UWW In The News
For photos and interview opportunities, contact Heather Miller at 413.545.4195 or hmiller@outreach.umass.edu
UWW alumni mark 5 years of Elementary Licensure Program
In the Loop, UMass Amherst, November 9, 2009
University Without Walls’ Elementary Licensure Program (ELP) 
celebrated its fifth anniversary with its first Educators Forum on Oct. 28 at the program’s office in Hadley.
The keynote speaker was Ray Sharick, principal of Fort River Elementary School in Amherst, whose talk was titled “Encouragement for Public School Educators.” He told the audience that his experience shows him that the quality of the teaching is what makes the most impact on students, and stressed the importance of reaching each individual child. He reflected on his early involvement in planning the ELP curriculum, which brings paraprofessionals and other adults back to the University to complete their bachelor’s degrees and become licensed teachers.
Five ELP alumni shared their experiences, including the realities of pursuing a career path in public school education, classroom teaching, graduate school and obtaining licensure through alternative routes. This is an excerpt, for the full article click here.
UMass Amherst University Without Walls
Offers Concentration in Sustainable
Entrepreneurship
UCEA In Focus, Volume 14, Number 4
University of Massachusetts Amherst University
Without Walls (UWW) now offers a Sustainable
Entrepreneurship concentration with online and
blended courses. The concentration focuses on understanding
the larger context of sustainability as
a new model for social and economic life. UWW
is an adult degree completion program. Students
may earn up to 30 UMass credits by writing about
learning they have acquired from their life, work
and training experiences. Students design their
individualized bachelor’s degree by selecting from
courses in fields such as Holistic Health, Sustainable
Food Systems, Small Business Development,
Sustainable Agriculture, or Green Building.
Campus-made documentary on WWI to air nationally
In the Loop, UMass Amherst, September 18, 2009
NOTE: Betty Wilda, who filmed and edited the documentary—is a UWW alum.
A historical documentary made by campus filmmakers will be seen by a national audience in the coming months, as 88 of the 142 public television licenses in the United States recently opted to include the hour-long program in their fall lineups.
“Model T’s to War: American Ambulances on the Western Front 1914-1918” first aired on March 5 on WGBY, Channel 57, in Springfield. This is an excerpt, for the full article click here.
UMass to offer concentration in sustainable entrepreneurship
The Massachusetts Daily Collegian, September 9, 2009, by Lucas Correia
In response to the global environmental issues of the 21st century, the University Without Walls (UWW) at the University of Massachusetts is offering a new concentration in the field of sustainable entrepreneurship. The main principle of the certificate program is based on the idea of the “triple bottom line,” which accounts for people, the planet and profit. This program focuses on teaching basic business skills, the impact humans can have on the environment and the relationship between a business and its consumers.
“Sustainable entrepreneurship is something the faculty and staff [at UWW] have all sort of lived by for years,” said UWW marketing strategist, Heather Miller. “But now I think the rest of the business community is looking for the same thing.” The certificate is open to both full and part-time students. Class times are geared towards working adults pursuing the certificate and undergraduates looking to add it to their diploma. Courses are offered covering many rising green trends, such as holistic health, sustainable food systems, small business development, sustainable agriculture and green building.
Professor Gary Bernhard of UWW, the certificate’s most influential developer, said that with environmental issues on the rise in the 21st century such as global warming, pollution and a shrinking oil supply, it is imperative that businesses focus on a triple bottom line. “That’s the larger context; we just can’t sustain this way of life,” Bernhard said. “If we don’t start doing something about these things, the quality of life is going to diminish profoundly because the planet can’t handle it.” This is an excerpt, for the entire article in The Massachusetts Daily Collegian, click here.
UMass to teach sustainability
The Republican, August 31, 2009, by Diane Lederman
AMHERST - The message is everywhere - in the news, on television, at the White House - use less, conserve and help save the environment. Even Walmart is on to how mainstream the message of sustainability is: it plans to develop a worldwide index to provide customers a tool for evaluating the sustainability of products. Recognizing that people need help creating businesses that are sustainable in myriad ways, the University of Massachusetts' University Without Walls program is launching a new concentration called "Sustainable Entrepreneurship." The concentration is designed to help people gain the skills and knowledge they need to be leaders in the emerging green economy.
J. Gary Bernhard, who is putting the program together, says the school is creating an academic umbrella for students to design a program that has to do with sustainable living and focusing on entrepreneurship. "We want to make it possible for people who are interested in sustainable business to get what they need ... not just the sustainable stuff but the business (acumen)," he said.
Bernhard said the first class is an introduction to sustainable entrepreneurship. Students will learn about the triple bottom line - profit, people and the planet. "How do you treat the environment and community you're in and how do you make a profit," he said, adding that a business owner can't sustain the business without making a profit. He said classes will help students learn about the pitfalls of small business and how to manage people and treat them well.
Classes will help students learn to price and market their merchandise, such as organic produce, which costs more to raise. Those interested can learn to manage a small farm, or create what he called a "community food system" that creates gardens in inner cities. There will be classes on holistic health to help promote healthy living to prevent illness.
