UW-Eau Claire receives grant for Literacy Action Network
Each year UW-Eau Claire students contribute thousands of hours helping area children and teenagers improve their abilities to read and write. They are involved in community and campus-based programs such as Jumpstart, Reading Partners, America Reads and other programs designed to increase reading readiness and other literacy skills.
     A new grant project will boost the students' efforts by establishing a Literacy Action Network at UW-Eau Claire. The network will pull together campus-based literacy efforts and help the university develop a coherent, organized and community-based approach to literacy, said project manager Donald Mowry, director of the Center for Service-Learning.
     "A Literacy Action Network will also give added visibility to all of the opportunities that exist for students to complete their service-learning requirement," Mowry added.
     Mowry said the $5,500 grant and matching university funds will enable participants in the various literacy programs to come together in a seminar starting in the spring 2003 semester. The monthly seminar will address literacy education in the U.S., diversity and tolerance, Hmong culture, socio-economic issues affecting literacy, model local programs and collaborations, English as a Second Language and immigration, family literacy and literacy across the lifespan.
     Initial plans include a goal of moving the seminar around to various literacy program sites. The seminar will be non-credit bearing, but plans are to explore the possibility of granting credit to those participants who maintain a high level of participation and complete a final project.
     "There is also a provision to plan and manage a semester's end action project with a literacy focus," he said. "The seminar participants will plan the project, which may involve a day of celebration, literacy-focused fun and games and family literacy-based activities for all project participants and families."
     Mowry said Literacy Action Networks exist at a number of public and private colleges across the nation.
     "The whole idea is to bring various literacy efforts together so that they are more consistent and students can learn from each other," he said. "The result will be better prepared tutors and better service to the community."
     Susan McIntyre, a reading specialist and chair of the department of curriculum and instruction in the School of Education, will be a consultant on the literacy education part of the seminar. Mowry is in the process of hiring a seminar coordinator and student assistants for the project.
     Funding for the program comes from the Student Coalition for Action in Literacy Education, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of literacy education on campuses across the nation.
     "It is interesting to note that the history of this organization is similar to Jumpstart, in that it was begun by students who believed there was a better way to do things and become involved in facilitating and advocating for change," Mowry said.

Winterim to offer wide array of courses
Winterim has been a part of the academic calendar at UW-Eau Claire since 1996, when only 13 courses were offered. The 2003 Winterim session offers nearly 60 classroom courses and two Web-based courses during a three-week session that runs Jan. 2-17. Most classes meet every day for three hours, and all classes will meet Saturday, Jan. 4.
     "This Winterim session provides such a rich array of course offerings compared to where we started just seven years ago," said Jan Morse, administrative officer for academic affairs. "I think with the number and variety of courses available, most students will find at least one course that will help them stay on track or get a step ahead on completing their degrees."
     Winterim also offers an opportunity for people not enrolled at the university to take a course.
     In addition to classroom courses, the Winterim session offers two Web-based courses — one in "Wellness: Food for Fitness" (FMHN 211) and one in "Reengineering Financial Performance Measures" (MBA 721).
     "We expect working adults to be interested in the online courses as well as currently enrolled students who want to earn credits while traveling or going home to work over the winter break," Morse said.
     Information about these and other course offerings is on UW-Eau Claire's Web site, and on the Blugold System. Currently enrolled students and special students — including those not currently enrolled at UW-Eau Claire — can register until Dec. 27. For more information, call the Registration and Scheduling office at 836-2425.

  

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Updated: February 18, 2003