Report to the Community 2013
Mission
The University of Central Oklahoma exists to help students learn by providing transformative educational experiences to students so that they may become productive, creative, ethical and engaged citizens and leaders serving our global community. UCO contributes to the intellectual, cultural, economic and social advancement of the communities and individuals it serves.
Vision
UCO will become a recognized metropolitan university by providing a transformative education as well as development experiences that help learners achieve their highest level of leadership potential.
“
You never help a student by
expecting less than what they can do.
”
No one rises to low expectations. — Vince Tinto, Ph.D., speaking at UCO’s March Transformative Learning Conference
ON THE COVER: Completed this year, the new Central Gateway — the idea of President Don Betz — has a plaque that reads: May all who pass through this gateway recall and honor the vision and persistence of those whose passion for education built Old North and Central, and be inspired to serve each other and our communities as productive, creative, ethical, and engaged citizens and leaders.
From the President Hello from the University of Central Oklahoma! We are pleased to offer this report to you in our continuing intention to update the citizens of the OKC Metro and our state on UCO’s mission, plans and current initiatives. Here you will find some of the highlights of our strategic plan, Vision 2020, which is designed to strengthen the university’s capacities to meet the needs and aspirations of this region. We are committed to building collaborative relationships so that the critical challenges before us as an institution and as a state can be successfully addressed. We are committed to helping students learn and to encouraging the development of creative problem-solvers who are engaged citizens. We believe in the dynamic future of the Metro and Oklahoma, and we will effectively contribute to the state’s growth and development. For us, the critical ingredients for success are the people, our citizens. They are OKC’s and Oklahoma’s most sustainable asset, and they should have access to life-long learning opportunities. Since our founding as the Territorial Normal School of Oklahoma in 1890, Central has been passionate about learning, leading and serving, and about cultivating generations of ethical and engaged citizens and leaders. Now, the way students learn is definitively changing, and we are re-imagining higher education to create transformative learning and high impact learning opportunities for students of all ages. We envision an Oklahoma comprised of an abundance of citizens with enhanced critical thinking, communication and collaboration capacities to imagine, create, innovate and solve problems. In this way, Oklahoma will prosper in this knowledge-driven, global era. This report emphasizes our pathway to helping students learn and communities thrive.
My best wishes,
Don Betz, Ph.D. REPORT TO THE COMMUNITY 2013
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Vision 2020 — Our Commitment to the Future In the last year, UCO completed the initial phase of a new strategic plan, Vision 2020. While designed to provide flexibility to meet and adjust to changes along the way, the plan encompasses two key goals. • The first is ensuring our students are competent within their disciplines, with skills augmented through experiences in leadership, research, civic and international activities, and personal health and wellness. • Second, UCO is committed to serving the Oklahoma City seven-county region as the area’s metropolitan university. Central will accomplish this objective by continuing to grow intentional partnerships with businesses, industry, government, non-profits and educational institutions. The exceptional talent of Central’s faculty, staff and students will be committed to collaboratively addressing critical issues and advancing our region. With these two commitments, we move forward to serve both our students and our community.
“
Education
matters to the future of our families, communities and
”
state.
Don Betz UCO President
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About UCO Founded in 1890, UCO is a fully accredited, four-year public institution serving more than 17,000 students. At Central, teaching comes first with faculty and staff committed to transforming lives by continuously engaging students in fresh ways to learn, to lead and to serve. Located in the Oklahoma City suburb of Edmond, UCO is the state’s premier metropolitan university and Oklahoma’s third-largest higher education institution. Yet, students enjoy personal relationships with faculty and staff who are committed to engaging students in ways to keep them in school, graduating and achieving their career ambitions. Central’s commitment to excellence has been acknowledged. U.S. News & World Report named Central to its 2012 Best Colleges list. Forbes honored UCO as one of its 650 best undergraduate institutions. For the fourth time in five years, The Chronicle of Higher Education has named UCO as one of the “2012 Great Colleges to Work For.” Students consistently say in surveys that they enjoy the friendly, small-campus atmosphere combined with a large-campus environment. The campus offers students more than 200 student organizations, great internship opportunities, and the enhanced entertainment and cultural opportunities of a metropolitan area. UCO is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. Even more affirming, in a 2012 survey, more than 85 percent of graduating seniors said they would choose Central again if starting over in their pursuit of a college degree. Overall, that’s why Central is deemed a smart investment for success, preparing future leaders in an opportunity-rich environment where students find the tools they need to succeed.
To meet community needs, UCO created three new degree programs this year — new master’s degrees in Forensic Psychology, Public Administration and Nursing.
