Welcome to the CPS Monday Message - an enewsletter from the UW-Stevens Point College of Professional Studies Dean's Office.

Strengthening, realigning CPS programs

The College of Professional Studies at UW-Stevens Point will have a new look soon. Starting July 1, 2015, several programs will be moving, departments will change and the college will have fewer, but larger and stronger, academic units. Read More

Teaching Partners present pedagogy

How and why do students cheat? Do students perform better if they create the course syllabus? Those were some of the questions that led to faculty pedagogy for the 2014 Teaching Partners program at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Read More | View Photos

Joan North earns Honors Award for bracelet

Congrats to Joan North, former dean of the College of Professional Studies, who received an Honors Award for her sterling, jasper and carnelian bracelet, “Danger,” at the 25th annual Midwest Seasons Exhibit awards! Read More

Pointers Put a Check to Cancer Night a success

"I wouldn't wish chemotherapy on my worst enemy." Kyle Brodie, a business administration senior, was one of the many reasons the UW-Stevens Point men's hockey "Put a Check to Cancer" pink game Saturday night meant so much to the Pointers. In front of a sellout crowd at K.B. Willett Arena, the team joined forces with Ministry Health Care, Team Schierl Companies and Sports Fan 100.5 to raise nearly $5,500 for local cancer patients as the Pointers defeated Bethel 9-4. Read More | Game Recap | Buy T-shirt | View Photos

Innovative athletic training course collaborates with SPASH

An innovative approach of delivering college courses is allowing high school students to explore potential professions before they enroll in college. Eight students from SPASH are earning college credit by enrolling in Introduction to Athletic Training via video telepresence technology at UW-Stevens Point this semester. Read More | View Photos | Watch Video

Health Promotion/Wellness alumni earn honors

Three UW-Stevens Point health promotion/wellness alumni–Aaron Hunnel ’13, Abigail Nadler ’05 and Sarah Dillivan-Pospisil ’11–have been named to the Top 100 Health Promotion Professionals by the Wellness Council of America (WELCO). Read More

Alumna Kelsey Corrigan '09 received the LIVE UNITED Volunteer of the Year Award from United Way of Portage County. Kelsey is currently the health and wellness coordinator at Sentry Insurance and president of Ignite Leadership Network of Portage County. View Photo

Photos: Teaching Adolescents - Ceramics Workshop

This winterim, 24 students in Prof. Perry Cook's Teaching Adolescents (Education 385) course got their hands dirty and were inspired to incorporate the fine arts into their future classrooms by Prof. Anne-Bridget Gary from the Department of Art and Design. View Photos

PE alumni, faculty earn WHPE awards

Four UW-Stevens Point physical education alumni and a professor earned state awards from the Wisconsin Health and Physical Education at the WHPE annual conference. Read More

Peace Corps influences education alumna

Oh, the Places You'll Go ... UWSP School of Education alumna Sarina Ufi '14 is carrying on a family tradition of service and volunteerism during her 27-month commitment in the Peace Corps teaching elementary school in the Philippines. Read More

Athletic Training Friends and Alumni Day

UW-Stevens Point athletic training welcomed back 16 alumni for a day of education on Saturday, Jan. 24. Faculty members Beth Kinslow and Holly Schmies presented on SFMA (Selective Functional Movement Assessment) and how it could be utilized in athletic training. Read More | View Photos

Employee Wellness Challenge

The Employee Wellness Challenge kicks off the week of Feb. 9 with on campus assessments of health and fitness and offers opportunities for employee to participate in coaching sessions, personal training, weekly seminars, exercise sessions all in an effort to improve health. Sign up for Wellness Weekly newsletter

Facebook Fun!

Get to know CPS faculty/staff and new students on the College of Professional Studies Facebook page with two new features: Faculty/Staff Friday and Major Mondays. If you or someone you know would like to be featured, email cps@uwsp.edu.

Marty's Message: Program Prioritization

For the past nine months we have been focused on program prioritization. Prioritizing and innovating our programs is nothing new in CPS, however what is new is that this year we have put prioritization at the top of our to-do list; and as you will read in this Monday message, we have had significant results.

One reason for our success is that we are in the right place and at the right time. Last week's announcements regarding the budget may make this statement seem ludicrous. However, the strategic planning invested in program prioritization will ensure that as our college evolves, and difficult decisions must be made, we have clarity of our mission and vision for the future. Recent CPS strategic planning produced prioritization for each program in CPS and several “big ideas” that will advance our CPS mission and align with the university's vision of A Partnership for Thriving Communities. Once operational, the Center for Healthy Communities, doctoral degrees in physical therapy and education, and master’s degrees in athletic training and business administration will strengthen existing programs, increase community engagement, and provide the necessary competence to employers in our region who will need a workforce prepared for the knowledge based economy of the future.

Thanks to each of you, prioritization has already been successful for CPS. All of us engaged seriously in the strategic planning process and many have been involved in advancing our “big ideas.” Most of the prioritization ideas came from individual faculty, staff and department chairs and often were shared as wishes, e.g… “I wish we could do X," or "Why aren’t we more like Y," or "I wish we could more efficiently do Z.” Last summer, our department chairs planned the approach, agreeing to “be introspective and self-critical, utilize data and seek unbiased opinions and keep our focus on the needs of students.” We engaged the entire college during our all-college meeting in the fall and departments began their work in earnest soon thereafter.

I’m proud of our accomplishments during the first semester, grateful to have explored our priorities at a time when we need them, and look forward to working together as we continue our progress in meeting our program prioritization goals.

Marty Loy,
Dean

Upcoming Events

Feb. 4
Campus Budget Forum
CPS 116
1:30-2:30 p.m.

Feb. 9
Campus Budget Forum
Alumni Room, DUC
9-10 a.m.

March 10
Point in Common:
Want to be Happier?
Matt Killingsworth
Sentry Insurance
7 p.m.