Friday, February 22, 2008

Union Institute & University Announces New Programs at Upcoming Information Sessions

CINCINNATI – Beginning March 4, Union Institute & University’s Cincinnati Center for Undergraduate Studies will host weekly information sessions throughout the month to introduce its innovative undergraduate programs to the community.

The new B.A. and B.S. degree programs, designed to accommodate the busy adult schedule, are further examples of how UI&U continues to redefine higher education by placing learners at the center of their own education. The Walnut Hills-based center offers a wide variety of majors from psychology to criminal justice. Learner benefits include close faculty mentoring and advising, the ability to transfer credit from prior learning, and flexible learning times.

President Dr. Roger Sublett is eager to get the word out about the new options.
“We’re pleased that our newly revised programs, with their on-ground and online options, can accommodate the needs of Cincinnati adults looking for relevant and marketable degrees,” said Dr. Sublett. “We are continuing our mission to empower adults with relevant and flexible alternatives in higher education.”

UI&U’s accelerated undergraduate degree programs incorporate the learners’ prior transfer credits earned at other universities or colleges, consider the learners’ relevant professional experience and knowledge, and identify a set of remaining courses that reflect the learners’ personal goals and satisfies UI&U degree requirements. Unlike most universities, UI&U does not put a time limit on transferring in credits earned at other higher learning institutions.

Undergraduate learners have the option of completing their courses through one-to-one tutorial instruction by phone or e-mail, face-to-face with instructors, or online.
Many learners chose a degree program that prepares them for careers in growing fields including social work, human services, business management, and early childhood education.

Joseph Roetting, a current UI&U undergraduate learner and Mayor of Mount Healthy, chose to complete his B.S. in business management at UI&U because of its flexibility.
“It has always been important for me to get my bachelor’s degree,” said Roetting, an investment specialist for Duke Energy. “I always wanted to achieve it sometime in my lifetime – but I also understand that there needs to be a balance between family and personal goals.”

UI&U, said Roetting, helped him succeed and achieve his goals.

Financial aid counselors, faculty advisors, and admissions counselors will be present at the Tuesday information sessions, 6-7:30 p.m., each Tuesday in March: March 4, 11, 18, and 25, at Union Institute & University, 440 E. McMillan St., Walnut Hills.

For more information, contact Admissions Counselor Marc Weber at 513-487-1225 or marc.weber@tui.edu.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Union Institute & University Receives Grant from Helen Steiner Rice Fund, Greater Cincinnati Foundation

Grant will fund a three-year project for leadership and social responsibility

CINCINNATI – Union Institute & University (UI&U) has been awarded a grant from The Helen Steiner Rice Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation (GCF). The $75,000 award will be dispersed in $25,000 increments over the next three years and provide funding to support UI&U’s presidential lecture series; Presidential Forum: Leadership Opportunities and Social Responsibility in An Age of Accountability.

UI&U will partner with the Academy of Medicine to present the first forum, “Medical Volunteerism and Ethics in a Global Society,” on April 17 at Duke Energy Center. The day-long event will feature keynote speakers Edward O’Neil, M.D., and Virginia Ruehlmann Wiltse, Ph.D.

Dr. Roger Sublett, president of UI&U, said about the award, “UI&U and the Academy of Medicine are so grateful to The Helen Steiner Rice Fund and GCF. We applaud their foresight in funding the Presidential Forums, which will allow UI&U to showcase our emphasis on social justice and global issues, as well as make use of our network of our faculty and alumni around the country who are making a difference in our world. Our goal is to provide information and opportunities for all of us to come together to identify and address current social issues and see first-hand how engagement at the local level can create solutions at the global level.”

Dr. O’Neil is the author of Awakening Hippocrates: A Primer on Health, Poverty, and Global Service, and A Practical Guide to Global Health Service. He is the founder the non-profit organization Omni-Med, (http://www.omnimed.org/) which focuses on health volunteerism and ethical leadership.

Dr. Virginia Ruehlmann Wiltse, a graduate of UI&U’s doctoral program in interdisciplinary studies, runs Care Response Madagascar Foundation – a locally-based organization that provides extensive relief efforts to Madagascar, particularly in the remote Toamasina/Tamatave region.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Union Institute & University Brings Renowned Education Scholar to Montpelier Center

Dr. Peggy McIntosh is founder of the National Seeking Educational & Equity Diversity (SEED) Project on Inclusive Curriculum

MONTPELIER, VT – Union Institute & University’s (UI&U) Master of Education Program will present “Five Frames of Mind for Looking at Education,” by Dr. Peggy McIntosh, author of White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Sunday, February 24, at The Chapel in Old College Hall at UI&U’s Vermont Academic Center in Montpelier. The talk is open to the public. McIntosh will describe five interactive ways of looking at life and education. The talk will start with the most exclusive ways of seeing, which McIntosh was taught in her own culture and class framework, and will move through increasingly more inclusive ways of seeing which she has become committed to over time.

