University Department Changes

Several of you have recently asked about the effects of university department changes on the Distance Learning Center's majors and programs. I want to share some information and my own perspective on the changes. I'll say at the start that in my view, the changes will have minimal effect on Distance Learning programs, and may bring about some new opportunities for graduate level programs.

As you may know, the State of Wisconsin, like many states, is facing a serious budget crunch. The University of Wisconsin System will make its contributions to solving the problem for the good of the state.

One of the ways we've decided to do this at the university is to reduce the number of academic departments from 17 to 13. This has been accomplished by merging the Counseling Professions, Educational Administration, and Teacher Education Departments into a Department of Educational Leadership; by merging the writing programs from the English department and the Library Science program into a Department of Writing, Reading, and Library Science; by merging the literature programs from the English Department into the Department of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures; and by merging the Chemistry and Biology departments into a single department, yet to choose its name. The savings are in administrative overhead: fewer department chairs, fewer fixed costs of operating a department office.

The university has also made some changes in this process that are designed to better position the academic programs to respond to changing student need. The changes that most Elementary Education majors are aware of involve the content specialist faculty and the Office of Field Experiences. In the past, education content specialists in reading, social studies, and science were based in the Teacher Education Department, while specialists in art, health, and mathematics were based in the departments for those disciplines. All of the content specialist faculty will now be based in the departments of their disciplines.

The changes in the Office of Field Experiences are the result of Counseling Professions, Educational Administration, and Teacher Education merging three separate field experience programs. Dr. Terri Kronzer, previously faculty in Educational Administration, is the new Director of the Office of Field Experiences, while Dr. Peggy Marcinec, the previous director, is my new colleague in the new Department of Writing, Reading, and Library Science, where my own faculty appointment in Library Science is now placed.

Change is certainly disruptive, but it is inevitable and is what defines our lives. I want to make clear that there is no risk to the programs or courses offered through Distance Learning by the departments involved. Distance Learning is part of the university's defined mission and is an area where we want to grow while continuing to improve what we offer. As the university responds to the state budget situation, we are all committed to minimizing any impacts on students - even the tuition increase now being discussed in Madison.

If you see effects of these changes on your studies, I hope you'll let me know so we can respond. Your interest and concern for Distance Learning programs is very much appreciated.

Preparing Our Instructors

On Monday, our first course to prepare instructors to teach online will begin in Learn@UW-Superior. More than 20 of your current and future instructors are participating, with the leadership of Ray Reinertsen, who has ably taught Health and Human Performance courses online for a number of years. Scott Teigland, our student peer mentor, is team teaching the course with Ray to ensure that our instructors learn about the student perspective in distance learning. Johanna Garrison and Jim Shelquist, Distance Learning advisors, have made important contributions to the course content and design.

As our instructors are better prepared, we look forward to improvements in your learning experience. It's exciting to see this new course begin.

Important Dates

June 17th- deadline for August degree applications

July 7th - last day to drop summer full-term courses

August 7th - Summer College ends

September 2nd - Fall Semester begins

Peter Nordgren

Associate Dean for Distance Learning and Continuing Education