Academic Unit Annual Summaries

2023-2024

College of Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities (CASSH) faculty once again were very productive in scholarship and creative activities. CASSH faculty/IAS published (or had accepted for publication) five books, 42 articles, and 26 book chapters. Our faculty/IAS also provided 180 creative performances/exhibits and delivered 155 presentations at scholarly and professional venues. CASSH faculty also received seven external grants totaling $241,240. The College provided a small grants program in FY24, allocating $66,000 for projects advancing faculty/IAS professional goals, college goals, and the college strategic plan.

2023-2024

Our faculty were productive this year with 17 peer reviewed journal articles, book chapters, research reports, and book reviews and presented research at several international conferences. We received multiple grants to support teaching and research in the amount of approximately $140,000, including an external grant from the U.S. State Department to support Dr. Nicodemus’ Joint American-Serbian Archaeological Field School in Serbia ($60,300). Faculty members continue active engagement in research in the Midwest, Egypt, Bolivia, Serbia, Ukraine, and Southeast Asia.

2023-2024

The 2023-24 academic year demonstrated the Art Department’s commitment to teaching with four individual faculty members nominated for the Eagle Teaching Excellence Award. Jarred Pfeiffer received the Eagle Excellence in Advising Award and Sierra Rooney was the recipient CASSH Recognition of Excellence in Teaching Award. Jarred Pfeiffer was successfully promoted to Associate Professor, and Lisa Lenarz and Jarred Pfeiffer were granted tenure. David Dobbs (IAS) covered drawing and painting studio courses in Spring 2024 while Jennifer Williams took a sabbatical for her project “Art Beyond Borders,” and Allison Schneider was moved into a permanent red-book IAS position to support growing interest among students in digital media. Moreover, Kate Hawkes was enthusiastically elected to serve as the new department chair starting in July of 2024.

2023-2024

The CST Department continued to thrive this past year, serving 276 majors and 390 minors, along with 1200+ students in the General Education program (CST 110). We welcomed new Media Studies faculty member, Dr. Irene Awino, along with two new IAS members, Dr. Scott Makstenieks (Redbook) and Dr. Jaclyn Reed, who will return in a Redbook position starting Fall 2024. Our faculty has a strong presence on campus, especially in leadership positions. Dr. Ronda Leahy serves as the Faculty Assistant to the Provost, Dr. Kate Lavelle is the FYS Director, and Dr. Ashley Edwards continues as the CATL Inclusive Teaching Specialist. Internally, Dr. Brandon Anderson was elected to a 3-year term as the CST 110 Course Director, Professor Terry Smith began his 3-year term as the Public Speaking Director in the MLC, and Dr. Beth Boser was elected as the inaugural Associate Chair of Communication Studies.

The Communication and Media Lab (CaML) officially opened in the fall with an open house and ribbon cutting ceremony. Dr. Taylor Miller continues to serve as the CaML Director. The lab includes state of the art equipment, hosts multiple media classes, and space and equipment is requested by constituents in CASSH.

CST faculty members are recognized in the areas of social justice, diversity, and inclusion. For example, Dr. Irene Awino was the featured speaker at the campus’ celebration of Women’s History Month. Dr. Sara Docan-Morgan was a featured speaker during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Dr. Scott Makstenieks presented at Social Justice week. As evidenced in our activity reporting, much of the CST scholarship, expertise, and service work focuses on diversity and equity.

In the area of scholarship, six articles and book chapters were published and/or accepted, five additional articles and book chapters are under review (seven different faculty), one academic book is now in press/available, and another one is in publication. Twenty-five papers or presentations were shared at international, national, regional and local conferences. Approximately $28,000 was secured by CST members in grants over the past year. Our undergraduate research program continues to impress. Several faculty members submitted their students' work to undergraduate conferences, and CST or UWL funded four different students to attend and present their work.

2023-2024

In 2023-2024 the English department collectively taught over 210 sections of general education and upper-level English courses, published 9 peer-reviewed articles or book chapters, and presented at over 24 conferences and professional development activities. Our faculty served the University on over 200 department, college, and university-wide committees. A significant percentage of our faculty were nominated for the Eagle Teaching Excellence Award, and Dr. Darci Thoune was one of the selected awardees. Dr. Stephen Mann continued as Chair of the Faculty Senate for a second term.

2023-2024

The Sustainability & Environmental Studies Program had a strong year and has set the stage for what we hope will be an advantageous administrative merger with the Philosophy Department next year. Minors held steady around 70, the same number as last year, and we are continuing to implement changes to attract new students. In addition to the program name change and introductory course number change to the 100-level which we implemented in the last two years, we have now also lowered the number of credits from 24 to 21 (effective Fall 2024), and are assigning individual course numbers to our upper-level topics courses (effective Spring 2025) so that they can more easily be added to other majors such as the Food and Nutrition Sciences major and three new equity-oriented micro-credentials through RGS and SOC. All of our courses offer students experiential learning and dynamic community engagement. We ran 44 field trips and hosted 36 guest speakers this year. Every capstone student had a community internship experience. Faculty include a full time Teaching Professor, Associate Teaching Professor and two part-time Lecturers. Our major achievement was bringing internationally acclaimed author Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer to campus. Led by Dr. Margot Higgins, the event planning team arranged two days of events including a lunch with student leaders, an interdisciplinary Q&A, book-signings, a dinner with local Ho Chunk leaders, and a keynote attended by approximately 900 people with another 100 attending virtually. Dr. Higgins’ leadership was particularly notable for her successful work with indigenous consultants. Dr. Higgins was also promoted to full Teaching Professor this year (effective July 2024), published a magazine article, and continued to lead students in oral history community engagement projects. Dr. Remsburg was an active member of the Kimmerer committee, won a community award for the La Crosse Public Education Foundation, guided her students in judging a filmfest for La Crosse Adventure films, and continued to add new community internship partners to the capstone course. They were both awarded grant money totaling $4,500. Pertaining to service, Dr. Higgins is our representative on JCES and our Equity Liaison, in addition to serving on the Board of Directors for the WI Bicycle Federation. Dr. Remsburg is internship coordinator and assessment coordinator, in addition to serving on the boards of several community organizations. They are both actively amplifying indigenous learning on campus, including working towards an Indigenous Institute at UWL and establishing an indigenous pollinator garden.

2023-2024

IN 2023-2024 GCL continued focusing on recruitment and retention of students into language and intercultural competence programs, as well as strengthening experiential learning opportunities via GCL’s collaboration with community organizations and new interdisciplinary initiatives on campus. Department members were involved in specific task forces working closely with the Office of Admissions and the Advising Office as well as the Office of International Education and Engagement. GCL continued its support to programs such as Latinx Parent College and other High School visits to campus. Several GCL faculty completed the Master Advising training and the CATL Eagle Advantage Competencies training and are now incorporating new teaching and advising strategies into their courses. GCL language certificate programs (Spanish for professional purposes, Chinese and French Proficiency) continue to grow and be popular among students.

