosh Football

In December alone, more than 2 million apps were downloaded worldwide. That’s about 76 apps per second, said Matthew David, vice president of sales and evangelism for The App Builder, which is a downloadable software that helps businesses or individuals build an app for Apple, Android and Windows devices  in minutes with little technical knowledge. David spoke to Sara Steffes Hansen’s new and emerging media class last week about all things app-related.

“It’s day two of the semester and we’re already building an app. How cool is that?” Hansen said.

The students, too, were excited and also immediately full of ideas for their very own app using the drag-and-drop, easy-to-use software David presented. He encouraged students to get involved with building apps and even add it to their resumes in the class, which focuses on teaching students the most up-to-date media and communication tools and trends.

“People are hungry for apps. If you are a business, it’s a fantastic time to build an app,” said David to the students. “Everything you do in your life has the potential to be an app.”

And so, with just an hour and a half to work, the students in Hansen’s class brainstormed ideas for an app and used the software David pitched to create their own, which doesn’t require any knowledge about writing code.

Students created apps that revolved around their lives as students, their interests and their involvement with on-campus groups and activities.

Matthew Hietpas, a senior journalism student, said he’d love to eventually create a public app for something. In class, the apps were built using the software but were not submitted to Apple, Android or Windows for approval as a final step in the process, which would need to occur before the apps could show up in any app store.

“There is so much money to be made in apps that it makes you think about your future,” he said.

Hietpas said he appreciates using apps as a student because they are quick and easy to use on the go, which he always is.

“I don’t really even use my computer since I got my smartphone,” said Brittany Farrell, a senior also studying journalism. “People always want the quickest thing, one route. An app is just one touch.”

Read more:

• UW Oshkosh launches upgraded mobile app
• UWO students present ad campaigns to Carmex president

Check out This Week in Focus…

It was a whirlwind 24 hours for higher-education policy in the United States and Wells. His trip to Washington D.C. for the annual meeting of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) took a surprising turn when he ended up representing the AAC&U at a Jan. 27 White House roundtable briefing with the president’s higher-educational policy staff.

The briefing followed the introduction of President Obama’s Blueprint proposal, first referenced during his State of the Union address on Jan. 24. The president went into greater detail during a Jan. 27 speech at the University of Michigan, outlining how the distribution of student aid in the form of “Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (SEOG), Perkins Loans, and Work Study” programs, according to a White House fact sheet, would be connected to institutions’ strides in cutting student costs and increasing access. The proposal would boost this support to $10 billion.

The Blueprint also proposes a new $1 billion pool of incentives for states that do more to “contain tuition and make it easier for students to earn a college degree” while maintaining adequate state funding levels for higher education.

A third, funding component proposes an additional $55 million in investment for public and private institutions that “develop the next breakthrough strategy that will boost higher education attainment and student outcomes.”

At the White House policy briefing on Jan. 27, Wells filled in for AAC&U President Carol Geary Schneider, past recipient of a UW Oshkosh honorary doctorate degree. Wells serves on the AAC&U’s, American Association of State Colleges and Universities’ (AASCU) and American Council on Education’s (ACE) boards of directors. He ended up being the only current university chancellor or president at the feedback session table.

“We are grateful to have a president who, faced with a host of economic challenges, is making higher education part of the solution and a national priority,” Wells said.

“The President is also to be commended for providing an inclusive forum for higher educational leaders to rightly share questions, concerns and solutions regarding the tone and details of his proposal as it moves forward – namely, what steps will be taken to assure all the right stakeholders are involved in this initiative,” he said. “Students, state legislatures, Governors and University faculty and staff are all key stakeholders in the higher educational system, and they need to share in the responsibility and accountability to make affordable, higher-quality education available to more Americans.”

About 10 national higher education organizations and associations were represented around the White House briefing table on Jan. 27, Wells said. Representatives of the administration’s higher-education policy staff and Department of Education Under Secretary Martha Kanter led the hour-and-a-half-long feedback session.

Wells applauded President Obama’s commitment to continue to obtain feedback from stakeholders as the Blueprint proposal progresses. He said participants in the Jan. 27 session stressed the need to improve quality of, not just cost of or access to, higher education. Students’ success must be one of the most important benchmarks, he said.

“This cannot be over-emphasized: Improved educational quality must be the key driver of the President’s Blueprint initiative,” Wells said. “Better educational quality leads to a better subsidized price for a better price-value for students and, ultimately, a better quality of life for more Americans.”

