3 units receive CCAE awards

Working effectively to create teaching and learning communities on and off campus has earned three UW–Madison academic units awards from the chancellor’s office and the university’s Creating a Collaborative Academic Environment.

One $50,000 award went to a small department, and two large departments split the other award. Other finalists received a $2,000 grant to continue their teaching and learning activities.

The Department of Counseling Psychology was recognized in part for the innovative redesign of two training programs to prepare counseling psychologists and counselors to serve a culturally diverse society. During the past year, the UW System funded a pilot course for undergraduates in the department to learn strategies for engaging in meaningful intercultural communication.

Plans eventually call for coupled courses dealing with both formal instruction about diversity issues and experiential learning through small-group projects. Graduate students will play the roles of facilitators, mentors and trainers.

The department also plans to make its Conference on Social Justice in Counseling, inaugurated this past year, an annual event. The conference exposes students to national leaders in the field, and provides an opportunity for students to showcase their work while establishing connections with local communities and working professionals.

Students and faculty in the department also have formed “egroups” — experimental, exploratory and experiential — to explore implications of culture, race, ethnicity, gender and other types of differences.

The Department of Psychology and Department of Spanish and Portuguese each will receive $25,000 as winners in the large department category. Psychology was cited for its interdisciplinary teaching and research program that involves students heavily. More than 350 students from across the region typically attend the department’s annual spring undergraduate research symposium. Of the 33 faculty, six have won universitywide teaching awards, and two have received awards for advising. The PREP program has received a $145,000 three-year grant from the National Science Foundation to support minority and first-generation students to participate in summer laboratories with faculty.

Spanish and Portuguese has initiated a certificate in Spanish studies for business students and is working with the Medical School on a program in medical Spanish. The academic year 2003-04 also will find a Spanish language floor in the International Learning Community to be housed in the Adams residence hall. The past year saw graduate students in the department launch publication of a new literary journal incorporating poetry written in several workshops.

“These are very special and lucrative awards made to acknowledge the very best of our teaching programs, ones which emphasize building a creative and ongoing learning community,” says Bob Skloot, an associate vice chancellor whose office administers the competitive process that selects winners. “These awards are part of the wide range of resources that publicly recognize the excellence of our academic programs.”

For more information: (608) 263-4259, cgcarlso@facstaff.wisc.edu.