2023-2024

The 2023-2024 academic year contained challenges and successes for both individual faculty and the department as an entity. Continuities include: the continued delivery of meaningful and diverse classroom experiences, including significant contributions to UWL’s General Education program via the teaching of HIS 110 and several sections of First Year Seminar; significant scholarly endeavors by all faculty; and faculty dedication to department, college, and university service. Several faculty were nominated for myriad awards across campus, with Department ADA Amy Ticknor and Associate Professor Penelope Hardy winning CASSH’s Recognition of Excellence for staff and faculty service, respectively. Sabbaticals were awarded to Drs. Kenneth Shonk (full year) and Víctor Macías-González (Spring 2025); Faculty Research Grants were awards to Drs. Macías-González, Shonk, and Ariel Beaujot. 2023-2024 marked the final year for Dr. Mark Chavalas, who announced his retirement effective May 2024. Dr. Chavalas, who joined the UWL faculty in 1989 was also awarded the status of Professor Emeritus by the Department in spring 2024. The Department also completed a successful search for two Broadfield Social Studies (BFSS) faculty: Drs. Dean Vesperman and Taylor Hamblin. These new faculty will replace the retired Dr. Patricia Stovey, the resignation of Dr. Hanadi Shatara, and the moving of Dr. Shonk from SOE-affiliated faculty to being housed solely in history. Our majors continue to be successful in life after graduation, with many being accepted into graduate programs or finding jobs as secondary social studies teachers. Challenges do remain, especially as related to the number of our majors. The number of non-education majors has continued a downward trajectory, mirroring state and national trends for History and for the humanities writ large. Nonetheless, in 2023-2024 the department worked to revise and ratify a new set of departmental bylaws and made significant strides in updating promotional materials aligned to Eagle advantage.

2023-2024

The Department of Music’s 2023-2024 year was successful. Over fifty unique courses served general education students, student-musicians in music ensembles, music and music education majors, and music/music performance minors taking lessons and completing coursework for their respective programs. The Department congratulates the eleven senior capstone recitals (voice, flute, sax, trumpet, percussion and jazz performance (trombone)). Live performances included 55+ UWL student performances plus 81+ faculty performances from local to international in scope, cumulating in over 120+ live music performances during year. The faculty’s expertise as teachers, musicians and composers were regularly on display, including 14 presentations/publications, 5+ published arrangements of jazz and jazz worship ensembles and commissioned compositions (Ailabouni’s Fraught Hope Blues for large jazz band and Dies’ new music created for UWL’s theater production of Doctor Faustus), 9 conducting performances and 29+ events where faculty presented master classes or clinics and/or adjudicated student performers and composers. Through a grant initiated by Dies, the New Music Festival featured three concerts and offered two interactive sessions with composer and artist Arturo Rodriguez. The three-day festival featured several UWL faculty in concert and UWL students in a piano master class with Mr. Rodriguez. The Spring semester offered opportunities to interact with Katie Ernst and TwinTalk, who were featured as one of the guest artists for the 2024 VPA ArtsFest. Faculty and students were engaged with recruiting events including outreach concerts and clinics, High School Band Day, hosting the Kids from Wisconsin auditions, PianoFest and WSMA State Solo & Ensemble and the Festival of Voices, featuring the Concert Choir, La Crosse Chamber Chorale, Viterbo Concert Choir and selected area high school students.

2023-2024

The Department of Philosophy remains productive and committed to our program outcomes. The PHL Plan Report as of 6/2024 lists our majors at 20 and minors at 11. We will continue our recruitment efforts. One journal article was accepted, and we presented our research at 5 academic conferences. Department members received four grants in AY24 totaling $31,900 (paid out in AY25). These include 1 CASSH Small Grant, a Carol Dobrunz Grant, 3 Faculty Research Grants, one CATL teaching improvement grant, and a COIL grant. Our course enrollments remain strong, with many of our courses reaching and exceeding capacity, and our courses play a vital role in several different programs. Notable university and college service positions include CAPS, Joint Promotion Committee, General Education Committee, and UPAC. Dr. Ross continues to engage in annual professional service for the American Society for Aesthetics. Drs. Schneider and Eskew organized, hosted, and reviewed the papers for the annual Wisconsin Philosophical Association, held at UWL in April 2024. Dr. Schneider and visiting research scholar Ayse Ambaroglu (Turkey) helped organize the “Spinoza and Jewish Philosophy Conference” in Madison, Wisconsin, where they both also presented their collaborative research. Dr. Eskew organized and commenced a monthly Philosopher’s Community Circle, held at Pearl Street Books, open to the entire community, and addresses several pertinent philosophical topics. Drs. Eskew and Cocks are close to completing an AI Ethics certificate (passed CASSH curriculum committee). Our program submitted its APR self-study. Graduating senior Maysa Osley received our student excellence award.

2023-2024

The 2023-2024 academic year was another year of changes for the Political Science and Public Administration Department that built on the solid foundation provided by the work of the preceding few years and even with some last-minute staffing changes. This included general revisions to a number of important courses, like the complete revision of POL 130 Comparing Politics and Governments Around the World, and this work was rooted in feedback and recommendations from the most recent Academic Program Review cycle. Additionally, we maintained solid enrollments across many of our programs throughout the year and we hope these changes will enable us to grow these programs in the future. At the beginning of the spring 2024 semester, the Department had 121 political science majors and 48 political science minors; 21 public administration majors and 24 public administration minors; 85 legal studies minors.

Among other highlights from the year, the Department is pleased to report the tenure and promotion, from Assistant to Associate Professor, of Dr. Anthony Chergosky and the promotion of Dr. John Kovari from Associate to Full Professor. The Department was happy to once again take students to Madison for a day of learning about internships, jobs, and networking at the Capitol followed by the annual UWL in Madison alumni reception in February. The trip featured the largest group of students to go on this trip. Then, in April, three students from the Department traveled to Chicago to present their own research at the Midwest Political Science Association annual conference.

2023-2024

In 2023-24, the School Psychology face-to-face program had 36 total students. Twelve first-year students successfully completed their first semester of practicum in Spring 2024 and recently submitted research proposals to present capstone research projects at the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) annual convention in Spring 2025. Twelve second-year students completed their on-campus coursework in spring 2024 and will be starting their full-time internship positions in Fall 2024. All second-year students passed the PRAXIS II exam and presented capstone posters at the 2024 NASP Annual Convention and the 2024 UWL Research & Creativity Symposium. Second-year student Andrea O’Bryon received the Wisconsin School Psychologists Association (WSPA) Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship Award. Twelve interns completed their internships in May 2024 and received their Educational Specialist degrees. Our admissions committee offered admission to 23 students and 12 accepted to begin in Fall 2024.

Currently, the UWL School Psychology program is conditionally accredited by the NASP Program Accreditation Board. Core program faculty worked collaboratively with Dr. Adrienne Loh to address prepare for submission of the NASP response to conditions report in September 2024.

