UW-S participating in USC transfer equity study

UW-Sheboygan is Partnering with the University of Southern California’s Center for Urban Education (CUE) to Improve Transfer Rates

Faculty and staff are looking into data to help students transfer into four-year institutions

SHEBOYGAN, WI – Faculty and staff at the University of Wisconsin at Sheboygan have teamed up with the Center for Urban Education (CUE) at the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education as part of a two-year study into how transfer from two- to four-year institutions for students of color may be improved.

As part of the Wisconsin Transfer Equity Study, CUE is working directly with an “evidence team” involving faculty and staff from UW-Sheboygan as well as its regional partners, Fox Valley Technical College and UW-Oshkosh.

“This study is unique because it represents an opportunity to holistically examine the challenge of improving transfer policies to provide better transfer access to students of color from the top-down, in terms of state policy and accountability, and from the bottom-up, in terms of campus and intra-campus interventions,” said Dr. Estela Mara Bensimon, co-director of the Center for Urban Education and a professor of higher education. “This type of work has not been done before.”

The team members from UW-Sheboygan include: Mark Karau (Faculty, History), Steve Roelse (Upward Bound Advisor), Pam Fitzer (Adult Student Advisor), James Reitter (Faculty, English), and Valerie Murrenus Pilmaier(Faculty, English). The team meets on a monthly basis, and is working to identify barriers to transfer for students of color. Like many states, Wisconsin seeks to raise the level of baccalaureate attainment among its residents, and improving transfer is an important strategy towards achieving that goal.

“UW-Sheboygan is pleased to participate in this important study as a means of improving the success rate for our Asian, African American, and Hispanic students as they move from our campus to complete their bachelor’s degrees,” said Al Hardersen, campus dean and CEO of UW-Sheboygan. “We know that our faculty provide outstanding academic quality and seek to help all students achieve their higher education dreams.”

The work for the Wisconsin Transfer Equity Study, funded by The Ford Foundation, started in Fall 2008. This is when the Center for Urban Education began working with key administrators from the system administration offices of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Technical College System to identify system-level policy barriers to transfer. Some major areas for change identified by this system-level team include developing accountability structures to monitor transfer and outcomes for students of color; and strengthening articulation between the technical/occupational and baccalaureate programs.

In the current phase of the study, the Center is working directly with the selected two- and four-year institutions to identify choke points or barriers in the transfer pathway within an institution or between institutions. The Wisconsin Transfer Equity Study includes Milwaukee Area Technical College and UW-Milwaukee in addition to Fox Valley Technical College, UW-Sheboygan, and UW-Oshkosh.

The study furthers the Growth Agenda for Wisconsin’s goal to increase the number of Wisconsin residents with college degrees, and to increase degree pathways for the state’s adult population.

For more information about UW-Sheboygan, contact Carrie Hoppe, UW-Sheboygan Director of University Relations, at (920) 459-6612 or e-mail carrie.hoppe@uwc.edu, or visit www.sheboygan.uwc.edu.

Established at the University of Southern California in 1999 as part of the University's urban initiative, the Center for Urban Education (CUE) leads socially conscious research and develops tools needed for institutions of higher education to produce equity in student outcomes.

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