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Marketing and University Communication UW-Green Bay, CL 815 2420 Nicolet Drive Green Bay, WI 54311-7001 (920) 465-2626 E-mail: hildebrs@uwgb.edu Last update: 10/3/07 |
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In
the News Archive - Year:
December 10, 1999 Regents give UWGB plan high marks School emphasizes interdisciplinary focus By Kelley Bruss
UWGB Chancellor Mark Perkins, Provost Howard Cohen and Student Government Association President Kurt Kober presented the school's Compelling Idea to the regents' education committee at its December meeting.
UW System President Katharine Lyall has challenged all UW schools to identify enrollment management plans and campus directions for the next six years. UWGB took that charge as an opportunity to refocus on its original mission: a unique, interdisciplinary learning environment.
Perkins outlined the plan at the meeting, emphasizing the importance of an environment that would help attract and retain students interested in a personalized, engaging education.
Perkins said UWGB's graduation rate is 45 percent, and he hopes to raise it by 10 percent if the plan is implemented.
"You've thought about this a great deal. You've involved the community, the faculty, the students in the process," said Jay Smith, vice president of the Board of Regents. "And you put a complete thought together ... The energy and detail that you put into this is appreciated."
The regents heard from UWGB and UW-Superior Thursday. In coming months, they will hear from the rest of the system's schools, then begin intensive budget deliberations in late spring or early summer.
UWGB's Compelling Idea has five keys:
* High-impact first contact with potential students.
* Personalized learning.
* Competency-based general education.
* Active and integrated learning.
* Putting learning to work.
Those keys are expanded into 11 implementation proposals that call for, among other things, portfolios, personal learning plans, work-based experience and citizenship experiences for all students.
"Knowledge is completed by doing," Cohen said, explaining how the work and citizenship experiences would tie into students' development. "For every student there would be an opportunity to take what they're learning and demonstrate it in a workplace setting."
The Compelling Idea was developed by a task force of about 30 people. Most of the recommendations in it are already used in some departments on the campus.
"Our challenge is not that we don't do these things at some level or another; it's that we don't do them at scale for all students," Cohen said.
If the regents end up supporting the plan, UWGB has asked for more faculty, support for campus improvements that will tie into the learning plan and an enrollment decrease of roughly 250 over several years, to bring student-faculty ratios low enough for the personal help described in the plan. UWGB's fall 1999 enrollment was 4,359 full-time-equivalent students.
Kober said students are willing to pay up to $300 more a year in tuition to support the Compelling Idea and $200 more per year in activity fees to help with campus improvements, such as expanding the union and sports center and building a multipurpose activity center.
"What we're trying to do is put together an entire package that entices the kind of student we want at UW-Green Bay," he said.
"We're outlining the dream for you and what you might ... achieve with the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay," Perkins concluded in his signature southern drawl.
The presentation had its light moments as regents laughed at Perkins' salesmanship in presenting the plan.
"I'm not sure that you couldn't sell refrigerators to Eskimos," Smith told Perkins.
But most of the meeting had a serious focus.
"Perhaps by focusing on the learning experience ... we might be able to make a real difference," Perkins said.
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