Four faculty members (Kortenkamp, McKelley, Quartiroli, & Zabel) secured grants to fund high impact teaching practice. Several faculty members completed the UWL Eagle Advantage training and submitted grants to fund related work or integrated this work into their courses. Psychology Department faculty published three peer-reviewed journal articles (Dixon, Marshik, & Thakkar) and two book chapters (Dixon & Marshik). One faculty (Basten) co-authored a revised book on career options for Psychology majors. Many faculty presented at local, regional, and national conferences and workshops and served as reviewers for national/international journals and textbook publishers. Psychology undergraduate and graduate students also presented at numerous regional and national conferences. Faculty and students obtained internal and external grants to support scholarship endeavors. One faculty member successfully attained a semester sabbatical for the 2023-24 academic year (Srinivasan). Three faculty members obtained UWL faculty research grants (Deason, Kortenkamp, & Thakkar). Psychology department faculty were heavily involved in service to the college, university, professional organizations, and the community. Two faculty members (Sumontha & Zabel) obtained a CATL grant to support their work on the Gardner Institute CASSH committee.

2023-2024

AY 2023/2024 was an exciting year for RGSS. Dr. Lilley began his first year as chair of the department, Dr. Melina Packer began her tenure-track position, and Kristi Bechtel joined us as an IAS. We were presented with the opportunity to replace our redbooked IAS position with a tenure track line in fall of 2023 and conducted a nation-wide search to do so. Unfortunately, that search failed and was pulled in spring of 2024.

In her first year, Dr. Packer was nominated, along with Dr. Kazemi, for the Most Accessible Faculty award from Disability Rights Education Activism and Mentoring (DREAM) and Disability Resource Center students. Also in her first year, Kristi Bechtel was nominated, along with Drs. Iwai, Kazemi, and Lilley for the Eagle Teaching Excellence Award. Dr. Illahe was recognized as the 2024 College of Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities (CASSH)/School of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) Academic Staff Recognition of Excellence Award winner for Service.

We began the academic year with a focus on curriculum and pedagogy, with Dr. Lilley leading a discussion on utilizing evidence-based studying strategies as teaching strategies in course development. A portion of each subsequent department meeting was dedicated to questions of pedagogy, and the department made plans to have CATL provide a pedagogy-related training during one department meeting per semester beginning in fall of 2024. We developed a rotation of our core courses in terms of instructors and offerings, began the work of reviewing our bylaws and our major, minors, and certificate structures, and began strategic planning work with an emphasis on growing the numbers of majors and minors.

RGSS was also active across campus and the broader community. We tabled at the annual Juneteenth celebration and a variety of other community events. We also implemented the RGSS Distinguished Lecture Series with Drs. Kazemi, Packer, Illahe, Breaux, and Iwai presenting their research over the year.

RGSS continued to provide invaluable service to the university in terms of an incredibly high general education load. Our relatively small department offered 19 sections of RGS 100 in the fall of 2023 and 21 sections in the spring of 2024, with enrollments averaging in the high 30s for each section. During the spring of 2024, the department worked with the CASSH Dean’s office and the Provost’s office to offer 25 sections, including one living and learning community section of this course, for the fall of 2024. To help fill this demand, our faculty are on a 3-1 rotation (3 introductory GE courses, 1 upper division), and we have re-hired Dr. Mark Langenfeld and Blythe McConaughey.

Focusing on courses that would be offered soon, RGSS communicated with department chairs and faculty, and reviewed and approved 18 courses this year, in departments ranging from Psychology to History. We wanted to assure that the new RGSS major and minor will be taught from an intersectional perspective across disciplines. The department also approved, and shepherded through UCC, two new courses in-house that will enhance our curriculum: RGS 350 Asian American Studies in Race, Gender, and Sexuality, and RGS 353 The Disability Experience in the Contemporary World. The department also shifted towards our new GE courses for all faculty and staff, RGS 100, essentially putting everyone in new course prep mode, since Fall ’22 was the first time anyone taught this class. In addition to implementing our extensive Inclusive Excellence plan this year (detailed in our IE report), RGSS also connected with Western Technical College students and worked out an articulation agreement to facilitate entry in the RGSS major and minor from WTC students. And in June, ’22, the department staffed a table at La Crosse’s community celebration of Juneteenth. RGSS also spent considerable time with searching, staffing, and onboarding again this year.

The department conducted a tenure-track search to replace Jodi Vandenberg-Daves after her retirement at the end of Spring ’23; the department also saw the departure of our ADA in Fall ‘22, and we searched for a new ADA and onboarded Alec Lass into that role. In addition, in Fall ’22, the department onboarded a new full-time IAS member, Dr. Sana Illahe and a new part-time IAS, Blythe McConnoughy (and welcomed back Kayleigh Day); we also worked with Dr. Shuma Iwai in his new capacity in a tenure-track position, and onboarded another new tenure-track faculty member, Dr. Sona Kazemi, in Spring ’23.  

2023-2024

The Department of Sociology & Criminal Justice’s spent considerable time reflecting, reorganizing and planning based on information from the Academic Program Review. Further motivating this was the resignation of two faculty members – Drs. Cooper Stoll and Norris – that forced the department to make concrete plans for the future of all our programs. Simultaneously, we focused on retaining our 236 Sociology Majors/Minors and 137 Criminal Justice Minors, recruiting new ones, and meeting the needs of all our students. We added UWL’s very first microcredentials into our program, two more faculty acquired Master Advisor certification, and four of our faculty worked to guide six independent undergraduate research projects. Dr. Miller organized Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul’s campus wide talk on state efforts to address domestic and intimate partner violence, and Dr. Kruse coordinated with the Department of Economics to bring the Community Action Poverty Simulation to UWL for students to experience.

2023-2024

The Department of Student Affairs Administration (SAA) in Higher Education enrolled 101 online and blended students in 4 master’s cohorts and 3+ doctoral cohorts in 2023-2024. Overall enrollment was down 10%. AY23-24 marks the first time SAA enrolled more doctoral students than master’s students.

The reduction in master’s program enrollments were experienced by nearly every master’s program in our field. Many colleges and universities eliminated the “master’s required” qualification for positions they had a hard time filling at low salaries. This transfers the responsibility of preparing practitioners to employers, who are already seeing higher attrition rates in staff.

The doctoral program enrolled more students than expected as more students enrolled part-time. The doctoral program only began in 2017, and by 2024, we enrolled our 100th student. We continue to maintain a high completion rate, with over 50% of those who started in 2017-2021 finishing the Ed.D. in under 4 years. We have graduated or retained 82% of our doctoral students.

While total enrollment was down slightly, recruiting activity was not, as SAA faculty and staff logged 1,200+ communications with 548 prospective students (double the number of leads from the year prior). We also collaborated with the Senior Student Affairs Officers within the Universities of Wisconsin, who supported the creation of a Student Affairs Leadership Academy. Dr. Vitaliano Figueroa, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs at UWL, and Dr. Tori Svoboda from SAA organized over 50 hours of training for 34 emerging leaders in student affairs staff positions from 11 UW campuses over a nine-month period. The program was highly successful and we expect it to continue in AY24-25.

Beyond our 4 ranked faculty and 1.8 FTE staff, the department also includes 17 ad hoc teaching faculty and 60 additional graduate faculty on active dissertation committees. We operated with a vacant faculty line for 23-24 and an additional faculty member on leave in the fall term. After a successful search, a new assistant professor, Dr. Gabriel Pulido, will join the department in August 2024.

