“To again be ranked among the Top Ten in online graduate education programs underscores the quality of our online graduate education programs,” said Dr. Kenya Taylor, UNK dean of Graduate Studies. “The College of Education has led the way in online education on the UNK campus, being among the first to move instruction from face-to-face to online to meet the needs of educators, not only in Nebraska, but across the nation.” UNK has offered online graduate programs in education for more than a decade. 

Universities ranked in the Top Ten, listed from 1- 10, are St. John’s University, Auburn University, South Dakota State University, Northern Illinois University, University of South Carolina, University of Scranton, George Washington University, UNK, University of Northern Colorado and Eastern Kentucky University.

“What truly makes our online graduate education degree programs outstanding is the high quality of our professors, and the training and assistance they receive from our eCampus colleagues here at UNK,” Dr. Scantling said. “Further, we use our full-time faculty to teach and develop our online graduate courses and degree programs”.

“We require all faculty who teach online to have training, and that training is provided by UNK,” he added, noting that within the College of Education there are a number of professional development activities annually that enhance and reinforce the instructional training provided by eCampus.”

Gloria Vavricka, UNK director of eCampus, said, “The College of Education faculty have always been innovative, ready to try new things. Once they started teaching online, they realized that the classroom expanded, and they could serve more students. Also, the teachers taking classes in UNK’s online programs have found that they benefit by sharing experiences with other educators across the nation and around the world.”

UNK graduate education programs that are taught fully online include: school principalship,  curriculum supervisor, school superintendent, curriculum and instruction, special education, reading, instructional technology, school librarian and master teacher of physical education. According to UNK College of Education statistics, the average time from matriculation to graduation for online graduate education students is 2.5 years.

All distance education programs offered by the four campuses of the University of Nebraska are available through Online Worldwide, http://onlineworldwide.nebraska.edu/, the university-wide distance education initiative that provides access to more than 100 online degree and certificate programs, including bachelor’s, master’s and advanced degrees in 16 fields of study.

Plan now for 15th Annual Student Research Day

UNK’s 15th Annual Student Research Day will be held April 4, 2013.  Information sessions will be held

Applications to SRD can be completed on line at www.unk.edu/ugr.  Applications received after February 21 may not be accepted.

- John Falconer,Director of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity    

IRB Introduces New Forms and Email Address to Assist Researchers in Submitting Projects for Review

The IRB wishes to remind you that any research that involves collecting data from people (for example, surveys, interviews, experiments) requires IRB review.  By contrast, projects such as literature reviews, content analyses of documents, public records, literature, etc. do not require IRB review.

Please remember that student research projects such as those for Thompson Scholars and Undergraduate Research Fellows, graduate student theses, and other research involving human participants must be reviewed by the IRB.

The IRB has new forms effective January 1!  We've updated and streamlined the application process so that researchers fill out the same application form for all projects.  There are also new forms for Changes in Protocol, Annual Updates, and a new Study Closing Form.  Finally, we've created an email address — unkirb@unk.edu — for you to submit your applications and other forms electronically. Hopefully these changes will make it easier for researchers and the IRB to work together.  The IRB welcomes any feedback on the process.

Some of you have "old" forms saved on your computers — would you please update your files to the new version of the forms?  The new forms are in Microsoft Word, so they are easy to save to your computers for later use.   

Kathryn Zuckweiler, the IRB Director is available to answer questions and offer assistance and can be reached via email at zuckweilerkm@unk.edu or by phone at 308-865-8886.  The director is in her office in Founders Hall, 2114 on Mondays and Wednesdays as well as some Fridays this semester.  Additionally, the IRB web page provides useful information as well as links to the new forms: http://www.unk.edu/irb/.

- Kathryn Zuckweiler, Institutional Review Board Director

ADP Announces New Course Development Mini-Grant Opportunity!

The American Democracy Project is pleased to announce the availability of funds dedicated to supporting UNK faculty willing to develop a new general studies course, in the Portal (188), Democracy in Perspective, or Capstone (388) category, that addresses one of the following five American Democracy Project initiatives (a recent survey of more than 100 UNK undergraduate students indicated these five topics were of the greatest interest):

The application and additional information is attached and is also available online at http://www.unk.edu/adp/New_Course_Mini-Grant/  

In addition to focusing on one of the five ADP initiatives listed immediately above, priority will be given to proposals that involve faculty from two or more academic departments (credit hours/credit hour production sharing ideas can be discussed) and to proposals that explain how the New York Times will be used in the proposed course.  

