Bowling Green, Ky. - Representatives from Western Kentucky University celebrated the graduation of 29 students who received their master's degrees in communication disorders Wednesday afternoon.

What made this WKU event different was that the convocation ceremony was held in New York City, more than 800 miles away from Bowling Green.

Randi Weingarten, president of United Federation of Teachers, thanked WKU for bringing the master's in communication disorders to New York City. The program's first graduates begin their courses in the fall of 2003.

The online program is meeting the needs of speech therapists seeking a master's degree while maintaining their current full-time school jobs. The New York City schools have faced a shortage of speech pathologists for several years and approached Western after learning that the University was offering an online master's program in communication disorders. About 90 New York teachers have applied for the 30 slots available in the fall of 2005.

WKU Provost Dr. Barbara Burch led the program, while Dr. Stan Cooke and Dr. Joseph Etienne from Western's Department of Communication Disorders hooded each candidate.

Dean Don Swoboda and Assistant to the Dean Beth Laves represented the Division of Extended Learning and Outreach (DELO), which coordinated the online master's program. Dr. John Bonaguro, dean of the College of Health and Human Services, and several other representatives from Western's Bowling Green campus also attended the convocation.

Students celebrating their graduation from the program in New York were Sheri Abraham, Jamie Antin, Maria Aponte, Meredith Blackman, Mary Brennan McAuliffe, Carmen Cardus, Bianca Corozzo, Dora Diaz, Jaime Hollander, Carol Downes Hopley, Eve Field, Jennifer Garcia, Simone Howard, Mindy Karten Bornemann, Jennifer Kisareuski, Jennifer Lee, Cleo Lucas, Anissa Molina, Jane Morris, Kim Munoz, Barbara Napolitano, Kathleen Nemeth, Celeste Norman, Geneive Powell, Margaret Rice, Grankie Roman, Maria Santiago, Carlo Simon and Patricia Taback.

Virginia Hill and Ed Sweeney are the clinical supervisors and adjunct faculty in New York City.

In a similar program in Kentucky, DELO, in conjunction with the WKU Department of Physical Education, is offering an online Master of Science in Physical Education with a Teacher Education Option beginning the fall term of 2005. The Teacher Education Option focuses on the skills necessary to teach Physical Education. This program meets the Kentucky Teacher Requirements for Advanced Teaching Standards.

For information about the communication disorders program, contact Dr. Joseph Etienne at (270) 745-8998 or Dr. Barbara Brindle at (270) 745-4299; for more on distance learning opportunities including the online master's in physical education, contact Dr. Don Swoboda or Beth Laves at (270) 745-1900.

More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

For information, contact Bill Oldham at (270) 745-1926.