Dr. Adele Lozano received the Legacia Award from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in April 2024 in recognition of her commitment to Latina/o/x/e students and communities. She is retiring with emeriti status in August 2024. Dr. Tori Svoboda received a UWL Eagle Teaching Award and was a delegate to the UW Faculty Teaching College. Dr. Becki Elkins was awarded a Faculty Research Grant for AY24-25.

2023-2024

The Department of Theatre & Dance welcomed two permanent new faculty members and a temporary lecturer. We conducted three searches for personnel to join the department in August 2024 and managed several space and equipment-related efforts. The department completed multiple curriculum projects including a new course and expanded our recruitment efforts. In the midst of this, we produced a successful six-show season including the inaugural Art in Motion dance concert in February 2024, welcoming over 6,000 audience members to Toland and Frederick Theatres. The department provided students with quality high impact practices through 87 roles onstage, 61 advanced student opportunities in theatre design, technology, management, and dramaturgy, and experiential learning for an additional 240 students participating in conjunction with a theatre course.

2022-2023

The College of Business Administration underwent AACSB reaccreditation with a visit from the Continuous Improvement Review Team in March of 2023. They made a positive recommendation to the CIR committee which was approved by the entire AACSB board in June 2023. This makes for continuous AACSB accreditation for the CBA going back to 1981. In preparation for the visit, the CBA also engaged in strategic planning, which included the adoption of a new Purpose statement, along with new Mission and Vision statements. The CBA continues to grow enrollment, exceeding last year’s record.

The CBA welcomed 552 students from the incoming freshman class in the fall, along with internal and external net transfers resulting in another 96 students bringing the college to a total headcount of 2441 students for the spring semester a net increase of 100 students. This enrollment level makes us the largest in our history, exceeding the enrollment levels of the mid-1980s. In order to address some of the attendant issues that arise from such rapid growth, the CBA submitted a proposal for a tuition differential for students in our class. The funds allowed the CBA to hire 2 fulltime academic advisors and 3 FTE of instructional academic staff who will begin in the fall of 2023. In addition to the challenges associated with growing enrollment, the CBA continues to manage excessive turnover among faculty and staff. We hired 3 Tenure Track faculty and 8 IAS which includes the three from the differential. We also addressed some salary equity issues in our IAS.

We continue to partner in the UW consortium MBA. Of 366 online MBA programs in the U.S., our online MBA program is ranked 9th overall and 7th for veterans in the "Best Online MBA Programs" by U.S. News & World Report.

2023-2024

The 2023-24 academic year began with 4 new ACC IAS: Trnka, Wilbur, Chapman, and Schmidt and one new BLAW IAS, Parr. All are licensed CPAs. Ancius retired in May 2024 and Tonya Edinger, resigned to be near family in PA. The number of declared majors rose slightly, though down as a percentage of the total CBA student population the past few years. Nationally, enrollment in the accounting major has declined, so the department is doing well relative to many other programs around the country. Demand for ACC majors remains strong, resulting in many firms at the Accounting Career Fair held September 2023. There were approximately 60 paid internships during the year. The CPA exam had significant changes effective January 2024 and the department reviewed and updated course CIM forms and content to reflect the changes in the exam and the skills needed in the profession. One new TT faculty member, completing her DBA, will begin August 2024. A new full-time IAS will start August 2024 to help cover courses open from two ACC TT vacancies in the department. There is one BLAW IAS vacancy with an active search underway during summer 2024. The department ADA resigned to care for her daughter resulting in a summer 2024 search which is ongoing.

2023-2024

The Economics department offered 46 sections of General Education courses in the 2023-2024 academic year. Faculty members were highly active in research, collectively publishing nine peer-reviewed journal articles and presenting at numerous domestic and international conferences. Our commitment to teaching was underscored by the nomination of five faculty members for the Eagle Excellence in Teaching Award.

Faculty were extensively involved in departmental, college, university, and professional service. With five untenured faculty members, including four hired within the last two years, senior members dedicated substantial efforts to mentoring new faculty. Dr. Murray received special recognition for his outstanding mentoring contributions. Meanwhile, Dr. Dutta co-directed the Menards Family Initiative and played a key role in securing grant funding for another year. Additionally, Dr. Dutta serves as an associate editor of a peer-reviewed economic journal, and Dr. Haupert serves on the board of trustees of the Cliometrics Society

2023-2024

The Finance Department continued its growth and continues to be the largest major in the College of Business Administration. The department continues to be supported by the CBA Dean’s office, which advises all incoming first-year students, and the Economics department, which advises all second-year students. The department was able to offer additional electives by hiring adjunct instructors with professional experience to teach in their relevant areas.

On the personnel front, Dr. Adam Stivers completed his second year as department chair. Three department members were successfully promoted to Associate Professor (Shishir Paudel, Shiang Liu, and Ming Tsang). Dr. Paudel and Dr. Liu were also granted tenure this year. Diana Tempski was awarded one of the UWL Eagle Excellence in Teaching awards. The department will soon expand once again and will search for an additional IAS position.

The department introduced a new concentration: Personal Financial Planning (PFP). This new PFP program is a CFP Board Registered Program, which allows students to directly sit for the CFP exam after graduating. We created two new courses, reactivated one course, worked with the ACC department to create a new course, and modified three other courses in order to create this new program. The department also made some curricular changes to the existing major and concentration by including new elective offerings.

The Gordon Spellman Fund continues to perform well and closed the year with a value over $478,000 as of May 31, 2024.

The department continued to support and teach in the Integrated Core Program offered by the CBA.

During Academic Year 2023-2024 the department had 7 refereed articles published or accepted by high-quality academic journals, received several UWL and CBA grants, and made two refereed conference presentations. The department served on 7 university committees and attended 8 faculty development workshops.

2023-2024

The IS department over the past 3 years has expanded to offer both Information Systems (IS) and Business Analytics (BA) major/minor programs. All programs continue to show strong and growing enrollments. For example, the BA minor has grown from 0 in Fall 2020 to 126 enrollments in Spring 2024 and the BA major has grown to 80 students in its first year. The department decided to exit the Health Information Management and Technology (HIMT) collaborative program due to staffing constraints and unreachable accreditation requirements. UWL officially exited the program in May 2024. With the subtraction of the HIMT program, the IS department voted unanimously to become the home department for the Master of Science in Information Technology Management collaborative graduate program. The department is excited to bring their IS expertise to graduate level education. The department sponsored and supported Dr. Swen Schneider as a visiting scholar from the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, Germany. Dr. Schneider shared Artificial Intelligence (AI) research and expertise to IS students. As a result of Dr. Schneider’s visit, a research collaboration was created with Dr. Haried with multiple AI papers at various stages completed. In December 2023 Dr. Xiaodi (Coco) Zhu was hired as an Assistant Professor. Dr. Zhu brings expertise in both database management and business analytics. Dr. Zhu will start in August 2024. The department coordinated and promoted a Women in Technology event in partnership with the Wisconsin Women in Technology organization in April 2024. The event highlighted the career opportunities in both IS and BA. The department continued its relationship with Kwik Trip to connect students through guest speakers, field trips and case competitions. In April, 2024 Kwik Trip awarded $10,000 in scholarships to IS majors. The department continues to grow external relationships and invited guest speakers from: Kwik Trip, Deloitte Consulting, RSM, Trane Technologies, Federated Insurance to bring industry experience into the classroom.

