UPCEA, a leading national organization for online education, recognized the University of Missouri with three awards at their Central Region Conference Sept. 27 in St. Louis, Missouri. Vice Provost for eLearning Jim Spain helped kick off the conference with a presentation on the history of distance learning at the University of Missouri.
MU’s Informatics Institute earned the Outstanding Program Award (Credit) for the online master’s in data science and analytics. Academic Advisor Robert Sanders, Associate Professor Sean Goggins, Assistant Research Professor Grant Scott and Informatics Institute Director Chi-Ren Shyu were onsite to accept the award and discuss the program’s interdisciplinary approach.
“The DSA program was built from the ground up as a collaboration with five different academic units,” said Scott. “Our goal was to build a leading, innovative interdisciplinary program … we feel we’ve been successful.”
The College of Education took home the Outstanding Program Award (Noncredit) for the Missouri K-12 ESOL certification preparation program. Associate Professor Rachel Pinnow accepted the award and highlighted the issue that the ESOL program is working to solve — a shortage of qualified teachers.
“English language learners make up the fastest growing student population in the United States,” said Pinnow. “Unfortunately this rise in English language learners in our schools has not been met with the corresponding rise in teachers who are certified to work with these students effectively.”
UPCEA also honored Mizzou Online Assistant Director of Research Terrie Nagel and School of Health Professions Associate Teaching Professor Mark Kuhnert with the Research and Scholarship Award for their research, “Supporting Internships with Mobile Learning.”
About UPCEA: The University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) is the leading association for professional, continuing and online education. For more than 100 years, UPCEA has served most of the leading public and private colleges and universities in North America. Founded in 1915, the association serves its members with innovative conferences and specialty seminars, research and benchmarking information, professional networking opportunities and timely publications. Based in Washington, D.C., UPCEA also builds greater awareness of the vital link between contemporary learners and public policy issues.