Beyond its three-pronged outlay of incentives, the president’s proposal also calls for creation of a new “College Scorecard” for all institutions, “making it easier for students and families to choose a college that is best suited to their needs, priced affordably and consistent with their career and educational goals,” according to the White House’s Blueprint fact sheet.

“The Essential Student Learning Outcomes and related rubrics developed by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU) in partnership with faculty, higher educational and business leaders throughout the nation should also be used to anchor accountability measures for improving the quality of learning,” Wells said. (Click here to learn more about UW Oshkosh’s Essential Student Learning Outcomes and Liberal Education Reform Team initiative).

Wells said the scorecard concept would work best if it authentically measures the improved performance of each of the distinct actors in the higher education equation, from state governments to students. He proposes a “Stakeholders Scorecard” holding each partner accountable while sharing responsibility and ensuring success.

“The Stakeholder Scorecard needs to fairly score us all, from the state and federal price- subsidizers to the keepers-of-the-cost such as faculty and administrators,” he said.

With respect to the on-campus “keepers-of-the-cost,” leaders involved in the College Portrait of Undergraduate Education and its Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA) are pointing to their own informative and equitable reporting scorecard system as a model. The VSA transparently provides a wealth of college and university data from more than 300 participating institutions, including UW Oshkosh, to help prospective students and families choose the best-fitting, higher-education institution to attend.

In a Feb. 1 statement, College Portrait Executive Director Christine Keller pointed to the VSA as a model to help President Obama and advisors shape the new scorecard.

“Through the College Portrait website, users already have access to a range of important data elements and tools that can assist them in selecting the college that best meets their needs – including cost of attendance, net price estimates , success/progress rates, financial aid, student involvement, and learning outcomes,” Keller said. “With 320 institutions participating, we believe we have demonstrated what can be accomplished through a voluntary effort by the public higher education community.” (Click to see UW Oshkosh’s College Portrait).

Wells added that it is “critically important” that all stakeholder group leaders also consult Jane Wellman’s and colleagues’ Delta Project on Postsecondary Education Costs, Productivity and Accountability. “As described at its website, the project ‘has organized data on operating spending and revenues into aggregate measures of costs per student and costs per degree/certificate produced, organized into Carnegie classifications separating public and private nonprofit institutions.’”

President Obama’s proposal also calls for Congress to maintain low interest rates on student loans, enhance and make permanent existing student tax credits created under his administration and double the number of work study jobs. UW Oshkosh’s innovative Student Titan Employment Program has provided high-impact, learning opportunities for approximately 250 students. It is just one University program that helped infuse the student population with more than $5 million in annual wages in 2011, or, on average, more than $3,000 per student for about 1,750 students, equivalent to one semester’s tuition.

The president’s package of reforms has triggered a range of responses reactions from higher education leaders around the United States.

In a statement, Muriel Howard, president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and another honorary doctorate recipient from UW Oshkosh, applauded the president’s challenge to state legislatures to do their part and enhance funding for higher education.

However, Howard echoed other higher education leaders’ concerns about directly tying federal support to cost controls.

“While I understand his viewpoint, public institutions in 40 states do not have complete control of their pricing,” Howard said. “Harming students at these institutions because of decisions made beyond the control of their college or university is an obstacle to keeping the American promise. We concur that controlling costs and seeking efficiencies is important, and AASCU institutions have numerous success stories to tell despite dealing with draconian state funding cuts.”

In a statement, American Council on Education President Molly Corbett Broad also expressed concerns about an increasing level of Congressional control in the day-to-day affairs of college and university campuses. However, Corbett Broad also welcomed the opportunity to work with political leaders to expand access to higher education and improve affordability.

“It is clear the administration recognizes that colleges and universities play a vital role in economic recovery and expansion—this is perhaps the defining issue of our time,” Corbett Broad said. “As President Obama noted in his speech, ‘There is no greater predictor of success than education.’ We strongly agree. We are committed to working with the administration and Congress to make certain that affordable, high-quality, higher education is available to all Americans and that colleges and universities are accountable for every dollar they receive.”

Read more:

• Video and full statement — Chancellor Wells: Better education, better subsidized price, better life for more Americans

Kati Hinds ’11, continues to make a long-term impact on rural Winnebago County residents through a home delivery program she developed and implemented for the Oshkosh Area Community Pantry (OACP) as a human services leadership major at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.

During her senior year in fall 2010, Hinds was an AmeriCorps volunteer at the OACP where she was asked to look into creating a program for delivery of food to individuals who may not have a reliable way to get to the food pantry. The request by Steve Vickman, OACP executive director, ultimately overlapped with coursework in which students are tasked with planning and developing a sustainable human services program.