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Transformative Learning at UCO At UCO, a transformative learning moment is defined as a campus experience that causes a change in how a student sees him or herself AND his or her relationship with others and the world.
Meet UCO Assistant Professor Brad Paynter, Ph.D., who teaches a class called “Calculus and Statistics for Business.” This year, Paynter developed a way to get his students to see themselves as successful learners of calculus — not a common attitude on Day One of his class. Paynter conquered a “transformative learning challenge.” A self-admitted lousy basketball player, he made a video of himself trying to shoot baskets. No exaggeration needed. He appeared horrible. Everyone had a good laugh. Then came the transformative moment. “How many of you believe that if I practice basketball three hours a week for the next fifteen weeks that I’ll get better at basketball?” he asked his class. Everyone agreed, yes. “How many of you believe if you practice calculus for thirty minutes a day for the next fifteen weeks you’ll get better at calculus?” Bingo. Students got it. They saw themselves differently. They saw calculus differently. And they knew it. At UCO, faculty and staff are working to ensure that transformative moments like this happen in many ways, every day, for all of our students in all of our classes. That’s what it’s all about.
To view Assistant Professor Paynter’s video, visit http://tinyurl.com/lht9vab
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Growing Graduates More than 3,000 degrees were awarded to students at UCO in the last year, degrees that undoubtedly will change their lives and those of their families forever. The university joins others committed to making Oklahoma a model for states supporting Complete College America. As part of that effort, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin has called for a 67 percent increase in Oklahoma college degrees over the next 12 years. UCO is working to improve the quality of students entering college, better preparing them for the work needed to graduate. Central also is committed to helping those students who have left college to come back and to finish their degrees. In fall 2012, Central was one of 29 institutions, out of nearly 340 applications, to receive a $251,596 grant from TG, a public, nonprofit corporation based in Round Rock, Texas. With those funds, Central expanded its Operation Degree Completion program. In its first two years, the program helped more than 650 students return and achieve bachelor’s degrees. Expansion has involved working with community colleges to encourage a return of students no longer in school, but close to getting an associate’s degree. “In three years, we expect 2,292 new associate’s and bachelor’s degree graduates through this program. Additionally, our hope is to set up an easy-to-follow template for other university and community college partnerships. The program has the potential to change degree completion efforts throughout the country,” Jay Corwin, Ph.D., associate vice president of Enrollment Management at Central and project director, said.
UCO received a $251,596 grant this year to expand its Operation Degree Completion program, helping students finish degrees they once abandoned.
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Serving the Metro Central is working to ensure its programs better serve the Oklahoma City metropolitan community. Whether it’s designing a program to meet the needs of a community partner like Tinker Air Force Base, or the ACM@UCO staging free concerts in Bricktown, or students volunteering with local non-profits, UCO is actively pursuing those opportunities to connect in positive ways. Central encourages faculty to promote service learning in class curriculum. Exemplifying that is Sunshine Cowan, Ph.D., DaVinci Institute 2013 Fellow. She was recognized for routinely having students conduct research and partner with community organizations in ways that not only improve the lives of others, but benefit her students as well. In other efforts, UCO students this year helped with tornado relief efforts at home. Earlier in the year, they traveled to Missouri to help with on-going Joplin tornado recovery work and to New York for Superstorm Sandy disaster relief efforts. Other student groups cleaned the shorelines of Lake Arcadia and volunteered at area service centers. They established a partnership with the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma to set up the Central Pantry, a food assistance program for students, faculty or staff who may be in need. A new tradition was added to UCO’s 2013 Big Event — serving Oklahoma and Edmond residents needing help. Yards were raked and houses repaired.
UCO and the Oklahoma CityCounty Health Department partnered in the fall, with the department opening a satellite office in the UCO Wellness Center. Immunizations for students and the public became easier.
More than 500 students received the Distinguished Service Graduate Award, given to a student for volunteering at least 384 hours to service learning during a four-year college career. UCO intentionally works to instill in students, faculty and staff a sense of giving back to their community. That’s part of Central’s mission — helping students become productive, creative, ethical and engaged citizens and leaders.