"The time seems to be right (for such a program.) The world is coming around. We can't pretend global warming isn't real," he said. Bernhard, who has been with the University Without Walls for 30 years, said "I'm very excited and so are all the faculty we've talked to. "There are a lot of good ideas out there. OK, let's put those ideas in a larger context of sustainable living." For a link to article in The Rupublican click here.
Univ. Without Walls aids green-minded
Daily Hampshire Gazette, August 10, 2009, by Cris Carl
AMHERST - The University of Massachusetts adult degree program is "greening up" with new courses this fall. The school's University without Walls will be offering a course called "sustainable entrepreneurship." The course is designed to help students with and without formal business experience to improve and expand business concepts in a changing world. The course concentrates on community, ethics and the environment, as well as on profit. "I think we're on the brink of a huge cultural change," said Gary Bernhard, program manager.
Bernhard said that nation-wide, excitement is growing in the areas of green or sustainable, energy-efficient building and manufacturing, for example. "Once the building trades really get back on their feet, this (type of construction) is really going to take off." The individualized course will offer two specific classes addressing business and "the triple bottom line," of people, planet, and profit, as well as other classes to round out a business degree.
UWW is a "blended" degree program offering credit for life experience and traditional classes, as well as many online courses for the completion of a batchelor of arts degree. Students develop their own degree focus and can now add sustainable agriculture, green building, holistic health and sustainable food systems to the array of possibilities open to them. "People will walk away with a practical skill and a business plan they can use right away," said Heather C. Miller the marketing strategist for University Without Walls. Miller said the timing of the new program seeks to connect with a push toward better environmental strategies among business and government. This is an excerpt, for the entire article in the Daily Hampshire Gazette click here.
UMass gathering honors University Without Walls retirees J. Gary Bernhard, Victoria A. Dowling
The Republican, Saturday June 13, 2009, by Michael McAuliffe
HADLEY - J. Gary Bernhard and Victoria A. Dowling, who have been integral to a program that can affect people around the globe, were honored here Saturday. More than 220 people turned out for a barbecue for Bernhard and Dowling, who are retiring from the University Without Walls, a program of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The program enables students whose job, family, or other life situation makes it impossible to attend college in the traditional manner to design their own bachelor's degree. The year-round program has about 550 students. Much of the program takes place online, but there are also classes at the University Without Walls facility on Venture Way. The program draws students from not only around the country, but from around the world.
Bernhard has spent 30 years with the program - as an instructor and 18 years as director. Dowling is retiring after 26 years. She taught and served five years as associate director. "It's meaningful, joyful work and has been all these years," Bernhard said. "It's been a wonderful place to work," said Dowling, who also spoke highly of the students involved with University Without Walls. "They're just so engaging, and I think the program really does provide a service for them," she said. This is an excerpt, for the complete article, click here.
UWW honoring Bernhard, Dowling on retirements
UMass Amherst, In-the-Loop, June 11, 2009
More than 220 alumni, students, faculty and other guests are expected to attend a June 13 barbecue in honor of retiring University Without Walls faculty members Gary Bernhard and Victoria Dowling.
Joining the festivities will be one of UWW’s long-time advocates, state Sen. Stan Rosenberg, who will present the retirees with Senate citations of recognition for their years of service to the Commonwealth. Bernhard has been with UWW for 30 years, 18 as director, and Dowling has been with the program for 26 years, serving as associate director for the past decade. On behalf of Congressman John Olver, Rosenberg will also present the pair with a certificate of special congressional recognition.
State representatives Stephen Kulik and Rosemary Sandlin (both one-time UWW students) and Ellen Story will award Bernhard and Dowling with a House of Representatives citations of congratulations.
UWW director, Pamela Monaco and retired UWW faculty member and longtime friend Rick Hendra are also scheduled to speak.
An endowed scholarship fund created to honor all past and present UWW faculty will be announced. “The inspiration is the students, the catalyst is the retirement of Gary and Victoria – two of the greatest and most committed educators that the University of Massachusetts has had,” said UWW faculty member Cindy Suopis, who initiated the original idea for the fund. “We've all been enthusiastic about this fund – so many of our students deserve it, and the fact that it recognizes the dedication of the fine educators at UWW is a bonus.”
Staying in the Green UWW to teach adult learners the
new art of sustainable entrepreneurship
UMass Amherst Magazine, Spring 2009, by Eric Goldscheider '93G 
The vivid landscapes and still-life paintings of UWW alumna
Mickey Boisvert ’07 embrace sustainable themes. Boisvert’s
work can be seen through May at the UWW offices, and at
www.mickeyboisvert.com.
It used to be that profits sustained a business. They still do. But in a world where consumption far outstrips supply, business leaders are looking for sustainable models. New entrepreneurs understand the bottom line is about the impact a business has on the natural environment and on the people it touches as much as it is about making money. That’s also the bottom line for a new bachelor’s degree focus in Sustainable Entrepreneurship that the University Without Walls (UWW) program is rolling out this fall.
Gary Bernhard, former director of UWW, sees a demand among students for ideas on how to make a living while being mindful of the fact that what we do as human beings has consequences that go beyond our immediate surroundings and beyond the current generation.
“Sustainability means a lot of different things,” said Bernhard. “The idea is to create a way of life that is balanced with the resources we have and the way we consume them.” He studied the growing number of programs and courses across the nation that illustrate a different definition of what makes a successful business to develop the new area of focus.
