Introduction
programs & degree | philosophy & history | accreditation | campus | facilities |
Programs and Degrees
The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay offers two types of programs leading to master's degrees.
The first consists of degrees awarded by UW-Green Bay. These are in four distinct areas of study:
- Master of Science in Applied Leadership for Teaching and Learning
- Master of Science in Environmental Science and Policy
- Master of Science in Management
- Master of Social Work
The second group is comprised of cooperative programs with the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Course work in these programs normally is completed on the UW-Green Bay campus, but degrees are awarded by the sponsoring institution. Cooperative programs are:
- Master of Science in Administrative Leadership-Educational Administration and Supervision Emphasis (UW-Milwaukee)
- Master of Science in Educational Psychology - Counseling (UW-Milwaukee)
- Master of Science in Education - Reading (UW-Oshkosh)
The University also offers a Certificate Program in Emergency Management, Planning, and Administration.
Philosophy and History
Graduate programs at UW-Green Bay are offered in areas reflecting particular strengths of the University's academic array. Graduate programs also reflect the larger, campuswide commitment to serving the needs of the region and connecting learning to life.
UW-Green Bay is one of 13 degree-granting institutions in the highly respected, tradition-rich University of Wisconsin System. The institution was founded in 1965 on an academic philosophy emphasizing hands-on problem solving and the ability to make connections - to examine things from many perspectives, and to work effectively with those from other fields.
With more than 5,000 undergraduate students and nearly 300 graduate students, including approximately 100 students in the cooperative programs, the University is large enough to offer a diversity of programs and small enough to offer an individualized educational experience. The diverse student body includes students from most of Wisconsin's counties, half of the states, and about 30 foreign countries. The University has nearly 180 full-time faculty, 96 percent of whom have earned a doctorate or its equivalent.
Accreditation
UW-Green Bay is fully accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools for the bachelor's degree and for the master's degree. Accreditation is granted after a thorough examination of all aspects of a college or university by a team of faculty and administrators from other established institutions.
Campus
UW-Green Bay, situated on a beautifully landscaped 700-acre site overlooking the bay on the northeast side of Green Bay, offers extras few campuses can match.
Learning facilities are first-rate. The David A. Cofrin Library is regarded among the finest in the state, Mary Ann Cofrin Hall and the Laboratory Sciences Building (new in 2004) boast state-of-the-art classrooms and laboratories, and the Weidner Center for the Performing Arts is elegant and well equipped. Student housing is high in amenities, with every room having a private bath. Outdoor attractions include a bayshore park, arboretum, a nine-hole golf course, and hiking and biking trails criss-crossing the campus.
Noteworthy, also, is the eight-story library's strategic location at the center of campus, connected to the University Union and every academic building via enclosed concourses. The concourses, ramps and elevators in every building make UW-Green Bay particularly accessible to students and visitors with disabilities.
Mary Ann Cofrin Hall, opened for classes in September 2001, houses nearly 40 percent of all classes on campus. The building was designed to make use of advanced instructional technology and has gained national attention as a demonstration project for energy efficiency and solar electricity. With the expansion and complete renovation of the Laboratory Sciences Building, the University has the equivalent of two brand-new academic buildings.
Facilities
Facilities used by the graduate programs, in addition to general classroom and office space, include laboratories, the library, computer center, and a number of ancillary program or research centers. Each of these is described below.
Area Research Center
The Area Research Center of the Cofrin Library is a repository for archives and manuscripts of the Wisconsin Historical Society for 11 Northeastern Wisconsin counties. These records provide a rich source of organizational information for students of history, genealogy, and local culture. This center is one of the most active units in the network established by the Wisconsin Historical Society.
Center for Biodiversity
The Cofrin Center for Biodiversity promotes education, research and community services that help conserve native plants and animals of the western Great Lakes region. The center incorporates resources listed in this section including the arboretum, herbarium and Richter Museum, along with the University greenhouse and the archives of the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology.
Cofrin Arboretum and Natural Areas
The 290-acre Cofrin Arboretum encircling the campus is a significant resource for field trips, class projects and individual research. The arboretum has mature upland and lowland forests, several types of restored prairie and savanna communities, old fields, 11 ponds and wetlands, a forested stream, an extensive dolomite outcrop of the Niagara Escarpment, and more than a half mile of shoreline on Green Bay.
Off-campus holdings include two large natural areas on Lake Michigan, rare wetlands along the lower bay, and an upland tract in the interior of the Door County peninsula.
