Bringing degree opportunities to nontraditional students — and more
University of Wisconsin Colleges and University of Wisconsin-Extension Chancellor David Wilson and University of Wisconsin System Regent Mary Quinnette Cuene recently discussed the importance of the university throughout people's lifetimes.
Cuene is president of the Wisconsin Technical College System Board and a business technology learning facilitator at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in Green Bay. She earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and her master's degree from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Mary Quinnette Cuene, UW regent
CUENE: It's important for our public university to serve people of all ages. Thomas Jefferson said that education is the anvil upon which democracy is built. Achieving that vision requires that higher education be accessible for people at all stages of life. I speak from personal experience. I was an adult student, and it took me 10 years to complete my bachelor's degree part time, all the while caring for my children and working.
David Wilson, chancellor, UW Colleges and UW-Extension
WILSON: You're right to take a broad view of higher education. When Jefferson was working to establish the University of Virginia, he was very interested in the common diffusion of knowledge to advance the larger society. Here at the UW, serving people outside the campus is in our blood. We are part of the land-grant tradition. When that took shape, it was about a cadre of universities that moved research away from the campus to benefit local needs, similar to the Jeffersonian philosophy. It's important for us to stay true to that mission.
CUENE: Education has always been important to my family. When I moved to my current home, I chose it, in part, because of the location — it was close to UW-Green Bay. In addition to taking courses myself, I enrolled my children in various university classes about nature, art, dinosaurs… you name it.
WILSON: Bringing young people to our campuses in that way helps us achieve another important goal — demystifying college. In the case of your children, they had the opportunity to see the university as a significant part of their lives. It's important for us to bring more people to our campuses, starting at very young ages. We can create an environment where they understand and value higher education early on.
CUENE: Conversely, we can also "bring the campus to them." The 4-H program is such a great example of that. I grew up in a very small rural town, and I wasn't close to any UW campus, but I was very close to 4-H. Everyone in town was in the 4-H club. We learned how to identify trees, how to cook and sew. We participated in different events, including singing and other kinds of performing arts. We prepared exhibits for the county fair, which was such a huge deal, and we were so proud.
WILSON: I, too, have fond memories of my 4-Hh experiences. I participated in public speaking contests and showed my pet pig at the county fair. I didn't win many ribbons, but I certainly enhanced and improved my self-concept. 4-H gave me confidence I didn't have previously.
CUENE: As we've done with 4-H, we must work to bring the university to other "nontraditional" students. As a faculty member at the technical college in Green Bay for 19 years, I've seen our enrollments nearly double because we changed the way we do business. Forty percent of our students are taking classes outside the normal school day — on evenings and weekends, via the Internet and instructional television and through other delivery methods. Students can keep their jobs and still go to school.
WILSON: As UW Colleges and UW-Extension work together to better serve adult learners, we must assess students' needs and work as a team with all of our fellow higher-education institutions, including the technical colleges and the other UW System campuses. We must create a seamless process for moving people toward their degrees, in which different institutions address specific needs. That must also include opportunities for courses to transfer easily, where appropriate, so we don't frustrate busy adults who've decided to re-enter the educational system.
CUENE: To achieve that kind of seamlessness, we must work together toward greater transferability. People may start their education in one place, then continue it in another city or county. That transferability is beginning to happen, and working together on that effort with greater energy will add tremendous value to our state. People can't afford the time or money it takes to retake classes because the credits don't transfer.
WILSON: Traditionally, universities saw 18- to 22-year-old students as their primary clientele, but that's a bygone era. Universities need to understand that the new student body encompasses all ages, from "birth to death," so to speak. The better we understand that, the better off we'll be in the future.
CUENE: Thinking about the far end of that age continuum, we see that retirees today are quite young. When they retire from one career, it doesn't mean they're retired from everything. They often want to pursue a different career, or they simply want to keep their minds active. They want to finish degrees they started years ago, or simply enjoy the pleasure of learning, which may be something they did not have time for earlier in life.
WILSON: Traveling to many rural Wisconsin counties, I've already been struck by the number of retirees moving into those regions who are ready to do anything but "retire." They are running for county boards and city councils and taking on other new challenges. As the population shifts, those people are putting themselves in leadership positions that could affect funding for higher education. As we bring them back to our campuses for lifelong learning opportunities, we expose them to our work in a way that may garner future support.
CUENE: Wisconsin has a long history of serving citizens of all ages in our university system. It's our turn now to ensure that we're meeting the needs of the current generation and generations to come.