It draws on courses from many departments across campus with offerings that fit individual interests, whether they are health, food service, energy conservation, green construction, and anything else around which a new business can be launched. One goal, said Bernhard, is that eventually students who prefer distance learning can put together a degree entirely with online courses.
A model for the type of thinking the UWW degree focus will promote is a general education course on sustainable living that professor John Gerber, in the Department of Plant, Soils, and Insect Sciences, has been teaching since 2005. He started with an enrollment of fewer than 30 and today as many as 300 students pack his lectures. His contribution to the UWW degree focus has to do with the personal choices people make in the way they live and work. “The students coming to my class are looking for the language to talk about the conflicts that they are experiencing in their lives,” said Gerber.
UWW student Micah Camp is now working on a plan to launch an environmentally friendly construction company in Oregon. In the spirit of the new UWW focus area, Camp designed a degree focused on natural building design and construction management. He intends to use the principles of what is now being called the triple bottom line: “It’s about people, planet, and profit,” said Camp, adding that for “entrepreneurs who are interested in progressive, sustainable business practices the future looks bright.”
Sustainable Style Make your home greener—warmer, brighter, and prettier, too—with help from innovative alumni
UMass Amherst Magazine, Spring 2009, by Patricia Sullivan, photos by John Solem
Nature Illuminated
Katherine Ahern ’77 connected her interests in business and art through the UMass Amherst University Without Walls.
“I’ve always loved light. I despair when it goes away in winter,” says artist, designer, and entrepreneur Katherine Ahern ’77. She also loves the outdoors, so fittingly her business creates lamps and luminaries from saplings, vines, twigs, stones, and other natural materials. Ahern launched Birch & Willow from her Boston studio in 1997. She works with organic recyclable supplies and environmentally conscientious manufacturing processes. Her one-of-a-kind pieces appear as if they have woven themselves through an interplay of light and shadows and the varied colors, textures, and thicknesses of the plants and hand-made paper she uses.
Birch & Willow pieces (aptly named for pods, roosts, and nests) light up fashionable restaurants, chic spas, and homes. The business has expanded considerably with the surging interest in green products, yet Ahern still harvests much of the materials herself. The bittersweet and grapevine in that striking sconce? It may have once grown on the unsightly edge of a Stop & Shop lot near you. To virtually visit Catherines study online - go to birch&willow.com. This is an excerpt - for the complete article click here.
UMassOnline's New Offerings in Sustainable Entrepreneurship, Environmental
Timely Trio of New Online Programs for Fall are First of More to Come Addressing Growing Global Energy, Environmental, Ecological & Sustainability Mandates
SHREWSBURY, MA – May 18, 2009 - - UMassOnline, the online learning division of the University of Massachusetts, today announced a timely suite of three new program offerings in Sustainable Entrepreneurship, Environmental Public Policy and Green Building. These UMassOnline programs were collaboratively developed by, and are being offered through, UMass Amherst Continuing & Professional Education and its University Without Walls (UWW) unit, and UMass Dartmouth.
“These quality programs have been developed in quick response to some of the most pressing environmental and ecological challenges facing our planet and a future generation of local, regional, national, and international business and community leaders,” said UMassOnline Interim CEO Mark Schlesinger. “These innovative offerings and the speed at which they have been tailored for quality online learning,” added Dr. Schlesinger, “speak to the University of Massachusetts’ online learning vision and our commitment to matching its educational programs, online and on-campus, with the ever-changing contemporary learning requirements needed to meet 21st century career opportunities.”
The Sustainable Entrepreneurship offering, comprising a mix of online as well as blended learning courses, is a bachelor’s degree completion program developed by UMass Amherst’s University Without Walls. This new concentration, designed to teach adult learners the new art of sustainable entrepreneurship, will draw on courses from many UMass Amherst departments including holistic health, sustainable food and farming, geothermal energy conservation, and green building. Overall, the Sustainable Entrepreneurship concentration is designed to help students obtain the skills and knowledge they need to take a lead role in the emerging green economy, with a focus on the implications for people, the planet, and profits, or what is often called today’s ‘triple bottom line. For full story, click here.
Find the right training program, find a new path
Boston Sunday Globe, May 10, 2009, by Megan Jicha - this is an excerpt, click for full story
"The great thing about online programs is that you can do the work whenever you have the time to breathe," said Russell Annis, who is enrolled in the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's University Without Walls program, which offers a variety of online, live, and blended adult-education classes. "You can log on day or night, whenever's convenient for you, and earn a degree. It works well if you work or have other things going on in life."
The Belchertown resident went back to his educational roots at UMass to earn a bachelor's degree in public history, after being laid off from a music store where he had held a management position for 27 years. Annis, who is now 51, said he went to UMass as an undergraduate but never finished his degree due to a lack of focus. "I've encountered that there is a real need for a B.A. in order to get a job in this job market," he said. "There are just so many people looking for jobs out there. A degree is just one more thing to make you more attractive to potential employers." This is an excerpt - for the complete article click here.