Please note that permission to offer a new general studies course ultimately hinges on gaining approval of the General Studies Council.  

Questions welcomed! Contact Dennis Potthoff (potthoffd@unk.edu; 865-8814)  

- Dennis Potthoff, Coordinator of the American Democracy Project at UNK

Library Updates

Kick the Tires on the Calvin T. Ryan Beta 

Written by Michael Sutherland, Web Services Librarian
sutherlandmj@unk.edu  

This January not only marks the beginning of a new year and spring semester, but also the introduction of a new beta website for the Calvin T. Ryan Library at http://lib.unk.edu/.  Comments regarding the new website may be left at ‘Comments & Feedback’. 

User expectations of what a good website is and does are higher than ever.  Users expect high-quality information and services to be available to them whenever and wherever they are, be it via their desktop, mobile device, or social media channels. In order create that web experience and to meet user expectations, Calvin T. Ryan Library has been working on a new website.  Our vision and future direction for our web presence is to have an environment where we can be innovative and take advantage of new and existing web technologies in order to successfully meet the online information needs of our users.   

In designing the new library website, our approach involved studying information science and library science literature, web analytics, user testing and feedback, and general web trends. We have aimed to create a more streamlined experience that offers greater ease of access to the library’s resources and services.  For instance, once the website loads, users can simply start typing in a query to begin searching library resources.  

Again, if you are interested in providing feedback, please leave a comment on our ‘Comments & Feedback’ page and if you notice issues or bugs, please let us know ASAP so we can fix them.  If you would like further information about our beta website, please contact Michael Sutherland, Web Services Librarian. 

Recognition

2012-2013 Department Chairs and Program Directors

- Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs

Items to Note for Faculty and Faculty Committees

• Academic Affairs Committee
  The link to the CAP ("Course Approval Process") information is located on the Academic Affairs Committee page. CAP is the electronic approval system that allows department chairs to initiate course proposals (create, alter, inactivate, or discontinue). Worksheets for both the creation of new courses and the alteration of existing courses are available on the CAP web site for faculty members to use as they gather the information department chairs will need to submit requests.
  
  The form to alter a Catalog Course Description has been revised. Please note, in instances where a change in content is being requested through the CAP system, course description changes should be added to that request, and this form should not be completed.
  
  Department chairs initiate program proposals (create, alter, or discontinue) using a paper form, which is available on the Academic Affairs Committee page, along with instructions.
  
  The schedule of Academic Affairs deadlines for the 2012-2013 academic year is available on the Academic Affairs Committee page. The page also contains a committee roster and a link to the approved Academic Affairs minutes. Department or program chairs needing to make curricular changes should be aware of these deadlines and instructions.
   
• Faculty Handbook
  The online Faculty Handbook contains the most current policy information. The purpose of the handbook is to gather the documents and policies that inform and guide critical decisions, including the Collective Bargaining Agreement (2011-2013).
   
• Faculty Senate
  To keep faculty informed and in the spirit of shared governance, the Faculty Senate website contains links to the senate roster, meeting agendas and packets, meeting minutes of both the Faculty Senate and the Faculty Senate committees, and the Faculty Senate Constitution and Bylaws.
   
• General Studies
  The General Studies web site contains a description of the new General Studies Program effective for students entering UNK in the Fall of 2010. The site contains a list of the approved General Studies courses effective for the 2012-2013 academic year, a list of all of the approved Portal and Capstone topics, as well as lists of the Portals and Capstones offerings for the current semester.
   
• Graduate Council
  The Graduate Council webpage contains information regarding changes to graduate courses or programs, as well as a list of the 2012 Graduate Program Committees.
  
  The form to alter a Catalog Course Description has been revised. Please note, in instances where a change in content is being requested through the CAP system, course description changes should be added to that request, and this form should not be completed.

Deadlines Approach for Various Opportunities

Calendar of Events within the Academic and Student Affairs Division

Edited by Kim Elliott, Coordinator of Academic Publications  

A Publication of the
Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs
University of Nebraska at Kearney
905 West 25th Street
Kearney, NE 68849
Phone: (308)865-8209  

For questions or submissions,
contact the Coordinator of Academic Publications at 8935 or academicpublications@unk.edu.