STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT RECOGNIZED
Congratulations to two Business Administration students who received awards at the distance education graduate recognition dinner. Karen Zimmerman was the recipient of the Outstanding Business Student Award. Mary Plummer received the Harry J. Mitchell Award, which recognizes outstanding preparation of portfolio challenges.

Award recipients Mary Plummer (left) and Karen Zimmerman (right).

UPDATE ON PMI ACCREDITATION
The submission of the self-study report in support of accreditation by the Project Management Institute (PMI) for UW-Platteville's Master of Science in Project Management program is now scheduled for late October. Work on the self-study report was suspended for several weeks while the full impact of the recent budget reductions was addressed. The effort has now been reactivated and work on the report has resumed.

ATTENTION STUDENTS PLANNING TO GRADUATE IN DECEMBER
If you are planning to complete the coursework required for graduation in December 2003, you must contact your advisor by August 15th to let him or her know that you plan to graduate. At that time, an official credit check will be done to determine that all course, GPA, and other requirements have been met and that you are registered for the appropriate classes for your last semester. A complete description of the graduation process can be found under each degree program on the distance education web site. Just click on "Degrees," then "Graduation Information."

UW SYSTEM TO ACKNOWLEDGE HISTORY OF DISTANCE EDUCATION AT CONFERENCE
On August 13-15, more than 1,000 participants from around the world will come to Madison, Wisconsin to participate in the 19th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning. UW-Platteville will be well represented at this international conference, with three teams of faculty/staff presenting various activities associated with distance education at our institution. In addition, we will be involved with the vendor exhibits, where we will be showcasing a variety of the distance programs in Wisconsin. This conference will be the "kick-off" event for the celebration of UW-Platteville's 25th anniversary of distance education. Dr. Katherine Lyall, president of the UW System, will be recognizing the pioneering institutions in the state of Wisconsin that began offering degree programs at a distance 25 years ago.

GIVE US YOUR INPUT
This summer, staff in the Distance Learning Center will be putting together a virtual orientation program for new students who are involved in distance education. We would like your input to assist with this project.

For those students who have taken classes at a distance, what "words of wisdom" do you have for people who are preparing to take their first class? What do you wish you would have known before you began your first class? What were you most surprised about when taking classes at a distance? What strategies and techniques have you mastered to help you be a successful distance learner? These are just a few questions that you could answer that would provide wonderful information for us to include in the orientation program.

Also, if you have been involved in another program offered at a distance, please pass along information that you received as part of their orientation program (if one existed). Your knowledge and experience will be extremely beneficial as we put together this orientation program. Please send comments that you would like to have reviewed for the orientation program to Dawn Drake by July 18th. Anything submitted after that time will be reviewed as we update our orientation program. Thank you in advance for your assistance with this very important project!

NEW TRANSFER AGREEMENTS DEVELOPED
Each year, the coordinators for the distance programs review curriculum from various institutions to determine if it could be transferred and used for progress toward the degree programs offered at a distance. Four new transfer agreements have recently been developed. One agreement is with the University of California-Berkeley Extension to have its project management certificate transfer into UW-Platteville's Master of Science in Project Management program.

Business Administration has formed a transfer agreement with three technical colleges in the state of Wisconsin (Madison Area Technical College, Milwaukee Area Technical College, and Nicolet Technical College) to have their AA or AS degrees in liberal studies fulfill the general education requirements at UW-Platteville. Beginning in spring 2003, these transfer agreements will go into affect for anyone who graduated from those institutions.

For specific information about these transfer agreements, please review the distance education web site under the area of "Partnerships."  This is where all transfer and articulation agreements (along with other partnership agreements) are stored. Because we develop various partnership agreements throughout the year, it is good to review this part of the web site periodically to determine if a new agreement has been reached that would benefit you. If you have a partnership agreement with a university or business that you would like UW-Platteville to consider, please contact Dawn Drake.

STUDENT ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!
As the student advisory board continues its work on a variety of projects, it is important to remember that the members need your input. Feedback on policies and procedures, ideas for new projects, evaluation of current projects, and suggestions for changes/improvements to the distance programs are all part of the responsibility of the members of the student advisory board. Because this group serves as "the voice of the student," it is important that you respond when they ask for your input on a topic. In addition, if there are items you would like the student advisory board to consider, please e-mail one of the representatives from your program and ask that an item be put on the next agenda. Information about the student advisory board (including meeting minutes and contact information) can be found on the web site under "Student Center." We will be revamping this section of the web site in late summer to allow for more ways for you to communicate with the advisory board. Please watch this part of the site for a new "look" to emerge.

We are in need of an additional person to add to the Student Advisory Board. One of the first advisory board members (Al Lakhani from Business Administration) has indicated that he needs to step down from the group due to additional responsibilities he has outside of school. Anyone who is currently majoring in business administration and has completed one online class is eligible to serve on the board. Board meetings are typically held monthly via conference call or web conferencing. If you would like to be considered to complete Al's term on the board (ends in December), please contact Dawn Drake.

STUDENT ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS
Business Administration
Jill Amundson

Criminal Justice
Deb Rice
Tod Kulow

Engineering
Amanda Pachniak
Wayne Danzik

Project Management
Debbie Bourdo
David McKenna
Susanne Miller-Peterson

CREDIT FOR LIFE EXPERIENCE
The UW-Platteville Master of Science in Project Management program offers college credit to those who have completed their Project Management Professional (PMP) certification, as awarded by the Project Management Institute (PMI). If you possess a current PMP certification, you may be eligible to receive 3 credits in PM 7010 Project Management Techniques I and 3 credits in PM 7020 Project Management Techniques II.

To receive the credit, you must submit a form requesting a review of your certification and a notarized copy of your current PMP certificate to the UW-Platteville Distance Learning Center. To download this form, go to the Project Management section of the distance education web site and click on "Credit for Life Experience." This documentation must be submitted at the time you apply for admission to the Project Management program.