UWW Stature Grows Online, and in the Community
Unity First, page 32, volume 15, number 2, March 2009
An adult learner manages family, work, school, education, and community obligations. This year, more than 500 adult learners enrolled in the UMass Amherst University Without Walls programs (UWW), earning a bachelor’s degree by building on prior coursework and experience. This is the largest enrollment ever for the groundbreaking undergraduate degree completion program founded in 1971. What attracts students to this program?
UWW provides students with a rigorous, supportive academic environment in which to build a University of Massachusetts degree. Through a Prior Learning Portfolio, students demonstrate learning from life that enables them to earn academic credit toward a bachelor’s degree. Students design their own degrees or choose from areas of concentration, including: Criminal Justice, Journalism Studies, Arts Management, Business Studies, Health & Human Services, Educator Licensure Program and also Early Care and Education (non-licensed). Plus, students can take classes online or in a classroom-online combination.
Online offerings allow UWW to reach more students and to give students more control over their time. UWW Director Pamela Monaco notes that while the significant increase in online enrollments is good news, it also creates new challenges and needs, especially in providing student services and in nurturing the sense of community that has always been critical to UWW students and faculty. Despite more students studying from across the globe, UWW continues to value the individual student and is exploring ways to provide key academic and advising services online.
Monaco is particularly eager to strengthen UWW’s ties with the nearby communities of Holyoke and Springfield – and, where possible, to create new ties. Through community partnerships, UWW hopes to provide convenient access to local students who may not previously have thought of UMass as an option. Monaco concluded, “We anticipate that by coming to the community, we can also increase our outreach to new student populations.” You can learn more about UMass UWW by visiting www.umass.edu/uww, calling 413.545.1378 or emailing uww@uww.umass.edu. To view the full edition of Unity First click here.
Continuing education course enrollments soar as the economy sours
Republican Newsroom, Wednesday, March 11, 2009, 7:06PM by STAN FREEMAN
This is an excerpt - for the full story click here.
The poor economy is not the only reason why people turn to continuing education, though.
Photo by David Molnar / The RepublicanContinuing Education student Christine L. Shea of Southampton at her home, where she takes continuing education courses online.A successful businesswoman, Chistine L. Shea of Southampton, 48, is director of customer service for LoJack Inc. But with only an associate's degree from college, she has long been nagged by a persistent feeling that it wasn't enough.
"I'd be involved in executive training sessions and I'd look around the room and see people with bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and sometimes beyond that, and I wanted to feel, for my own confidence, that I was on that level."
So in 2007, three months after her youngest child graduated from University of Massachusetts in Amherst, she enrolled there as a continuing education student in the University Without Walls program (in which students construct their own degrees and course requirements), pursuing a "business leadership" degree.
"It was very scary, since it had been 25 years since I last sat in a classroom," she said. "But I took two courses the first time out, and I managed to get A's in both. That was very validating. It's not just the young kids who can do this. I could do it too."
While 18-year-olds, with a high school degree in hand, tend to go on to college for much the same reason - to get the kind of high-paying job that a college degree is likely to bring - older individuals often enroll in continuing education for reasons that are sometimes quite personal. For the full story click here.
Revenue chase sends colleges to Web - by JESSE NOYES
Boston Business Journal, February 6, 2009 | Modified: February 9, 2009
This is an exerpt, for the full story click here.
On nights after a full day’s work and on the weekends, Christine Shea [of the University Without Walls at UMass Amherst] shuts the door to her home office in South Hampton, tunes out possible distractions and goes to class. For Shea that means reading assigned texts, listening to lectures and chatting with fellow students online. At 48, Shea has long been a member of the working world, but has always wanted to get her bachelor’s degree. So in the fall of 2007 she enrolled in the University of Massachusetts Online program seeking a degree in business leadership. She hopes to finish next year. “I’d like, by the time I’m 50, to have that darn degree,” she said.
Her path is an increasingly common one. Institutions with 15,000 or more students saw the number of students taking at least one course online grow by 24.1 percent between 2002-2006 to nearly 1.4 million students, according to a study by the Sloan Consortium and Babson College. For colleges with enrollments of 1,500 or fewer during that same period, it grew by 21.1 percent to 217,445 students.
For colleges worried about declining investments and enrollments, students like Shea could represent a valuable consumer. More schools will likely develop online education offerings — a profitable segment for many area colleges — in the coming years to generate new revenue streams, experts in the industry said. This is an excerpt, for the full story click here.
Springfield man heads Massachusetts Electoral College, reprinted from The Republican, December 11, 2008, By MICHAEL McAULIFFE
SPRINGFIELD - City resident Raymond A. Jordan Jr., [a UMass UWW 1980 graduate] a former legislator and currently a vice chairman of the Democratic State Committee, has been chosen president of the Massachusetts Electoral College.
Jordan is the first black person to hold the position, and on Monday he and the state's other 11 electors will formally cast the Bay State's 12 electoral votes for President-elect Barack Obama. The vote will take place in the House of Representatives chamber in Boston.
"It is a great honor to preside over the Electoral College as we cast our votes on behalf of all the people of the commonwealth of Massachusetts," Jordan said. "To be sworn in by the first African-American governor of Massachusetts (Deval L. Patrick) and have the privilege to preside over the Electoral College that officially elects the first African-American president, is priceless."
