July 29, 2008
Bowling
Green, Ky. - The Division of Extended Learning & Outreach (DELO) is celebrating five years of success at Western Kentucky University.
The division is made up of several units that operate under one umbrella and one dean, Dr. Don Swoboda.
DELO staff along with their past, present and future partners will celebrate the 5th anniversary of the division at 11 a.m. Thursday (July 31) at the Carroll Knicely Conference Center. To RSVP for the celebration, call (270) 745-1900.
DELO was officially approved by the Board of Regents to begin operations in July 2003. Provost Barbara Burch envisioned a well-developed and expansive outreach program that would take advantage of the talents and interests of faculty and other WKU resources and match those with the needs of communities locally, nationally and internationally. Dr. Audrey Anderson served as the interim dean of the division at its inception.
The units that make up the division are all related to academic outreach. They are the Carroll Knicely Conference Center, the Center for Training & Development, Cohort and Dual Credit (high school) Programs, Continuing Education, Distance Learning, Regional Campuses, and Summer and Winter Terms. Many of these programs existed individually prior to the formation of DELO, but are able to operate more efficiently and with more resources as part the division.
As the demand for more flexible learning opportunities continues to grow, so will the units within DELO. The regional campuses in Glasgow, Owensboro and Elizabethtown/Radcliff/Fort Knox are a big part of that growth as enrollments in those campuses has grown as much as 30 percent over the past five years.
Demand for online courses has increased dramatically since 15 students enrolled in the first online class that was offered at WKU in 1999. By 2003 the number of students enrolled in online courses exceeded 3,000, and this year 4,300 individual students are taking more than 17,000 online courses. These students are in Bowling Green as well as in nearly every state and in more than 40 countries around the world.
The Division of Extended Learning & Outreach relies on strong partnerships to create successful educational opportunities. The division partners with academic departments on WKU’s campus to bring both credit and non-credit courses to a wide array of students.
The Continuing Education unit works closely with the Music Department to administer the highly successful pre-college strings program, while the Center for Training & Development partners with businesses and industries to deliver customized training programs for their employees.
Cohort Programs brings together students who have a specific educational need and matches them to the academic department at WKU that can customize a program for those students. One of the most successful cohort partnerships to date has been with the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) in New York City. The collaborative program between the Department of Communication Disorders at WKU and the UFT enables full-time teachers to complete a master’s degree in speech language pathology as part-time students. The students maintain their current teaching positions and complete course work online and on weekends. In 2006 the program received regional and national recognition for distance education from the Association for Continuing Higher Education.
The Carroll Knicely Conference Center is a comprehensive, all-occasion facility that hosts business meetings, trainings and seminars, weddings and receptions, banquets, reunions, trade shows and holiday parties. The Knicely Center has seen an 80 percent growth in sales in the past five years and has received One-Stop Shop Certification from Association of Collegiate Conference and Events Directors-International (ACCED-I).
DELO also administers Summer Sessions and Winter Term at WKU. These alternative sessions offer students the chance to take classes outside of the traditional fall and spring semesters. Winter Term has had three successful sessions and has grown 20 percent each year becoming recognized as one of the premier Winter Term programs in the country.
At the five-year celebration, Dr. Burch and Dr. Swoboda will make brief comments at 11:30 a.m. in the Regency Room, followed by a short video presentation. All past, present and potential DELO partners are invited to attend.
To learn more about the Division of Extended Learning & Outreach, visit the website at www.wku.edu/delo.
More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu and at http://wkunews.wordpress.com/. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.
For information, contact Stacey Biggs at (270) 745-1926.
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