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Ohio Wesleyan Magazine - Ohio Wesleyan University

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FrontLines<br />

OWU Achieves<br />

hOnOr rOll<br />

stAtUs<br />

Barely a week had passed fol-<br />

lowing Hurricane Katrina’s<br />

devastating winds and storm<br />

surges last year, before OWU<br />

Chaplain Jon Powers called<br />

on the community to mobi-<br />

lize and find ways to help<br />

storm victims. From benefit<br />

lunches and dances, to “dorm<br />

storming,” to organizing<br />

the numerous clean-up and<br />

rebuilding mission trips to<br />

the New Orleans area, <strong>Ohio</strong><br />

<strong>Wesleyan</strong> students and staff<br />

were there and ready to help.<br />

That is, after all, just what we<br />

do, here at OWU.<br />

2 <strong>Ohio</strong> <strong>Wesleyan</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong><br />

Recently recognized<br />

and selected (not a first<br />

for <strong>Ohio</strong> <strong>Wesleyan</strong>, but<br />

welcome nonetheless), as<br />

one of 10 <strong>Ohio</strong> Campus<br />

Compact (OCC) honor roll<br />

finalists for the President’s<br />

Excellence in General<br />

Community Service pro-<br />

gram, <strong>Ohio</strong> <strong>Wesleyan</strong> is<br />

duly honored. That pro-<br />

gram, which placed special<br />

emphasis this year on rec-<br />

ognizing service activities<br />

related to the Gulf Coast<br />

hurricanes of 2005, is trying<br />

to increase public aware-<br />

ness of service contributions<br />

that college students make<br />

in local as well as national<br />

communities.<br />

“<strong>Ohio</strong> <strong>Wesleyan</strong> has long<br />

been at the forefront as a<br />

The OWU education department was recently granted accredi-<br />

tation by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher<br />

Education (NCATE) – a benchmark for high standards not eas-<br />

ily achieved by smaller universities.<br />

“This accreditation gives us something tangible to show<br />

the world that <strong>Ohio</strong> <strong>Wesleyan</strong> has strong programs,” says Amy<br />

McClure ’72, chairperson and professor of education. “We<br />

didn’t change the education program at<br />

<strong>Ohio</strong> <strong>Wesleyan</strong> – we showcased it – and<br />

NCATE agreed we are very good.”<br />

According to McClure, OWU already<br />

is accredited by the state of <strong>Ohio</strong>, but<br />

“the NCATE recognition is a giant leap<br />

for <strong>Ohio</strong> <strong>Wesleyan</strong> because it is extremely difficult for small<br />

schools to achieve that accreditation,” she notes. “NCATE has<br />

very high standards that apply to large universities with many<br />

people working toward accreditation.”<br />

McClure says the accreditation process took five years to<br />

complete. To receive national accreditation, the OWU education<br />

department had to meet the following six standards: can-<br />

<strong>Ohio</strong> <strong>Wesleyan</strong>’s first faculty-staff mission trip to New Orleans was developed to assist<br />

Linus Parfait and his family with rebuilding and clean-up efforts in the aftermath of<br />

Hurricane Katrina.<br />

leader of community ser-<br />

vice and more widespread<br />

volunteer efforts,” says Sue<br />

Pasters, director of commu-<br />

nity service learning at OWU.<br />

For more information<br />

about the President’s Higher<br />

Education Community<br />

Service Honor Roll, visit<br />

www.learnandserve.gov/<br />

about/programs/higher_ed_<br />

honorroll.asp<br />

OWU Receives NCATE Accreditation<br />

didate knowledge, skills, and dispositions; assessment systems<br />

and unit evaluation; field experiences and clinical practice;<br />

diversity; faculty qualifications, performance, and development;<br />

and unit governance and resources.<br />

NCATE is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education<br />

as the accrediting body for colleges and universities that prepare<br />

teachers for work in elementary and secondary schools.<br />

Through its peer review process, NCATE<br />

ensures that accredited institutions produce<br />

competent, committed, and professional<br />

teachers who possess the necessary<br />

knowledge, skills, and dispositions to help<br />

all students learn.<br />

The NCATE accreditation allows <strong>Ohio</strong> <strong>Wesleyan</strong> to compete<br />

more easily with other colleges and universities in <strong>Ohio</strong><br />

that already are accredited by NCATE. Though teachers who<br />

have earned degrees in <strong>Ohio</strong> normally don’t have much trouble<br />

obtaining teaching licenses in other states, the NCATE accreditation<br />

makes it even easier. “Degrees from NCATE-accredited<br />

institutions are almost unquestioned,” McClure says.

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