Jordan, 65, was informally elected president during a recent meeting of the electors in Worcester. He will be formally elected in the House chamber before the electors' vote for Obama and Vice President-elect Joseph Biden.
Jordan is currently federal Housing and Urban Development director of faith based and community initiatives for New England. He also served 10 terms in the Massachusetts House.
John Walsh, chairman of the state Democratic Party, said Jordan is the right person to lead the electors.
"Ray Jordan has been a longtime leader of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, and as a former legislator and a community leader in the Springfield area, (it is) extremely appropriate and we're very excited for him to be an elector and the president of the Electoral College for Massachusetts," Walsh said.
The group of electors consists of six men and six women, including two other Western Massachusetts residents: Corinne Wingard, of Agawam, and Patricia Marcus, of Greenfield. To read the original story online, click here.
UWW Growing Online, and in the Community
University Without Walls faculty member Karen Stevens (standing) with Springfield Preschool Enrichment Team members Carmaris Denson, Barbara Luciano, and Elizabeth Pacheco. Photo: Kyle Kraus.
While many new UMass Amherst undergrads spend September juggling roommate introductions and course additions and learning the shortest route across campus, students in the UMass Amherst’s University Without Walls program are more likely to be juggling children and jobs and applying their considerable life experience to the framework for a new career.
This year, more than 500 adult learners are enrolled in UWW programs, earning a bachelor’s degree by building on prior coursework and experience. It is the largest enrollment ever for the groundbreaking undergraduate degree completion program founded in 1971. The UWW approach and tradition continues to earn the loyalty of its more than 3,000 alumni. (Including, famously, Monster.com founder Jeff Taylor who helped UWW celebrate its 35th anniversary two years ago and launched UWW's scholarship endowment with a $75,000 gift.)
UWW provides students with a rigorous and supportive academic environment in which they are able to forge a university degree from concerns and talents born of experience. That same process of reflection, bolstered by scholarship and enriched by discovery, informs the significant changes initiated at UWW in recent months:
- Beginning this fall, UWW students are being offered newly expanded areas of academic concentration in Criminal Justice, Journalism Studies, Arts Administration, Business Studies and Health & Human Services, as well as an Educator Licensure Program and an Early Care and Education Focus (without licensure).
- The number of online courses has dramatically increased, and UWW has pioneered new blended course delivery modes involving both online and classroom work. The transition to online courses has been meteoric, and close to 80-percent of UWW students are doing online coursework.
- Four new courses encouraging a critical and analytical reflection of themes central to this region and its technology, public policy, organizations and leadership have been added to build on two UWW foundation courses. Read more....
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - September 25, 2008
UMass Arts Extension Service Maintains Creative Economy Edge With New Online Course
Contact: Dee Boyle-Clapp,413-545-5241, dboyle-clapp@outreach.umass.edu
Searching for a course on the Creative Economy taught by instructors with direct experience? This month, the Arts Extension Service at the University of Massachusetts Amherst maintained its commanding role in Creative Economy research and practice with the launch of the nation’s first online Creative Economy course. Taught by Tom Borrup, the nation’s leading creative economy expert and author of the award-winning book, The Creative Community Builder’s Handbook, this course takes a broad look at how one determines the unique ‘assets’ of their community while students learn to create alliances with local business, governance, neighborhood associations, and the arts community to create an environment that builds communities from within while positively transforming the local economy.
Borrup, a Connecticut native who splits his time between Minneapolis and Miami, practices what he teaches in Western Massachusetts and across the country. He is currently working on a three-year initiative funded by the Ford Foundation’s Asset Building and Community Development Division, to strengthen the capacity of community-based cultural organizations to serve an active role in the social and economic revitalization of mixed-income, mixed-race neighborhoods. Two of the four sites where he is serving as a liaison include The Center for Creative Community Development, in North Adams, MA; and Nuestras Raices, in Holyoke, MA. Other sites include the Queens Museum of Art in New York City and the Movimiento de Arte y Cultural Latino Americana, in San Jose, CA.
Borrup and the Arts Extension Service (AES) have a long history of collaboration. “The Creative Economy has been on AES’ radar before it was recognized as an economic driver. We had the opportunity to work closely with Tom on several early Creative Economy initiatives so we could have materials ready when the field needed them. Tom was a great help in that process and were pleased when he agreed to teach this course,” said Maren Brown, Director of the Arts Extension Service at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Read more....
Flexibility the key to finishing your degree
Hybrid, cohort and online programs take the hassle out of school
Boston Globe's Sunday, August 4, 2008 Career Supplement
UMass Amherst student celebrates completing her degree with her family at graduation. (UMass Amherst University Without Walls)
When Michelle Piasta's son announced he wasn't going to college since his mom had done so well without a degree, the working mother of three paused. "I had just gone for an interview for a promotion in my job, and the interviewer asked me, 'When are you going to finish your degree?' Suddenly, I wasn't convinced I had done that well without a degree, and I thought motivating my son might be the best incentive to get me going." But Piasta, like so many working adults figuring out how to go back to school, was intimidated by the prospect of registering, choosing classes, and finding a way to fit them into her already busy schedule.
