Written by / Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
MAE 2011 Volume: 6 Issue: 2 (March)
USC Introduces Virtual Academic Center
The University of Southern California School of Social Work is now offering its master’s in social work through its newly opened, web-based Virtual Academic Center. The technology takes advantage of advancements in social networks and face-to-face “Skype-like” innovation, and features live, virtual classes between faculty and students, online presentations, videos, and interactive study groups and chat sessions. It also features hands-on training and field education placements in local communities.
“Our country faces an increasing need for specially-trained social workers in a number of emerging areas, including health care, veterans’ mental health services and gerontology,” said Paul Maiden, vice dean and professor at the USC School of Social Work. “The school’s use of sophisticated technology to teach our students allows us to maximize the educational experience and provide extremely valuable, supplemental instruction not thought possible 10 years ago.”
Recognizing the need to train social workers to address burgeoning mental health issues, the USC School of Social Work has partnered with the USC Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) to use the institute’s virtual, immersive environment for treatment of PTSD as part of student training. Developed by ICT Psychologist Skip Rizzo, this simulated environment recreates the war zone where trauma was experienced, allowing patients to work through their fears with a social worker and begin the healing process.
Also, through its virtual patient program, the school is using patient avatars to train students on the mental health needs of soldiers returning from war. The avatar-based simulation program is designed to replicate the experiences of veterans exposed to combat stress and help them prepare for real-life interactions. Supported by a $3.2 million grant from the Department of Defense, the program is a collaboration between ICT and the school’s Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans and Military Families.
NDU iCollege Launches New Masters Program
National Defense University Information Resources Management College, also known as NDU’s iCollege, has launched a government information leader (GIL) master’s program. NDU iCollege is dedicated to ensuring that today’s and tomorrow’s leaders are professionally prepared to tackle challenges facing the national security community, including issues impacting information technology and emerging technology, cyber, cyber warfare and cybersecurity, national security, information assurance, crisis management, CIO/CFO skill sets, IT-project management, and other areas critical to the successful projection of soft power.
“Our goal is to educate, inform and connect Information Age leaders representing our military, civilian, government agency, private industry and international partners,” said iCollege Chancellor Robert Childs. “We strive to provide unparalleled education for leaders who are responsible for employing information and information technology for strategic advantage.”
NDU’s iCollege offers a dynamic range of courses and programs to develop strategic leaders. Approximately 50 courses are offered multiple times throughout the year. There are seven graduate certificate programs, and the college’s new GIL Master of Science degree is now available. The college also partners with more than 40 universities and colleges across the country for credit acceptance into multiple master’s and doctoral degree programs.
In addition to graduate-level courses, NDU iCollege offers all classes as a professional development option and welcomes students to enroll without seeking a certificate or academic credit. The college’s flexibility offers excellent learning and networking opportunities. Most classes, workshops, presentations, seminars and events have a mix of government, DoD and military, and civilian, private industry and international students who share knowledge, experiences and best practices. Also, for the last several years, the NDU iCollege has hosted conferences and symposia at the campus and around the world which are open to the public. This international outreach initiative focuses on current IT leadership topics, such as virtual worlds, social media, cyber and cybersecurity.
Students must be at or above middle management level/experience. Individuals in government or the military must be at or above the GS/GM-12, 04, rank. Private sector students must be sponsored by a government agency. All individuals applying for courses must possess a bachelor’s degree. Courses at the NDU iCollege are on campus at Fort Lesley J. McNair in Washington, D.C., and online through NDU’s distributed learning program. Full admission requirements and tuition information is posted on the college’s website.
CUNY Board Approves New Community College
The Board of Trustees of the City University of New York approved the creation of the system’s first new community college in 43 years. The new institution, which has been in development since 2008, will adopt strict policies aimed at producing high student retention and graduation rates. All its students must enroll full time and take a predetermined core curriculum; they will have 12 majors to choose from, all of them career-oriented.
The institution will open in Manhattan in the fall of 2012. It will initially enroll just 500 students, with the eventual goal of having up to 3,000. The Board of Trustees also approved the new community college’s first eight degree programs: associate’s degrees in business administration, energy services management, environmental science, health information technology, human services, information technology, liberal arts and sciences, and urban studies. Now that the trustees have approved the new college, the proposal goes to the New York State Board of Regents for final review of the institution and its initial set of academic programs.