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Meeting the Need Central’s Urban Teacher Preparation Academy reached several new milestones this year as it continued its work to meet the critical need for urban teachers in the Oklahoma City Public School District. The program’s first students completed their three-year commitments this spring with almost 80 percent continuing to teach in the Oklahoma City school district. In addition, UCO began expanding the program, entering last fall into a consortium with the University of Oklahoma. This spring, OU placed four students in the program with plans to add more in coming semesters. Stacey Garcia, a 2011 Central graduate and one of the first in the program, has spent the last three years teaching at Capitol Hill High School — one as a student teacher and two in the post-graduate mentoring phase. She remembers first hearing about the Urban Teacher Preparation Academy and immediately wanting to know more. “My children go to Edmond schools, and I just didn’t think that was the challenge I wanted,” said Garcia. “Besides, I had heard that if you can teach in an urban setting, you can teach anywhere. So I was excited by the vision of the program.” Now, she plans to continue teaching at Capitol Hill. She loves her work and the school, and she feels she is making a difference. Meanwhile, the Academy has become a state model with Central hoping to share it with other districts in Oklahoma and the nation.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Upward Bound program awarded a $1.53 million grant to UCO to continue its outreach to metro-area high school students to help them prepare for college.
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14 UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA Photo by Joanna Meachum, UCO Design Major, Photography Minor
Creating Safer Communities In the last year, more than 500 law enforcement members worldwide have taken classes through UCO’s Forensic Science Institute, fulfilling the vision of a program meeting the needs of on-campus students as well as professionals. The idea seems to be working on a number of levels. UCO students graduating with a master’s degree in Forensic Science are finding success. Surveys show that 93 percent of them have found employment in their field of study, or they are currently attending graduate or medical school. Meanwhile, enrollment in the program has risen to an all-time high of 500, a big jump from 100 when the program started in 2009. Faculty have been recognized for their teaching ability, including Associate Professor Mark McCoy, Ed.D., who received this year a Fulbright Senior Specialist grant in information technology. He spent 18 days in March at Australia’s University of Canberra and the University of South Australia assisting with the development of curricula for undergraduate and postgraduate programs in digital forensics and cybercrime. Continuing education topics for law enforcement — including those working across the street at the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation’s crime laboratory — ranged from “Toolmark Identification” to “Digital Forensics for Prosecutors.” Training sessions were delivered on campus, as well as in Singapore, China, South Africa, Brazil and Vienna. Graduate student Kama King received the prestigious Jan Bashinski Criminalistics Graduate Thesis Grant from the American Academy of Forensic Science at its annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation in December awarded its Director’s Award for Law Enforcement to UCO’s Dwight Adams, Ph.D., director of Central’s W. Roger Webb Forensic Science Institute.
And, just to prove Forensic students do more than study, the Student Academy of Forensic Science received UCO’s 2013 top Student Organization of the Year award. Not bad for a program that’s only four years old!
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Acting Globally Look for ways to connect students to the world. Find transformative experiences at home and abroad. Connect globally. That’s UCO’s reality. And that’s why opportunities for both American and international students have risen dramatically at Central. Most recently, UCO’s internationally known Academy of Contemporary Music (ACM@UCO) signed an agreement to allow Central students to study at the original ACM in Guildford, England. The ACM@UCO, which opened in 2009 in downtown Oklahoma City’s Bricktown, has based its program on England’s ACM. That’s just one example of rapidly growing global opportunities on campus. Some are as basic as the phenomenal success of UCO’s annual International Festival, which in just a few years has grown from a traditionally small event into one that now packs the Nigh University Center’s huge ballroom with both American and international students clapping and cheering for international performers.
Since 2008, Central’s international enrollment has grown by almost 45 percent, to 1,321 students, while the number of countries represented has increased from 75 to 109. Perhaps more importantly, UCO has doubled its participation in Broncho Buddies, a program that engages American students with international students.
“
Travel is fatal to
prejudice, bigotry and
”
narrow-mindedness. Mark Twain
In September, UCO opened an office in South Korea to expedite successful recruiting efforts there. On campus, Central opened the only International House in Oklahoma, providing a place for the community as well as international and domestic students to meet and stage events. UCO’s Centre for Global Competency continues to create ways for American students to study and travel abroad while promoting the advantages of international experiences. The prestigious Global Competency Certificate — requirements include students study a second language and have an international experience — was awarded this academic year to 25 graduates who accepted the challenge.
In addition, the university just completed its second year of participating in the Swansea@UCO doctoral program, where Oklahoma students are supervised at UCO while studying for a doctorate degree through Swansea University in Wales, U.K. Areas of study are as varied as Public Administration, International Relations, and Film and Media Studies, among others.