"The traditional approach to part-time and adult education has been that students take what they want when they want it," says Jay Halfond, dean of Metropolitan College and Extended Education at Boston University (BU Met). "But the internet and new cohort programs have created both flexibility and focus for adults who want to finish their bachelor's degree, and get it done quickly."
BU Met, Northeastern University, UMass Amherst, and UMass-Boston are a few of the area universities offering flexible programs, lots of support, and satellite campuses that cater to returning students. The programs are tailored to accommodate working people and help them move ahead in their company or current career, or make the transition to a different career.
Andrew Greene is a journalist and teacher who'd been working in Jakarta for more than a decade when he decided to complete his bachelor's degree. "I'd decided it was time to come back to the States, but realized I'd need a bachelor's or more advanced degree to do what I'd been doing in Indonesia," Greene says. "I'd been working as a teacher, so I was really picky about what kind of program would be best for me, and I settled on UMass Amherst's University Without Walls." Read more....
Face-to-Face of Online Instruction? Is That the Best Question?
Posted to UMassOnline Blog on June 13, 2008 by Jennifer Brady | Leave a Comment
[Note: This opinion piece, which first appeared June 2nd in Communication Currents and reprinted here with permission, is by Cynthia A. Suopis, PhD. She is the former Director of University Without Walls at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and currently a distinguished lecturer. For over 36 years the UMass Amherst University Without Walls (UWW) has offered adult learners the opportunity to earn their first ever bachelors degree that builds on credit granted for prior coursework and experience. In this article, Dr. Suopis challenges several assumptions made by some over the quality of traditional versus online and blended learning options available to students today. As one who has had long experience teaching traditional, online, and, more recently, our blended learning courses that UMass developed with UMassOnline last year thanks to a generous grant from the Sloan Foundation, Dr. Suopis asks, and answers, the question: Are remote connections between student and teacher in online environments harming the education process when communication is not conducted in real time?] Read more...
Calligrapher stresses impact of Web marketing
Bangor Daily News, May 15, 2008
Artist Jan Owen has exhibited her calligraphic works all over the world. She has taught across the country and has been reviewed by nationwide publications. Still, the Belfast resident knows she needs to spend more time marketing herself and her work, especially on the Internet. That was one of the messages more than 50 artists and others heard Wednesday at a Maine Arts Commission workshop at the University of Maine Museum of Art in Bangor.
"You always need to learn more about it and what works," said Owen, who has taken similar workshops over the years. "What’s really striking is I think almost all the artists in our group have a Web site. It’s not a rare thing [anymore]." In addition to individual artists such as Owen, the seminar also drew representatives of nonprofit and creative associations. Maren Brown, director of the Arts Extension Service at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, located in Hadley, Mass., spoke along with Dee Boyle-Clapp, an AES program coordinator. They discussed marketing basics and the importance of reaching out through electronic marketing. Read more...
UMassOnline logs second record yearBoston Globe, April 30, 2008UMassOnline, the online learning division of the University of Massachusetts, today announced a second consecutive fiscal year of record-breaking enrollment and revenue results. Matching last year's results, which were the best in three years, fiscal year 2008 at UMassOnline saw a 26.2% increase in enrollments, to 33,900 over 26,855 in fiscal year 2007, and a 31.9% increase in revenue to $36,977,854 over fiscal year 2007 revenues of $28,030,985. According to the Sloan Consortium's most recent research report entitled 'Online Nation: Five Years of Growth in Online Learning,' online enrollments nationwide were growing by 9.7% as of the Fall, 2006 semester, while the growth rate in the overall higher education student population was 1.5%. In contrast UMassOnline's enrollment in fiscal year 2008 grew two and a half times faster than the national average for online enrollments. UMassOnline CEO David Gray attributes the sustained growth, in part, to developments throughout the fiscal year that saw UMassOnline, introduce new "blended learning" innovations for online learners. The first blended learning offering, announced in June, 2007, featured the Graduate Program in Health Management and Policy via UMass Lowell. In November, 2007, UMassOnline launched the nation's first fully online Master of Public Health in Nutrition via UMass Amherst. Later that same month, ten new blended learning programs were announced representing all five campuses in the University of Massachusetts system. These included a BA in Health and Human Services [a UWW focus area] Read more… |
Wilda's Documentary Nominated for EmmyIn the Loop, UMass Amherst, April 23, 2008 - NOTE: Betty Wilda—writer, director, and producer of this film just nominated for an Emmy—is one of UWW's graduates.