These natural areas expand the range of landforms, vegetation communities, and animal habitats available for study. Within this diversity are opportunities to study sites that are preserved, areas undergoing restoration and development, and formerly cultivated sites in various stages of colonization by woody plants. A large number of the plant and animal species of northeastern Wisconsin can be documented on these sites.
UW-Green Bay supports a program of grants for individual student research within the arboretum and natural areas. Students whose proposals gain support may receive up to $1,000 to carry out their projects. Students present results of completed projects in an annual symposium.
Computing Facilities
UW-Green Bay has state-of-the-art computer facilities with general access labs, high-tech classrooms and high-speed Internet access across campus and in the residence halls. All registered students have access to the University's computing facilities to support their course work, data analysis, and research needs. Students receive a technology account that they use to log into campus computers, the Student Information System, campus e-mail, Desire2Learn course management software, and library databases. Numerous applications are provided on campus computers, including Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Outlook e-mail and calendar, Web browsers, Photoshop, SPSS, and others. The Wisconsin Integrated Software Catalog (WISC) offers many of these popular software packages for students' home use at significant discounts.
The University has numerous computer labs across the campus. The General Access labs contain more than 250 workstations and are open 100 hours per week. Specialty labs provide more than 300 additional computers with unique applications and equipment that support specific academic programs, including computer science, graphic arts, music, psychology, foreign language, engineering, geography, and ecology. The Cofrin Library also has general access computer workstations and project rooms that facilitate group work. Students use their University ID cards to print material at printer release stations. Wireless access to the campus network is expanding in various buildings to offer services to laptop owners.
Assistance is available to students from lab consultants and the IT Help Desk, which takes questions via telephone, e-mail, or in person. Students may also attend free technology workshops to enhance their skills. The Computer Center offers employment to students interested in acquiring practical technology experience.
Herbarium
The UW-Green Bay Herbarium houses a collection of over 25,000 specimens of vascular plants and provides many opportunities for student research, collection, and cataloging projects. Students have collected and prepared a large number of specimens from Northeastern Wisconsin, including endangered and threatened species. They continue to catalog specimens from the Cofrin Arboretum, Toft Point, and other UW-Green Bay natural areas. Through computer-supported study, students are able to map the distribution of plants and their responses to environmental changes. Specimens from the Herbarium are used for classroom demonstrations and laboratories. Researchers from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, other University of Wisconsin campuses, and universities in other states frequently make use of the Herbarium collection.
Institute for Learning Partnership
The Institute for Learning Partnership is designed to engage UW-Green Bay in support of learning along with the 37 school districts and the businesses, civic leaders and parents of Northeast Wisconsin. The partnership was forged to help these organizations and groups work collaboratively to improve learning. Among its goals is developing leadership to support innovative school cultures and structures that integrate teaching, learning and technology for the benefit of student performance and achievement. Under the aegis of the Institute, the University offers undergraduate, graduate and professional development programs designed to bring continuity to the discrete stages of a teacher's career.
Institute for Research
The Institute for Research assists faculty members in obtaining support for research. Graduate students working with faculty can learn to develop proposals for funding from federal agencies, private foundations and industry. The Institute has access to the latest information on funding sources through the Sponsored Program Information Network of New York as well as the Grants Information Office of the University of Wisconsin System.
Laboratories
The University has devoted a significant portion of its resources to developing laboratory facilities to support the natural and social sciences. The renovated and expanded Laboratory Sciences Building includes biology and ecology, chemistry, earth science, nuclear chemistry, and physical systems research laboratories. Available equipment includes gas chromatographs (detectors include FID, ECD, TCD and MSD), liquid chromatographs (detectors include UV-Vis, fluorescence, electrochemical, and refractive index), ion chromatographs (anion and cation capabilities), spectrophotometers (UV-Vis, Visible, IR, fluorescence), atomic absorption spectrometer, ICP-OES, NMR (FT-broadband), SEM-EDS, total carbon analyzer, liquid scintillation counter, climate controlled room, growth chambers, microscopes and other equipment. Microcomputers are available in research labs and most classrooms. Other spaces available for research use include a greenhouse and herbarium. The University also has boats, a trailer-mounted soil sampler, and a variety of other equipment for field studies.
Library
The Cofrin Library supports the academic program with a collection of more than one million items and computer access to the accumulated knowledge of a worldwide network of libraries. Library holdings include approximately 320,000 books and bound periodicals; subscriptions to 1,018 journal titles and 400 electronic journal titles; 56 databases providing electronic access to fulltext journal titles; 28 non-fulltext databases; and 30,522 microfilm backfiles. As a depository for the U.S. government and the state of Wisconsin, the library has acquired extensive holdings of and electronic access to government documents. It also has select Canadian and United Nations publications.