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Always Central UCO publicly announced in September its largest fundraising endeavor in university history — the Always Central campaign — with $30.4 million already raised. As the academic year concludes, the campaign has just more than $35 million raised toward the $40 million goal for scholarships, teaching, facilities, programs and the future. Construction on the CHK|Central Boathouse on the Oklahoma River now is moving forward thanks to a $2.5 million gift made in early 2013 by MidFirst Bank. The gift earmarked $2 million to go directly to the boathouse, completing the university’s fundraising initiative for the project. When completed in November 2014, the CHK|Central Boathouse will be home to the Central Women’s Rowing team. The structure also will include a live music venue, outdoor performance area and an art gallery, establishing it as a unique presence “where art meets the river” in the growing Boathouse District on the Oklahoma River. The MidFirst gift also included $500,000 to endow a faculty chair and assist with the university’s efforts to renovate its landmark building, Old North. The university has raised just more than $1 million in private gifts for the Old North Renovation Project, thanks in part to recent gifts. The Always Central campaign now enters its final phase — raising $5 million to complete Old North. The building, when finished, will house offices for the president, senior administration and faculty; conference rooms; a rotunda/historic clock display; wall art galleries; an historic classroom; and five classrooms modeled after those in the Center for Transformative Learning.
MidFirst Bank opened a location in the Nigh University Center in spring 2013.
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Athletics UCO Athletics ended the 2012-13 year on a high note with the UCO Softball Team taking the NCAA Division II national championship title. The May 27 victory came one week after deadly and devastating tornadoes wreaked havoc on the southern part of the metro area. So, the Central team was just as proud to earn a $3,100 donation for disaster relief efforts. The Borden Perlmann Insurance Co. — the secondary insurance agent for UCO Athletics — donated to the Red Cross relief efforts $100 for each run the Bronchos scored in the tournament, making the team’s 31 runs that much sweeter. An additional highlight of the tournament was softball Head Coach Genny Stidham earning her 450th career win with the team’s championship victory. That’s the way UCO Athletics likes to get things done — the best for everyone. That’s why another highlight of the year was the Academic Awards Banquet where an impressive 123 Broncho athletes were recognized for having a 3.0 — or higher — grade point average. Football players Jas’sen Stoner and Connor Pulley received the Donald and Shigeko Burget Scholarship Award for their academic achievements and leadership. Twenty-one athletes were recognized for having 4.0 grade point averages. They included graduating senior Antonella Rossini, Central’s No. 1 tennis player from Argentina who also was top spring graduate — Class Marshal — for the College of Business. Brains and brawn — call it the Broncho way. UCO began in fall 2012 its first year as a member of the MidAmerica Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA), which included having two of Central’s home football games televised on the MIAA Television Network.
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About UCO: The Numbers Total Students 17,211 (Fall 2012)
Enrollment by College/Other
Graduate 1,832 - 11%
Education & Professional Studies 4,843
Age Distribution
Operating Budget $142,419,016
31 & Over 16% 26-30 12.6%
Tuition/Fees $87,156,744
Mathematics & Science 3,319 Undergraduate 15,379 - 89%
21-25 38.3% Liberal Arts 3,227
Business 3,204 Fine Arts & Design 1,348
20 & Under 33.1%
Interdisciplinary Studies 311 Undeclared Majors 959
ACT Scores (Fall 2012) UCO Freshman: 21.3 National Average: 21.1 Oklahoma Average: 20.7
New Freshmen Living on Campus
State Appropriations $52,794,661
Operational Income $2,467,611
Graduates Since 1890 110,000+
28%
commencement 2012-13 3,216
In compliance with Title VI and Title VII of The Civil Rights Act of 1964, Executive Order 11246 as amended, Title IX of The Education Amendments of 1972, Sections 503 and 504 of The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, The Civil Rights Act of 1991, and other Federal Laws and Regulations, University of Central Oklahoma does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, handicap, disability, status as a veteran in any of its policies, practices or procedures; this includes but is not limited to admissions, employment, financial aid, and educational services. This publication, printed by Southwestern Printing, Oklahoma City, OK, is issued by University of Central Oklahoma as authorized by Title 70 OS 1981, Section 3903. 2,000 copies have been prepared or distributed at a cost of $2,475. 6/2013
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“
We are and have been of
this place for nearly 125 years.
”
This place matters. Don Betz UCO President
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UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA
2013 PRESIDENT’S REPORT TO THE COMMUNITY
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Creating a Culture of Learning, Leading and Serving
TM
100 North University Drive, Edmond, Oklahoma 73034 405-974-2000 路 www.uco.edu www.facebook.com/uco.bronchos
@UCOBronchos
Publications Editor, Gypsy Hogan; Art Director, Craig Beuchaw; Photographic Services, Dan Smith