“Faith in Providence” focuses on the work of Catholic sisters and their humanitarian contributions to society. This documentary looks at the general history of Catholic sisters in North America and specifically examines the history of the Sisters of Providence, who came from Canada to Holyoke in 1873 to aid orphans, the poor and the sick. The project was awarded grants by the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities and the Holyoke Cultural Council. Read more... |
University Without Walls' expands reachUMass program adds topics, puts more work onlineDaily Hampshire Gazette, April 16, 2008AMHERST - What's the future of employment in Massachusetts? Running a nonprofit arts organization may not be anyone's first guess, but in light of recent figures on the growing "creative economy," training good arts managers may just be good business. That's one reason, administrators say, that UMass Amherst's bachelor's degree-completion program, University Without Walls (UWW), has expanded its reach. Through several new areas of study, UWW is targeting coursework to meet the demands of some of the region's fastest-growing economic sectors - including the nation's first online arts administration undergraduate degree program designed for working adults. Other new degree focus areas include Criminal Justice, Health and Human Services and Journalism Studies, which will accompany UWW's existing areas of study in Education (with and without licensure). Read more... |
Creative ThinkingUWW's Arts Administration Program Represents a Degree of ProgressBusiness West, April 14, 2008, by LAURA DeMARSWhat do a mural and a balance sheet have in common? Ask an artist, and he may scratch his head. Ask an accountant, and he’ll probably compare costs of supplies versus profit from the sale of the piece. For some artists, it’s all about their passion for a chosen medium, whether it be theater, paint, glass, or design. But what happens when their creativity becomes something more than just a whim, perhaps even a moneymaker? For some, the idea of balancing the accounting books and figuring out grant applications can be a daunting task, but that’s where the UMass Amherst University Without Walls program comes into play. With a new Arts Administration focus area, artists and those interested in working for organizations, ranging from museums and nonprofits to personal businesses, can learn how to turn their creativity into a viable, sustainable company and earn a degree they’ve always coveted. For complete article, please click here Creative Thinking. |
Three New Online Study Concentrations from UMassOnlineIn Focus, A Newsletter of the University Continuing Education Association, March 2008UMassOnline is launching three new, online study concentrations. The new programs include a collaborative concentration in arts administration, as well as concentrations in the rapidly changing fields of journalism studies and health and human services. The new offerings were developed by UMass Amherst’s University Without Walls (UWW) program; applications are currently being accepted for fall 2008, with individual courses available now. The collaborative concentrations in arts administration Designed for working adults, students may also earn a certificate in arts management. The concentrations in the journalism studies program are offered in partnership with UMass Amherst’s Certificate of Journalism. The degree completion program was developed in response to rapid changes in the field as well as an increased need for flexible learning environments for working adults. The expanded health and human services program is an outgrowth of the current program. See online version at UCEA, In Focus, March 2008. |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—A first-in-the-nation Arts Administration concentration among new programsNew Offerings from UMassOnline Reflect Continued National Leadership in Contemporary Course Development, Design, Deployment, and DeliveryRapid Changes and Significant Growth in Health and Human Services, Journalism and Arts Administration Careers Shape Innovative Course Content New Programs Distinguished by Extensive National and International Interaction and Networking with Diverse Professionals, Virtual Classrooms, and Flexibility SHREWSBURY, MA – January 29, 2007 – Coming less than 90 days after separate announcements last November that saw the launch of the nation’s first fully-online Master of Public Health in Nutrition program as well as ten new online programs featuring blended learning innovations pioneered by University of Massachusetts faculty and program developers, UMassOnline CEO David Gray today announced the formal launch of three more new, online study concentrations. These new programs include a collaborative concentration in Arts Administration – the first and only program of its kind in the nation – as well as concentrations in the rapidly changing fields of Journalism Studies and Health and Human Services. Read more... |
New Year, New Plans for the FutureThe Women's Times, Resource Guide, January, 2008
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RunAbout Pioneers Human-electric Hybrid TransportThe Barre Montepelier Times Argus Newspaper, Tuesday, December 4, 2007
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The UWW Jeff Taylor Educational Opportunity EndowmentUMass Amherst Magazine, 2007 Annual Report of Donors and Volunteers, Fall 2007Jeff Taylor once accepted a challenge to try to beat the water-skiing record of fellow entrepreneur extraordinaire, Virgin Group’s Richard Branson. The Monster.com founder managed to go more than three miles along the Florida coast on his second try. A self-described “nontraditional learner,” Taylor took on another challenge in 2000, when he came back to UMass Amherst to finish his college education. Originally on campus from 1978 to 1983, he’d started businesses and been his fraternity’s president but hadn’t graduated. By 2000, he’d made his mark and made millions. Through the Mass Amherst Outreach program, University Without Walls, he earned his bachelor’s degree in 2001.
