New Communication Mechanisms: A major focus during the past year was on finding new and improved ways to communicate with our distance students. New marketing materials were created to better help prospective students understand our programs. A new distance learning web site was developed, offering additional information for students, new methods of interaction, and more user-friendly navigation.The web site will continue to be updated on an ongoing basis, so be sure to continue to visit the site to see what's new. In addition, a new e-mail distribution process has been developed, so we can more effectively communicate with both current and prospective students. Lastly, a web conferencing system has been utilized for Student Advisory Board and focus group meetings.

New Curriculum and Partnerships: Nearly 30 new courses were developed during the past year for our various programs. In addition, new certificates in the area of engineering management (graduate), international business (undergraduate), and food marketing (undergraduate) have been developed. Additional partnerships (in the form of transfer agreements) have been formed with University of California-Berkeley for Project Management and Madison Area Technical College, Milwaukee Area Technical College, and Nicolet Technical College for Business Administration.

Lastly, we have our first students participating in our distance programs from our partnership with EduCere and the Institute of Management and Production in Jamaica. We continue to serve our existing partnerships and have several more partnerships in progress. Specific information about our partnerships can be viewed on our web site. This area of the web site will continue to be updated as more partnerships are developed and approved.

Students, Students, and More Students: Nearly 1,500 enrollments were processed for distance students during the past year. This is approximately a 25% increase in enrollments from the previous year. We served students in 46 states and 8 countries through a variety of distance education technologies. The diversity of the student body continues to grow, with nearly 20% of the graduate applicants identified as students of color. In addition, the careers that these students are involved in bring a wide variety of experiences and expertise to the virtual classroom. More than 50 people graduated from the five degree programs that are offered at a distance, and we had the pleasure of meeting several of these folks when they came on-campus to participate in the commencement ceremony and accompanying activities. Those people who were not able to come to campus were provided the opportunity to participate in our virtual graduation, which was made available on the distance education web site. Take some time to check this out!

Innovative Faculty/Staff: More than 65 faculty/staff taught a variety of classes at a distance during the past year. This is nearly one third of the total faculty on the UW-Platteville campus. Many of these folks have been recognized on a campus, state, or national level for their activities associated with distance education. These awards have been in the area of advising, teaching, and administration/program development. In addition, numerous individual faculty and staff continue to publish and present their research findings in their academic expertise. In the upcoming year, we will be adding a new section to our web site to highlight awards and accomplishments of the faculty and staff associated with distance education.

Infrastructure Changes: Although not as visible and exciting as many of the items mentioned above, there have been a variety of infrastructure changes that have impacted distance students during the past year. We migrated all distance student records to a new student information system, developed streamlined processes and procedures for various administrative functions, and have developed (and will be testing in the fall) a prototype for a new registration system. Each of these infrastructure changes should allow for increased use of student data and better tracking mechanisms, which allow us to serve students in an effective and efficient manner.

So, what's in store for next year? Well, although much has been accomplished during the 2002-03 academic year, we have many additional projects that will be developed during the upcoming year. In addition to building on the items listed above, we will also be developing a virtual orientation program, converting to a new online course platform, celebrating the 25th anniversary of distance education at UW-Plattville, implementing an online evaluation form, kicking-off our first fund-raising campaign, and developing a virtual open house. So, it will be another exciting year for distance education.

You can help us meet our new goals by continuing to keep those suggestions and ideas flowing to our office as we solicit your feedback and input on these various projects! Remember, these goals are focused around better serving the current and prospective students and alumni of the programs offered at a distance. Together, I know we can make the 2003-04 academic year even more successful than last year!