2023-2024

The Management Department’s main efforts were, as always, serving our 468 majors, as well as the 44 Sustainable Business minors and 19 Healthcare Analytics Management minors, which are housed in the department. Additionally, the department served more than 2000 CBA students across the 4 core CBA courses it provides.

Additionally, faculty in the department had 7 peer-review journal articles, and 5 other scholarly works, published this academic year, as well as 14 scholarly presentations.

The department's primary efforts continued to be supporting students in their knowledge and skill development in the field of management, with emphasis on quality teaching and High-Impact Practices. Multiple faculty engaged students with client-based projects, field trips, professional speakers, business simulations, and other innovative pedagogical techniques such as having students work in “learning teams”. Lastly, 13 students headed off to Slovakia in May for the Global Consulting Program, a short-term study abroad program that has been going since 2011 (with the exception of the “Covid years”).
The Kwik Trip Integrated Core Program, which MGT faculty are involved in teaching, celebrated its 10^th year with an anniversary and alumni event. More than 100 current and past students, alums, faculty and other stakeholders attended the event.

The department made several curricular changes to advance the major and to update the course offerings in CIM. The department plans to begin the 2024-2025 year continuing those efforts and to strengthen the curriculum and assessment strategy as well.

Lastly, the department continued its efforts to support our students and faculty this academic year. We hosted our Student Advising & Appreciation event for the third year. We also gathered feedback from students on ways in which the department could support them during the year and implemented their suggestions the best we could. Several students noted their appreciation of this support and activities.

Another major effort this year was hiring new colleagues, given recent departures in our department. We successfully hired one new tenure-track and two new instructional academic staff colleagues to support our department demand. The department made several curricular changes to advance the major and to update the course offerings in CIM. The department plans to begin the 2023-2024 year continuing those efforts and to strengthen the curriculum and assessment strategy as well. Lastly, the department continued its efforts to support our students and faculty this academic year. We hosted our Student Appreciation Day and also an alumni panel for the second year. We also gathered feedback from students on ways in which the department could support them during the year and implemented their suggestions to the best we could. Several students noted their appreciation of this support and activities.

2023-2024

The 2023-2024 academic year was eventful for the Marketing Department, witnessing the highest enrollment in recent years with 630 primary and 26 secondary majors. We offered 80 course sections, accommodating 1,030 seats in required CBA core courses and 1,332 seats in upper-level Marketing courses.

The Marketing Department maintained its tradition of providing transformational educational experiences. 38 students completed internships for credit, and Drs. Crosby and Graham led study abroad programs in London. Dr. Achenreiner, as AMA advisor, took 7 students to the 2024 AMA International Collegiate Conference, where the chapter was a semi-finalist in the national AMA Collegiate Case Competition. Professor Trisler coached the Sales Team, which competed in 2 national sales competitions and the International Collegiate Sales Competition at Florida State University.

Our department remained actively engaged with the community both in and out of the classroom. We hosted the 11th Annual UWL Eagle Sales Competition, featuring 24 students and 21 industry professionals. This year included a Sponsor Showcase for networking opportunities. Additionally, 128 students in the Sales elective performed role-plays with 22 local industry professionals. We also celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Kwik Trip Integrated Core Program. Several courses included guest speakers and client-based projects for local businesses, e.g. UWL Wrestling, Bucket of Bread, Kewaskum, and Driftless Aesthetics.

The department welcomed new faculty members: Teaching Professors Terrance Gabel and Aaron Koepke, and Assistant Professor Dr. Tu Tu. Dr. Eklund transitioned to a tenure-track position, and Pam Culver will join as a Teaching Professor in Fall 2024. Faculty research activities included 12 conference presentations, 9 journal submissions, 2 published articles, and a book chapter. Dr. Nasif received grants for “Hear, Here North” and “Margins of Excellence.” Dr. McDermott won the Hansen CBA Excellence in Service Award. Faculty members also served in leadership roles on various University and College committees.

2023-2024

The College of Science and Health (CSH) continued to focus on improving student learning experiences. The College worked to address two major challenges, declining student enrollment and a high level of faculty vacancies, while focusing on the College's Strategic Plan 2021 goals. Student enrollment in CSH has increased to 4,638 in AY 2023-24 from 4,614 in AY 2022-23. This increase represents a reversal of the recent trend of declining student enrollment because of the College's continued efforts to provide high-quality educational experiences and create new attractive programs (Pilar: Advancing Transformational Education). Dean's Distinguished Fellowships increased from 19 in the summer of 2023 to 22 in the summer of 2024. The College continued to support the CSH Summer Graduate Research Fellowship program and awarded eight fellowships for Summer 2024. The First Year Research Exposure (FYRE) program served nine CSH first-year students. Eight student mentors and three faculty members supported these FYRE students. The students attended 8 research exposures. The College also improved laboratory facilities by replacing aging microscopes in microbiology labs. The Radiation Therapy program acquired a virtual reality system to provide simulated real-life experiences to
students. In collaboration with the Office of Student Affairs, the College continued to improve academic success among first- and second-year students by providing supplementary instructional support for Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics, and Statistics courses with high DFW rates. The College also developed and implemented new academic programs in Environmental Science and Food & Nutrition Science, starting in Spring 2024 and Fall 2024, respectively. The master’s program in Public Health was also reactivated in Spring 2024 as an online program. The College continues developing new
undergraduate Data Science and Engineering Physics undergraduate programs.

2023-2024

AY 2023-2024 saw big changes in both curriculum and personnel. In curriculum, the UW Board of Regents approved a new Food and Nutrition Science (FNS) major in the department. In personnel, the department witnessed the departure of three tenured faculty members, Drs. Megan Litster, Peg Maher, and Mike Abler. Two new faculty will be joining the department in the fall of 2024. Dr. Doug Brusich was hired to teach anatomy and physiology and Dr. Jessica Judson was hired as a geneticist. The third position will be used to hire a faculty member to teach in the new Food and Nutrition Science major.

Outreach initiatives included providing guidance and expertise for citizen scientists through the Driftless Area BioBlitz initiative, anatomy lab tours for hundreds of area high school students, and expanded collaboration with local environmental agencies and employers (USGS, UMESC, FWS). One example of this expanded collaboration was a new joint seminar series between UWL and UMESC organized by Dr. Ross Vander Vorste.

Scholarly productivity in undergraduate and graduate research was high in 2023-2024. New funding from external grants exceeded $2,400,000. The bulk of the external grant money ($1,670,000) was a 5-year renewal of an agreement with the USGS supporting research on the Upper Mississippi River. Biology faculty authored 14 peer-reviewed publications or book chapters. In addition, faculty and staff, along with undergraduate or graduate co-authors, made more than 60 presentations at regional, national, and international science conferences. Service to the university, professional societies and the La Crosse community continued as a strong component of Department activities. Department members serve on several community and state boards, including the Outdoor Recreation Alliance, Trout Unlimited, the Employee Trust Fund, and Teacher Retirement.