Civility Institute to Open
at University of Arizona
The University of Arizona plans to open a National Institute for Civil Discourse as a nonpartisan center to promote research, education and public programming about civility in public life. The honorary chairs of the new center will be two former U.S. presidents, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush. The University of Arizona is located in Tucson, where, in January, six people were killed and 13 injured, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.).
“This institute is the right people in the right place at the right time,” said Fred DuVal, vice chairman of the Arizona Board of Regents and former co-chairman of Giffords’s finance committee.
Allegheny College is among the institutions already doing work in this area, sponsoring a survey and award to promote civility, and encouraging colleges to join the Soapbox Alliance, a group of colleges and universities that refuse to let their facilities be used for closed political events.
The center will be funded with private donations, and $1 million has already been raised, according to DuVal, who will head the working board of the institute. The Institute plans to organize workshops and conferences in Tucson, Washington, D.C. and elsewhere nationwide, and will bring together leaders from across the political spectrum to develop programs to promote civil discourse.
Former Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor and former Senate majority leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) will serve as honorary co-chairmen. Board members will include former secretary of state Madeleine K. Albright; Kenneth M. Duberstein, chief of staff to President Ronald Reagan; Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren; Trey Grayson, director of Harvard University’s Institute of Politics; and former congressman Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.).
“Our country needs a setting for political debate that is both frank and civil,” Bush said in a statement. Clinton also remarked on the plan, observing that the new institute “can elevate the tone of dialogue in our country.”
Brint Milward, director of the university’s School of Government and Public Policy, said the institute will be housed in a downtown Tucson building provided by Providence Service Corp., the lead donor. One of the institute’s first events will be a conference with members of the media, foundations, academic institutions, government and corporations to discuss advancing the national conversation about civil discourse, said Meredith Hay, provost of the University of Arizona. Although the Tucson shootings were not linked to public discourse, she said, they “created a space for us to think about civil discourse.”
“If anyone should lead this conversation, it should be the University of Arizona,” Hay said. “We’ve lived through this terrible event and grown stronger through it. We have extraordinary scholars in the area of public discourse and public policy who can reach out nationally and create an exciting conversation.”
UMUC Wins Institution Award
At its annual symposium in Tampa, Fla., the Council of College and Military Educators (CCME) recognized the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) with the 2011 Institution Award, which honors organizations that have made significant contributions to voluntary off-duty military education programs.
“UMUC is deeply honored to receive such a prestigious award recognizing our contributions to providing educational programs and support to servicemembers and their families,” said UMUC President Susan C. Aldridge. “UMUC has a rich history in providing education to servicemembers at home and abroad, and we are proud to be recognized for our dedication in enriching the lives of those who protect our country every day.”
CCME selected UMUC for the award because of the school’s dedication, leadership and numerous accomplishments in providing quality, voluntary off-duty education programs. For more than 60 years, UMUC has provided educational services to the U.S military, both at home and abroad. Through a contract with the Department of Defense, the university was able to provide GI Bill-guaranteed education to soldiers in Europe. Today, the university has operations across the U.S., Europe and Asia, and offers educational services and instruction online and on-site to servicemembers at dozens of locations around the world, including Iraq and Afghanistan.
“It is so important in Maryland that we make quality college education accessible to anyone who works hard for a better future,” said Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley. “I am so proud that UMUC has received this prestigious award for its outstanding commitment to providing educational services to the brave men and women who serve our nation and their families.”
Princeton Reinstates Early Admission Program
Princeton University is bringing back its early admission program, just four years after stopping it because campus officials thought it gave an unfair advantage to wealthy applicants. Applicants will be able to apply early to Princeton, but the university will not require them to make a final decision on whether to attend until the end of the regular admissions process.
“We have carefully reviewed our single admission program every year, and we have been very pleased with how it has worked,” Princeton President Shirley Tilghman said. “But in eliminating our early program four years ago, we hoped other colleges and universities would do the same and they haven’t. One consequence is that some students who really want to make their college decision as early as possible in their senior year apply to other schools early, even if their first choice is Princeton.”
Once the early admission program is reinstated, campus officials said they will use other methods to make sure enough minority and low-income students are included in each Princeton class. Last year, Princeton admitted 8.8 percent of applicants, its lowest admission rate yet. Nearly 16 percent of the 1,313 students in the freshman class come from low-income families and 11 percent are the first in their families to go to college. ♦