Posted 7:58 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025
New programs, new voices and new opportunities for future educators
Last fall around this time, education faculty and staff met to discuss a potential new program for UWL: the Teacher Residency Program. As we explored what it might look like, I knew how some of them must be feeling: This feels impossible. As we dug into the details, just as it is whenever something new is created, we kept running into limitations.
And yet, the more we discussed, the more excited we became. You see, there is power in possibility. Looking to the future and new opportunities helps give you a push to get past those limitations.
When you turn the “What if it fails?” into “What if it works?”, it changes everything. And in the School of Education, we’ve been busy answering those what ifs using the power of possibility.
Can we gather a group of student voices to help us move forward together?
Can we change our early childhood program to include certification in special education, to help meet the needs of our youngest learners?
Can we create a residency in which student teachers get paid a stipend, to help with the retention of teachers and alleviate financial burdens?
Partnership. Possibility. Optimism. Hard Work. All the things that make us who we are.
As always, I hope that you enjoy this issue of the Eagle EDge.
In partnership,
Marcie Wycoff-Horn, Dean
#teachproud