2023-2024

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry faculty and staff continued their excellence in teaching, scholarship, and service. In total the department received 41 UWL Eagle Teaching Excellence Award nominations, which included 14 of 27 instructional staff.

Our faculty earned competitive funding from both intramural and extramural programs to support research with our undergraduate students. Faculty were awarded 4 intramural awardd (UWL FRG) and extramural awards from NSF (CAREER), NIH-R15, WiSys Ignite, and ASRI. Our students continue to be a successfully awarded both DDF's and UWL undergraduate research awards.

To expand our student-centered mission the department developed web-content focused upon future, current and former students. The department continued to refine promotional materials in the form of (1) “bookmarks” focused upon alumni career paths, (2) START materials for incoming students, (3) major and minor course requirements.

2023-2024

The department expended significant effort discussion potential curricular changes to our CS major programs. These discussions carefully considered issues of academic rigor, retention, and recent changes related to requiring ABET accreditation. The department anticipates making adjustments to the CS major during the 24-25 academic year.

The department computer lab is being updated during the summer ‘24. Significant improvements to the flooring and power distribution will make the space much more appealing for our students. The department also spent considerable time providing feedback and design suggestions for an anticipated remodel of the interior space on the second floor of the Wing Technology Building. This remodel will provide much-needed modernization of classroom space, Computer Engineering lab space, faculty research space and a “maker” space. The remodel is scheduled for the summer and fall semesters of ’25.

Dr. Dipankar Mitra spearheaded the creation of a new IEEE student chapter hosted at UWL. This is a significant effort as it will provide resources and networking opportunities for CPE students and faculty alike.

The department continued to address technological needs for the Computer Engineering program by purchasing lab benches, power-supplies, function generators, and a high-end 3D printer and network analyzer. The Computer Engineering program also celebrated its first graduating class as four students received their degrees. We anticipate submitting a readiness review for ABET accreditation in the fall of 24.

2023-2024

1. The Department of Exercise and Sport Science offers three undergraduate (Exercise Science, Physical, Adapted, and School Health Education, and Sport Management) and three graduate degree programs (Athletic Training, Clinical Exercise Physiology, and Physical Education Teaching) as well as a concentration area (Coaching Competitive Athletics concentration) that can be added to a degree.

2. AT & CEP alum Brian Cleven, registered clinical exercise physiologist at Bellin Health, was awarded the 2024 American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Certified Professional of the Year! Brian graduated from the Athletic Training Program in 2007 and from the Clinical Exercise Physiology Program in 2008 at UWL!

3. Jacob Caldwell, Daniel Freidenreich, and Salvador Jaime won the Mayo Clinic/UWL seed grant for $23,000! Jacob Caldwell and CEP Program received Mayo Clinic’s sponsorship for hosting a heart screening event for the youth in spring 2024.

4. Graduate CEP student Nik Carpenter won 2^nd place and the people’s choice award at the UWL three-minute thesis competition.

5. AT faculty Kari Emineth received the 2024 Outstanding Educator Award from the Wisconsin Athletic Trainers’ Association!

6. Sport Management student Jenna Droessler received the UWL Men’s Corpsuque Award! Award recipients will have demonstrated an embrace of holistic education, dedicating their time and energy towards opportunities that enable growth physically, mentally, and beyond.

2023-2024

The Department of Geography and Environmental Science provides an excellent educational experience through its curriculum and scholarship. This past year the Department completed development of a new major in Environmental Science which was approved by the UW Board of Regents in December 2023 and began accepting students in January 2024.The Department hired an Assistant Professor of Physical Geography, an Assistant Professor of Environmental Geography, and an Assistant Teaching Professor. Two teaching innovation grants were awarded to faculty for curriculum development, two instructors were nominated for Eagle Teaching Excellence Awards, and study abroad programs to Tanzania and the Yukon were approved for 2025. A faculty member led a study abroad program with eight UWL students to Nepal in May 2024. A faculty member was awarded a fellowship by the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program to travel to Kenya and partner with Karatina University and local communities to research conservation initiatives. Faculty coauthored 2 peer-reviewed publications and two peer-reviewed maps and were PIs on 7 research grants. Faculty gave 11 research-related presentations, including three co-authored with undergraduate students. Faculty mentored 17 undergraduate research students, including one that received a Dean’s Distinguished Fellowships and two that received Undergraduate Research Grants. Presentations at the 2024 UWL Research and Creativity Symposium were given by 15 geography students, and three students presented at the Midwest Undergraduate Geography Symposium. Several updates were made to the Department’s majors and minors to increase accessibility, and a new course on sustainable energy was developed. To maintain the Department’s visibility and attract new majors, faculty submitted articles to the Campus Connection and the CSH Newsletter that highlight our current and former students, and they participated in outreach events on campus and in the community. The Department’s number of majors and student credit hours taught remained strong.

2023-2024

Health Professions (HP) Department consists of 4 graduate programs: Medical Dosimetry (Med Dos), Occupational Therapy (OT), Physical Therapy (PT) and Physician Assistant (PA), and 4 undergraduate programs: Nuclear Medicine Technology (NMT), Radiation Therapy (RT), Radiography (RAD) and Diagnostic Medical Sonography (DMS). The department offers two undergraduate service courses (HP 106 Intro Health Care Careers and HP 250 Medical Terms) also offered for college credit with the La Crosse School District. Student demand for the HP Programs is very strong based on the application volume received and high student credentials. Pass rates for all the HP programs remain excellent with board exam scores consistently above the national average and nearly 100% pass rate. Based on students surveyed, HP students typically obtained jobs within 6 months of graduation. HP received new UW system funding ($596,000) for healthcare workforce development to increase undergraduate student capacity in Radiological Sciences (RT, DMS, RAD), NMT, and graduate program in PT. This will bring HP, 4 new positions (2 open in PT, 2 open in RAD). NMT has an open position. With strong student and employer demand for HP programs, faculty, and instructional academic staff respond to meet academic and clinical needs of students. One faculty and 2 IAS faculty received promotions. Faculty scholarship has incorporated student researchers (9 faculty/student publications and over 30 faculty/student peer-reviewed oral or poster presentations at International, national, state, or regional conferences). La Crosse Institute of Movement Science (LIMS) researchers (PT) maintain active research partnerships with Gundersen Health System Sports PT residency program and the Mayo Clinic Health System. HP prides itself on faculty/student research, service, and outreach activities. Clinical education coordinators enabled over 850 student clinical placements at over 250 clinical sites across the US in a competitive healthcare environment. HP faculty sustain service-learning activities involving over 825 HP students in health and wellness, health screenings, course-related clinical experiences, interprofessional education, or research. Faculty mentored OT and PT students have served over 150 clients through the OT adult and pediatric clinics, health, and wellness activities (Community-based projects and work with UWL ROTC program), and PT’s Exercise Program for Program for People with Neurological Disorders (EXPAND). Faculty were involved and received recognition based on their service to the college, university, and their respective professional organizations.