Among Taylor’s favorite sayings is “Earn, learn, yearn.” The UWW Jeff Taylor Educational Opportunity Endowment will help UWW students who are applying that philosophy every day. See complete UMass Amherst Annual Report of Donors and Volunteers, Fall 2007. |
THUMBS UP, THUMBS DOWN - Breaking Down WallsThe Republican, Monday, June 25, 2007THUMBS UP - Long before colleges offered Saturday degree programs and courses were taught nline, the University Without Walls at the University of Massachusetts was meeting the needs of folks who - for lots of reasons - didn't jump on the four-year college track after high school. So congratulations are in order on the 35th anniversary of the alternative degree program at UMass that allows students to earn credit from lessons they learned at their work. Over the years, the University Without Walls has broken down lots of walls for its many illustrious graduates - from Northampton Mayor Mary Clare Higgins to Monster.com founder Jeffrey C. Taylor. Through the program, more than 3,000 non-traditional students were given the opportunity to complete their bachelor's degrees. "We're ... celebrating a rich history that has produced legislators, several elected officials, presidents of companies (and) teachers," said Cynthia A. Suopis, program director. It's a program with many happy returns. May the program - and its graduates - prosper for years to come. |
UMass Program Turns 35The Republican, Friday, June 15, 2007 by DIANE LEDERMANAMHERST - Northampton Mayor Mary Clare Higgins has her degree through the program. Holyoke Mayor Michael J. Sullivan is a student. Tomorrow, the pair will join many other former and present students, legislators and other dignitaries to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the University Without Walls at the University of Massachusetts. "We're going to be celebrating a rich history that has produced legislators, several elected officials, presidents of companies (and) teachers," said Cynthia A. Suopis, program director. "We're very proud of our program." Read more… |
University Without Walls Celebrates 35th With Monster.com’s Jeff TaylorAMHERST – UMass Amherst’s University Without Walls celebrates 35 years as a premier degree completion program for non-traditional adult students with a June 16 gala featuring – among others – Monster.com founder and UWW alumnus Jeff Taylor. |
UWW - Celebrating 35 years as a forerunner in higher education
Did you know that UWW at UMass Amherst was only one of over 50 UWW's seeded at public and private colleges and universities around the U.S.? That we were in the vanguard of an alternative college movement that helped change the face of higher education…Click here to download pdf of brochure |
"UMassOnline program offering real face time"The Springfield Republican, January 20, 2007A $650,000 grant from Sloan Foundation will allow UMassOnline to offer blended programs, which bring together on-site classroom learning with online learning. UMassOnline was launched five years ago and has 22,000 students enrolled in 69 online degree programs offered by the five UMass campuses in Amherst, Boston, Lowell, Dartmouth and Worcester. "This (blended programs) is going to become a very hot trend across the country and the world," said David J. Gray, UMassOnline chief executive officer, yesterday. "The whole idea behind the notion of blended programs is it mixes the best aspects of face-to-face instruction with the best that e-learning (online) has to offer." Read more… |
"UMass Adult Program Builds on Experience"The Springfield Republican, December 20, 2006Few of us reach the point in our educational lifetimes where we don't owe more to mentors than we do to our own efforts. You know who I mean: Parents of course, and then a laundry list of teachers, fellow students and other advisers who unselfishly gave of themselves to help us make progress toward our goals. Nevertheless, in my case, and maybe in yours, there were gaps to be filled. More times than not, it was a college degree that would confirm and validate what I thought of myself. Like many other frustrated adults, I earned college credits after high school, started a family, took on responsibilities but wasn't fulfilled at work or in my community. Read more… |
"Where Students Vault Barriers"Daily Hampshire Gazette, August 7, 2006, by Kristin PalpiniMary E. Bourdon had not been back the University of Massachusetts campus in over 16 years and was nervous about her return. This spring, Bourdon, a 37-year-old paraprofessional teacher went back to school through the university's adult education program, the University Without Walls. Her mission, to secure her elementary school teacher licensure. Read more... |
The Walls Came Tumbling Down—University Without Walls turns 35UMassAmherst Magazine, by Faye Wolfe
Gary Bernhard, former director
of University Without Walls. Since opening its doors
35 years ago, University Without Walls has given nontraditional
learners a place to succeed at UMass Amherst.
In 1971, when the University Without Walls (UWW) set up shop in Wysocki, some 500 inquiries a day from people eager to attend poured into the little white farmhouse at the north edge of campus. Three thousand alumni later, UWW, born of a social movement to reinvent higher education, is still going strong. “That movement was founded on principles,” says UWW director Gary Bernhard, “a belief in the value of individual degree design, of interdisciplinary studies, and in the recognition of nontraditional experiential learning…the idea that we’re ‘all learners together.’ All that wonderful, idealistic stuff of the sixties.” Read more… |
“Faith in Providence,” a documentary film written, produced and edited by Elizabeth Wilda of Academic Instructional Media Services (AIMS), has been nominated for an Emmy by the New England Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
The 31st Boston/New England Emmys will be presented May 10 at the Boston Marriott Copley Place.
Now Taylor is helping UWW with a challenging goal: raising $350,000. This spring he gave $75,000 to the newly created UWW Jeff Taylor Educational Opportunity Endowment. Notably, 100 percent of the program’s faculty and staff have given as well. The endowment will provide scholarships and academic access to students of diverse backgrounds who wish to attend UWW. In its 36-year history, the rigorous, interdisciplinary program has enabled nearly 4,000 students to earn bachelor’s degrees, many of them while working and raising families. UWW director Cindy Suopis said recently, “We’ve restructured and expanded our entire curriculum in direct response to the needs and experiences of our students. Our students now will be able to take courses in the classroom, online, or in a ‘blended learning’ format that combines the two.” 
UWW Amherst was one of the first, and is one of the few remaining, university programs designed to help adult learners turn experience into college credits as part a rigorous, individually-shaped interdisciplinary program calling on resources from throughout the campus community. Since 1972, more than 3300 baccalaureate degrees have been awarded to UWW students, many of them adult learners who have returned to higher education after a long hiatus. The current enrollment of 450 students is the largest in the program’s history. 
As UWW's 35th anniversary bash approaches, ever wonder where that name originated? How an undergraduate degree program came to call itself a "university"? Or what a university "without walls" might have signified, so many years before online and blended programs? 
