Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE- Rich Tunell first considered distance education after he read an article about project management in the online magazine TechRepublic. A list of schools offering project management degree programs, including the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, was included at the end of the article and he decided to investigate further. He was encouraged by the flexibility that online education offered and he opted to apply to UWP.

Though the concept of working online was appealing, Tunell also appreciated the fact that there were deadlines to keep him focused on completing his coursework. He says that he's taken correspondence courses previously, but found that the lack of a schedule led to procrastination on his part. He found it helpful as he worked through the program to plan out exactly which courses he would need and when he would be able to take them. He tried to maintain enough flexibility in his schedule to allow himself to drop a course when he was feeling burned-out or was busy with other responsibilities.

As Tunell prepares to graduate, he emphasizes that the online graduate program isn't easy and he credits his wife for being understanding and supportive while he was working on homework and group projects. "I probably read the most that I have ever done in school taking these courses," he notes. "You won't be spoon-fed from an instructor on the coursework, so you have to have a good idea what the reading material is stating." He encourages new students to commit to keeping up with their coursework and to plan to enjoy their free time between classes. "Otherwise one class flows right into the next and can burn you out faster."

Tunell says he's had many opportunities to apply his project management coursework as part of his current position as a health system service administrator. His job requires him to work on multiple projects at a time, either as the project manager or as a participant. As he finishes his final project before his summer graduation, the Superior resident doesn't foresee any immediate downtime. He plans to work on several projects for his church and to coach his kid's soccer and basketball teams. "I have never been one to really slow down," he explains.

UWP is a Global Registered Educational Provider of the Project Management Institute (PMI) and all project management courses are designed to follow the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). In addition to the master's degree, UWP offers a nine-credit certificate program and a six-week non-credit Project Management Professional Test Preparation Course online.

UWP currently offers four degrees at a distance: a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, a Master of Science in Criminal Justice, a Master of Engineering, and a Master of Science in Project Management. For more information, visit online at http://www.uwplatt.edu/disted, call 800-362-5460 or e-mail disted@uwplatt.edu.