2023-2024

Members of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics have been productive in teaching, scholarship, and service. The department taught approximately 250 classes across our mathematics, statistics, data science, and mathematics education programs, including 169 sections of general education courses and 5 first year seminars (~380 SCH). To support student success, the FastTrack Algebra program transitioned 138 incoming students from MTH 051 to MTH 150 prior to the start of the fall semester. Due to this success, the department will launch a FastTrack Calculus program in Summer 2024.

Department faculty have supported over 30 independent studies, teaching assistants, internships, and undergraduate/graduate research projects. Three educators have been nominated for the Eagle Sport School Live Yearly (ESSLY) awards and several members have been nominated for the Eagle Teaching Excellence Award, with one member receiving this award. The department’s Data Science undergraduate major successfully completed the Authorization to Plan with UW System with an official launch in Fall 2025.

Department members submitted 26 articles, book chapters, and technical reports in peer-reviewed venues of which 21 have been published. Department members also presented 22 talks at conferences. The department faculty have applied for over $1.6M in grant funding during the year. Internal grants for $24,850 were submitted and fully funded. The department is waiting to see if over $350,000 will be funded by external organizations.

2023-2024

In 23/24, the Department graduated 40 students with BS degrees in Microbiology or Clinical Lab Sciences (CLS) - down from 42 in 22/23 and the five-year average of 50 graduates/year. The number of total Microbiology and CLS majors (measured Sep 23) was 142, down from a five-year average of 204/year. The number of Microbiology minors reached a new high of 27, up from a five-year average of 21/year. Sue Anglehart retired in May 2023. The search for her replacement failed.

A very supportive Academic Program Review of the Departmental undergraduate programs was approved in F23.

The Department was heavily focused on recruitment and retention this past year. The “Microbiology ambassadors” program continued. Additionally, plans were developed to send Ambassadors to local high schools in the fall, have the Ambassadors man the departmental booth at Eagle Fest, and participate in CSH recruitment efforts.

Curricular changes meant to improve retention of majors and recruit new majors were also proposed/developed/completed. These efforts included establishment of a tutoring program for MIC 230, receipt of a course redesign grant for MIC 230 and curricular redesign grants for Immunology Lab.

The Department was also gifted the first Endowed Professorship at UWL, courtesy of Michael and Kathi McGinley.

The Department hosted the North Central Branch of the American Society for Microbiology meeting in Nov 2023.

Microbiology research labs were active. Faculty mentored 12 graduate, and 26 undergraduate students. Fourteen undergraduate and graduate students gave 21 poster and oral presentations at meetings. At the North Central Branch meeting our grad student Mason Stenzel was awarded 1^st place in the poster competition, and Ky Ariano was awarded 2^nd place in the UG oral presentation competition. Faculty had five papers published and continued work on two external grants. Faculty reviewed 62 manuscripts.

2023-2024

The Physics Department continues to advance our curriculum to benefit students at UWL. In collaboration with Health Professions, PHY 134 (Physics for Nuclear and Radiological Sciences) was developed and taught this year. The department offered five unique physics and astronomy laboratory classes for general education credit and our first section of FYS100. Due to high demand, additional sections of our Fundamental Physics series was offered. Integrating high impact teaching practices, faculty were able to flip upper level classes and allow students to choose assignments which interested them in introductory laboratories.

In its 21^st year, the Distinguished Lecture Series in Physics brought Donna Strickland, the 2018 Nobel Laureate in Physics, to campus for lectures and interactions with students, faculty, and the public.

The Physics Department continued its strong focus on undergraduate student research. Seventeen students from physics and six students from other departments worked with six physics faculty members on various research projects during the semester as Eagle Apprentices, as paid interns, for course credit, or as Sophomore Fellows. During the summer our students were funded by Federal or faculty research grants. Students presented their research at national physics and astronomy conferences and at local/regional conferences.

Our undergraduate students have multiple opportunities to continue their education after UWL. Four students transferred to physics/engineering dual-degree programs at partner institutions and one student continued to graduate school in physics.

The physics faculty continue to excel in their respective fields serving on state and national committees, refereeing journal articles, and receiving competitive external funding. This year our faculty gave twelve presentations and published ten papers in refereed publications. The Department welcomed two new members, Eric Hall and Shahid Iqbal and saw the retirement of Steve Verrall.

2023-2024

The Department went through numerous changes and updates in the 2023-2024 academic year. We hired a new TT faculty, Dr. Angela Geraci who began in August 2023, we finalized our reinstated online MPH program at the end of 2022-2023 annual year and moved into recruitment of students to start in January 2024 along with development of the first two courses, we re-applied to the Council for Education on Public Health (CEPH) as a Public Health Program (PHP) moving out of our Standalone Baccalaureate Program (SBP) status.
Our Departmental Committees consist of: Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion (JEDI): Strategic Planning, PTRM Committee; Assessment Committee; Sunshine Committee; Appeals Committee; and an Advisory Committee. Continued Directorships include the following: Director of Assessment (Gilmore), Undergraduate Director (Pember), Graduate Director MPH Cedergren). Whitey and Rees continued with Academic Directors of HWM and HCA programs respectively.

The 2023-2024 Promotion, Tenure, Retention, and Merit (PTRM) Committee consisted of Dr. Gary Gilmore, Dr. Karen Skemp, and Dr. Michele Pettit (Chair). The committee worked closely with Dr. Keely Rees, Chair of the Department of Public Health and Community Health Education, to coordinate teaching observations of the following faculty/instructional academic staff: Dr. Anders Cedergren, Angela Gelatt, Audrey Seitz, Dr. Karen Skemp, Katie Wagoner, and Dr. Emily Whitney and Dr. Angela Geraci. The committee also prepared a letter of support for the IAS promotion to Teaching Professor in Fall 2023 (successful promotion) and non-contract/informal 1st year review of Dr. Angela Geraci in Spring 2024.

2023-2024

2023/24 was a strong year for Recreation Management & Recreational Therapy. Both programs completed and implemented significant curricular changes as part of their Curriculum Redesign Grants to continue delivering stellar academic programs, increase visibility, and improve graduation pathways. As a result of the exceptional efforts of our faculty & staff, coupled with the ongoing delivery of outstanding academic programs, we saw a 10% growth in majors and a 13% growth in minors.

Recreation Management hosted the largest REXPO in history with over 400 students during Fall 2023, which included keynote speaker Cordero Barkley, co-founding partner of Titletown Tech. The RM program also instituted UWL’s first Minor-to-Masters pathway and created a new Experience Management & Marketing course. Two of our RM faculty received teaching excellence honors, while another faculty delivered a series of teambuilding events for our UWL Athletic Department the Recreation Eagle Center.

Recreational Therapy completed the first year of our Dr. Wags program, including delivering clinics with UWL’s Disability Resource Center. The new Preceptorship courses facilitated a range of community engaged learning with local agency partners including APTIV, STAR Center, and the La Crosse YMCA. The Walk with an Eagle Program, implemented in RTH 445, served 27 community members and was supported through AARP. The Health Science Interprofessional Research Center awarded 4 NCTRC Grants to student research assistants and received funding to bring in a new socially assisted robot program. The program also designed and delivered a day-long Internship Supervisors Workshop which included predominantly UWL alumni who also serve as on-site internship coordinators at a variety of facilities across Wisconsin

2022-2023

The School of Education (SOE) received another successful annual accreditation review by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) in October 2022. Nearly all educator preparation majors began implementing newly approved licensure programs. The following statement from DPI demonstrates the unwavering commitment to robust expectations in educator preparation at UWL, “SOE leadership have taken the opportunity to demonstrate compliance while also sharing unique aspects of some of the approved licensure program areas…UWL is one of just a few entities to implement a plan to submit new licensure program reports across all areas. This initiative helps keep programs current to trends identified by national organizations and their respective preparation standards.” The profession remains in an educator shortage and needs qualified graduates who are career ready to serve our children, families, and communities to lead Wisconsin and beyond.