“Dr. McIntosh is well known for her groundbreaking work in the areas of white privilege, women’s studies, and educational equity,” said Connie Krosney, an education professor at UI&U. “As a presenter, she brings her own experiences into the conversation, and invites others to do the same, in a manner which promotes transformational learning, and creates an environment focused on social justice.” McIntosh is a senior research scientist and associate director with the Wellesley Centers for Women, and founder and co-director of the National Seeking Educational & Equity Diversity (SEED) Project on Inclusive Curriculum. The SEED Project helps teachers create their own year-long, school-based seminars on making school climates, K-12 curricula, and teaching methods more gender fair and multi-culturally equitable.

A $10 donation is requested. All proceeds from this event will benefit the SEED Project. Space is limited. To reserve a seat, register by contacting Shelley Matz at 802-828-8810, or e-mail shelley.matz@tui.edu.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Union Institute & University Alumna Lucille Griswold In the News!

In the 1950s, Lucille Griswold had just completed her freshmen year at Alfred University in New York State. Unable to return the following year, she took a job working for the government. Also that year, “I fell in love,” said Lucille, of her husband, William. The two were married, and they knew they had to make a tough decision.

“This was back before student loans,” said Lucille. “We knew only one of us could go to college.”So Lucille put her education on hold to raise her family and support her young husband as he studied to become a prosthodontist.

Now, at the age of 73, Lucille has finally earned her bachelor’s degree in business and women’s studies from Union Institute & University’s Virtual Vermont program.

“It is never too late to get an education,” said Lucille, who doesn’t put an age requirement on higher education goals. “I don’t think I could ever get enough education. For me, it is a lifelong pursuit.” Read the article published in The Gazette about Lucille at:
http://www.gazette.net/stories/013008/olnenew61638_32363.shtml

Union Institute & University Elects New Member to Board Of Trustees

Michele Hunt, founder of Vision & Values, was member of the first Clinton administration

Cincinnati- Union Institute & University (UI&U), a university offering interdisciplinary plans of study for adult learners through its distance learning programs, and academic centers located in Cincinnati (OH), Los Angeles and Sacramento (CA), Miami (FL), and on its Vermont College Campus in Montpelier and the Brattleboro Center (VT) today announced the election of Michele Hunt to UI&U’s Board of Trustees.Hunt is nationally known for her work as a change catalyst and “thinking partner” to leaders of organizations and communities on leadership development, organizational transformation and organizational effectiveness. She works with leaders and their teams to help transform their organizations to higher levels participation, teamwork and performance. Her work is rooted in the principles of shared vision, values and continuous learning.

Hunt’s customers have included leadership teams at IBM, Motorola, Swiss Reinsurance Company, Popular Inc., Banco Popular Puerto Rico, Banco Popular North America, Johns Hopkins University, Bright China Management Institute, Banco Do Brasil, BHP of Australia, NASA, The U.S. Veterans Administration, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, The U.S. Department of Education, The U.S. National Park Service, The Girl Scouts of America, National Junior Achievement, World Vision International, The Episcopal Divinity School at Harvard and Leadership team the Chicago Public Schools.

In 1992 she served on President Bill Clinton’s Transition Team, and in 1993 she was appointed by President Clinton to serve as the executive director of the Federal Quality Institute, whose mission was to help seed the reinvention of the United States government through The National Performance Review: Creating a Government that Works Better and Cost Less. As a leader of this institution, she brought the latest thinking and management practices to this effort, working alongside Vice President Al Gore and the cabinet leadership teams, and created public-private partnerships with world-recognized thought leaders and high performing organizations including: Peter Drucker, John Gardner, Max De Pree, Peter Senge, GE, Xerox, Ford, and Herman Miller.

Prior to this appointment, Hunt spent 13 years with Herman Miller, Inc., a Fortune 500 global office furniture company. She served on the executive management team as senior vice president for people. In this capacity she led the company’s organizational transformation, responsible for global leadership development, human resources, quality management, and corporate communications.

Hunt is the author of the book DreamMakers: Putting Vision and Values to Work and is also the conceptual director of DreamMakers, a documentary that features compelling stories of people who made their hopes and dreams come true against tremendous obstacles. She has also published chapters in The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, by Peter Senge; Leading People by Robert Rosen; and The Diversity Action Book.

Hunt serves on the board of directors of Hewitt Associates, The Institute for Inclusion and the Detroit Windsor Dance Academy. She earned her bachelor and masters degrees in sociology from Eastern Michigan University and University of Detroit, respectively. She resides in New York City.