Other specialized collections include 57,600 maps, 5,000 sound recordings, 2,300 musical scores, and 8,300 volumes in an instructional materials collection for teachers. The Special Collections Department contains historical records of Northeast Wisconsin, genealogical records, fine print books, rare materials including old maps and manuscripts, and the University archives. A recent acquisition is the business-archive collection of the locally owned and internationally known Fort Howard Corp.
Facilities for student use are varied: general reading and study areas, quiet study areas, individual and group study rooms, group project rooms, general access labs, library instruction room, reference area, and an area for relaxing and browsing popular reading.
Students can conduct their research at general access lab computers located throughout the library or by wireless access on their own laptops. Access is provided to a variety of research sources through the Cofrin Library's catalog and Web site - electronic and traditional reserves; fulltext electronic journals, newspapers, and books; indexes; databases; government documents; maps; and other resources. Holdings of other University of Wisconsin libraries can be easily searched and loan requests can be self-initiated for many of those items using a shared borrowing system.
Librarians are available to assist with research in the library, by e-mail, or by phone. Individual research appointments are also encouraged. Library and reference desk hours vary for semesters and break periods with current schedules posted on the library's Web site.
Center for Public Affairs
The Center for Public Affairs at UW-Green Bay provides an opportunity for students to participate in team research, internships, and technical assistance experiences in public policy, politics, government and public management.
Students work with state and local government officials, legislators, public managers and other public professionals in such diverse areas as hazardous materials assessment, recycling and other environmental policies, health care administration, seismic risk assessment, community design and development, zoning analysis, cultural diversity, public opinion surveys and government/business relations. Some of these projects have been funded by agencies such as the National Science Foundation and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources; others have been inspired and supported by local hospitals and citizen groups.
The center works closely with UW-Extension to develop outreach programs in government affairs; students have opportunities to participate in some of these activities. The goal of the center is to provide quality experiences for students and faculty and to serve the need for research, policy analysis, and training for the local community and Northeastern Wisconsin.
Richter Natural History Museum
The Richter Natural History Museum is a gem among campus-held biological collections in the United States. Students from a variety of majors and professionals from across the country make use of the unique resource.
The Museum began with a large collection of bird eggs, nests, and study skins gathered by the late Carl H. Richter, who was one of North America's foremost amateur oologists. It includes more than 10,500 egg sets, some of which are dated as early as 1884. The collection includes a large series of vertebrate specimens, Indian artifacts, mollusks and butterflies, geological specimens, historical documents, and photographs. The holdings also preserve Richter's extensive field notes and papers.
The Richter Museum's scientific collections include more than 90 percent of North American bird species and subspecies, including the endangered whooping crane, snail kite, and Kirtland's Warbler, and several extinct species. The egg collection is North America's 12th largest. In addition to fluid preserved specimens, study skins, and skeletons, the museum has a library of related books, journals, and reprints. Holdings represent nearly 100 percent of Wisconsin's breeding bird species, 95 percent of the mammals, and 80 percent of the reptiles, amphibians and fishes.
Specimen collections continue to grow through contributions from students, faculty and other researchers.
Sea Grant Program
UW-Green Bay faculty members participate in the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant College Program. The Green Bay program involves public education and research projects dealing with water quality, fisheries, coastal marshes, and human impact on the Bay of Green Bay and the Great Lakes. Several University boats are available for research.
Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium
The office of NASA's Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium is located on the campus. The Wisconsin Space Grant is dedicated to using the excitement of aerospace and the nation's space program to help provide Wisconsin students and citizens the math, science, engineering and technology tools they need to thrive in the 21st century. The consortium strives to be an agent for leadership, cooperation and change in Wisconsin aerospace education, research and industry. The program funds Wisconsin student and faculty research and higher education in aerospace science and technology through the National Space Grant Fellowship Program.
Campus Safety
The following information about safety, security, crime and crime prevention is on the campus Web site at http://www.uwgb.edu/publicsafety/annualsecrep.htm.
- Alcohol and substance abuse information, prevention, and education programs
- Crime prevention tips and safety programs
- Crime reporting policies and procedures
- Crime statistics from the past three years
- Laws and campus policies governing alcohol and controlled substances
- Sexual assault prevention, response, reporting and victim assistance services