One of the challenges Hinds faced was that she was implementing the program at the same time she was developing a program plan and evaluation in class.

“It was sort of like drawing a map while navigating,” Hinds said.

However, she said this ended up being helpful because she was able to utilize her classmates, professors, AmeriCorps supervisors and others for feedback about as she was structuring the program.

“Using your resources and networking while planning a program is extremely important. People all around you have great ideas, knowledge and insight. Ask them questions and learn from them, they will provide you with great ideas,” she said.

Titan Volunteers keep the program running
Volunteers are vital to OACP’s success, as are they to the home delivery program.

“By working with the Titan Volunteers organization on the UWO campus I was able to secure volunteers who would commit to ongoing support of the program,” Hinds said.

Nicole Kurszewski, a junior from Wind Lake, Wis. pursuing a degree in chemistry, is on the Titan Volunteers board, which has kept the home delivery process running and has helped get more people involved.

“It was really important as a board member to get more people involved because at the start of the school year we added home delivery in Winneconne in addition to home delivery in Omro,” she said. “It is great to know that with our help we have been able to help this program expand and help even more people.”

The volunteers spend one day each month packing and delivering boxes to 39 households in Omro and Winneconne.

And while the volunteers are impacting the lives of others through their efforts, they have also expanded their horizons and received positive benefits themselves.

“I’ve learned that there is a need students can fill by taking time to pack food and get it to residents who might not be able to get it themselves,” said Kevin Kropp, a senior pursuing a double major in speech communication and human resources. “This program helped to expand my idea of volunteerism, in general, and the people who can be benefit from the service of others.”

Cassie Hacker, a junior biology major, said the program has shown her how much impact a box of food brings to people while having an impact on volunteers, as well.

“It really makes you realize how fortunate you are and to not take even the little things in life for granted,” she said.

Learn more:

• Those interested in volunteering at or donating to the Oshkosh Area Community Pantry can call (920) 651-9960 or send an email to info@oacptoday.org.
• UWO students and staff interested in volunteering to help with home delivery can contact Titan Volunteers at (920) 424-1269.
• Oshkosh Area Community Pantry
• Titan Volunteers

The latest UWO – Everywhere You Go mobile application is now available for Apple and Android smartphones, and now supports iPad as well.

Version 2.0 comes on the heels of UW Oshkosh’s first generation app, which was released last March and was the first in UW System available for both Android and Apple users. Now, the latest version of the app, which was built with student access needs in mind, will offer students better functionality and connectivity to UW Oshkosh.

“The latest release of the UW Oshkosh mobile app has been a collaboration with key areas of campus such as Polk Library and the Residence Life Management Information Office. They have provided access to tools such as checking TitanCard balance and seeing what computers are open in the library,” said Jamie Ceman, assistant director of multichannel marketing and Web for Integrated Marketing and Communications.

Version 2.0 will also give students the opportunity to check dining menus at Reeve Union and Blackhawk Commons, get the latest news from UW Oshkosh Today and the Advance-Titan, search the University directory, view parking and campus maps and receive real-time updates through Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

“The app also provides more ways for alumni and the community to stay connected to UW Oshkosh with easy access to news and events,” Ceman said.

Essential emergency information and quick links to Titan Services are also available through version 2.0.

Pat Wilkinson, Polk Library director, said he’s excited about the new features on the app that will allow students to be better informed and connected.

“The library wants to help students no matter where they are and no matter what device they are using,” he said. “The app will allow students to know how many computers are in use and are currently available to use in Polk 101. There is even a search function to find books and videos in our collection.”

Version 2.0 of the app has been under development for about four months and was built as an enhancement to the evolving University integrated marketing and communication strategy.

“It’s predicted that mobile usage of the Internet will overtake desktop usage of the Internet within the next two years. UW Oshkosh is committed to a mobile strategy that will provide students, faculty and staff with the tools they need on the devices they use,” Ceman said.

Getting the app
Getting version 2.0 of UWO – Everywhere You Go is easy, said Joel Herron, IMC Web and new media programmer, who developed the app. In fact, it’s just a simple – and free – download.

“We’ve completely redeveloped this app from the ground up and are releasing it as a completely new application,” Herron said.

Herron said the old UW Oshkosh application will continue to work. However, an update will not be offered, nor will the new features be integrated into the first generation UW Oshkosh app so a download of the new app will be needed to stay current as new features are added.

Learn more:

• UWO Mobile 
• How to install on your mobile device 
• UW Oshkosh launches new mobile app