The enrollment in SOE programs remains strong. Due to the high interest in studying education at UWL, we had to implement a competitive admissions process for some programs. Students report that they want to study education at UWL because they work closely with faculty, staff, and school partners. Our programs require a significant number of hours in schools working alongside educators and learners. This results in building upon the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for a successful pedagogical foundation that leads to a lifelong career in education. We partner with hundreds of educators each semester who mentor our teacher candidates. In response to local school needs, the School of Education has new licenses available in special education and teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) through the Institute for Professional Studies (IPSE). IPSE is ranked #1 in Wisconsin and #6 nationally on the Best Accredited Colleges' list for the best online Master's in Reading and Literacy programs.

We are the only Wisconsin program to be nationally ranked in the of the top 50 programs. Finally, the SOE has been busy planning two new faculty led travel studies (Luxembourg and Puerto Rico), allowing education majors the opportunity to travel abroad and earn credits toward their degree. These two are in addition to our existing travel study opportunities in China and Japan. Students studying education at UWL are excited to expand their global and international experiences through one of these opportunities.

2023-2024

The Department of Educational Studies prepares future educators to teach and lead the world. A total of 124 new teachers graduated from our early-childhood and elementary-middle school programs. DES opened a new Professional Development School at Meadowview Intermediate (in Sparta) and renewed the Milwaukee Urban Experience to meet high demand for our programs. Faculty Senate accepted our Academic Program Review. Dr. Lisa Pitot received tenure and Dr. Matt McParker was promoted to Associate Professor. Dr. Valerie Krage transitioned from IAS to Assistant Professor.

DES faculty embody teaching excellence. Many DES faculty members received Eagle Teaching Excellence nominations and a DES faculty member has again been awarded the Eagle Teaching Excellence Award, Dr. Charlotte Roberts. Our faculty are also outstanding mentors who typically advise 30 students each. DES faculty led three successful study abroad programs for the first time, to Japan, Luxembourg, and Puerto Rico.

DES faculty organized and hosted two important conferences on campus, the National Association for Multicultural Education and the Regional Montessori Conference. DES faculty worked collaboratively to submit several grants, including an internal $25,000 curriculum redesign grant for the literacy team (funded) and a $3.2 million National Professional Development Grant submitted to the U.S. Department of Education. Two faculty members also received Faculty Research Grants.

DES faculty serve on important UWL committees, including the Ethics Advisory Committee, General Education Assessment Committee, Joint Multicultural Affairs Committee, Joint Promotion Committee, Legislative Affairs, and the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. DES faculty have leadership positions in state and national professional associations, including the American Association of University Women (Dr. Lema Kabashi, President-Elect), the National Association for Multicultural Education (J.C. Wagner-Romero, Region 4 Director and Wisconsin President), Wisconsin State Reading Association (Dr. Rita Chen, International Partnership Committee Chair), and Wisconsin TESOL affiliate WITESOL (Dr. Heather Linville, President). DES faculty also serve the La Crosse community. Dr. Denise Rueter was elected to the Coulee Region Authentic Learning Council (CRALC) and Dr. Matt McParker and Dr. Charlotte Roberts were awarded the Northside Boys and Girls Club Community Partners of the Year award.

2023-2024

During AY23-24, members of Murphy Library (ML) and Murphy Learning Center (MLC) remained active and engaged with UWL and the local community. Personnel changes for ML mainly impacted the Library department as they had two resignations last year. Kendall Morgan started in April as the Information Literacy Course Integration Librarian, and Sarah Bakken was hired in June to fill the new position of Information Literacy Instruction Librarian. Their hiring was strategic to put the library department in a unique position to create a multi-faceted, sustainable, and efficient information literacy program to work with the writing in the major program, plus facilitate assessment of information literacy activities on campus. Last year, librarians met with 3,523 students in 136 classroom instruction sessions; provided 40 individual research consultations; and conducted over 3,100 recorded reference interactions during which librarians individually assisted students, faculty, staff, and members of the community with their information research needs. Teri Holford is the newly elected department chairperson. ML is proceeding with the supervisory re-alignment pilot and will again collect feedback. Library Assistant III’s have
expressed concern about the lack of competitive hourly wage rates and advocacy to university administration for a $1.00/hour raise occurred. The Faculty Senate Library Committee was instrumental in lending their support. These efforts resulted in a $.50 cent/hour increase and advocacy for an additional $.50 cent/hour will continue. Once again, larger than normal resource budget increases for electronic resources (used to be in 3% range) are also being noted, and this negatively impacts the library’s overall ability to purchase resources for curricular needs; specifically as the base resource budget has not experienced an increase since the 1999-2000 biennium. Facility-wise, progress on the library’s basement has been slow but steady and we estimate progress to be approximately 60% complete. The west-side construction of the MLC has a potential starting timeline of sometime in 2025. Room 153 (Baby ICE) has begun to be populated by our Digital Collections unit. Due to the reorganization of the reference and instruction units, the reference desk has been relocated to be more student centric.

2023-2024

Over this academic year, the members of the Library Department were highly engaged in another active year of contributions to librarianship, scholarship, and service.

The department had two resignations over the last year, but has already hired a new department member, Kendall Morgan, to serve as the Information Literacy Course Integration Librarian, and interviews have begun to fill the new position of Information Literacy Instruction Librarian. These positions combined with revised existing positions, place the library department in a unique position to create a multi-faceted, sustainable, and efficient information literacy program to work with the writing in the major program to facilitate assessment of information literacy activities on campus.

Librarians met with 3,523 students in 136 classroom instruction sessions; provided 40 individual research consultations; and conducted over 3,100 recorded reference interactions during which librarians individually assisted students, faculty, staff, and members of the community with their information research needs. At the same time, collection development work resulted in the purchase of 1,179 print books, 94 electronic books, and 85 streaming videos. Additionally, book donations continually add to the library’s collections throughout any given year.

Librarians shared their research during a busy year of presentations. This includes Godden’s presentations at the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Local History and Preservation Conference; Holford’s presentation at the Wisconsin Chapter of the National Association for Multicultural Education; Olson’s presentation at the 55th Conference of the International Visual Literacy Association (IVLA); Pfitzinger’s, Holford’s, and Mindel’s presentations at CATL’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Summit; and Mindel’s presentation at the UWL & USGS Joint Seminar Series.

Service remains another area of strength among the Department, having a thorough mixture of committee memberships at levels including department, college, university, system, state, and beyond. Over $30,000 in grants were awarded for initiatives that support student success, professional development, and technology needs.