Robert Wittenburg begins his term as UCEA President after the 93rd Annual Conference in New Orleans concludes this month.
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Wiltenburg and Book to Begin UCEA Leadership Terms
From the March 2008 Issue of InFocus (PDF)
The experiences of a continuing education leader
can often mirror those of a CE student. Many find
their way into CE from other areas of higher education,
and find that their new careers come with
ever changing job requirements and responsibilities.
Like adult learners who must broaden their
educations to stay ahead of advancing workforce
demands, CE leaders require ongoing learning opportunities
and professional networking opportunities
to advance the field.
"One thing that is true of all professions is the need
to learn from the people who do it best,” says Robert
Wiltenburg, Dean of University College at Washington
University in St. Louis, who begins his term as
UCEA President following the Association’s Annual
Conference this month. “Most in this profession sort
of sidestep into it, which puts a special obligation on,
and also creates an opportunity for, an association
like UCEA to be an absolutely crucial experience to
those in the profession."
“Many are coming into CE in their 30s and 40s, and
they don’t need to be retrained, but they do need
specific training in best practices and other areas to
help them make the most of the opportunity they
have in what is for them a new profession.”
Wiltenburg, who moved into CE from an earlier career
in an English department—“I had never seen a budget
and never really had to consider marketing,” he says
—recalls his own experiences with the Association
and how they helped his transition. “You value the
professional associations you make,” he says. “Interacting
with other members, and learning from them
and being helped by them, has been one of the more
rewarding professional experiences that I’ve had.”
Liberal Learning in CE
Wiltenburg praises the Association for providing a
balance between general learning opportunities such
as the Annual Conference and more specialized
events such as the annual Marketing Seminar. He is
looking forward to building upon successful new initiatives
such as UCEACONNECT and the national
Advocacy Campaign, which will be launched at the
New Orleans Conference. And he hopes to focus on
an area of interest deepened during a year of traveling
to regional conferences and listening to members
as UCEA’s President-Elect—the value of liberal
learning in continuing education.
“Jobs change under us, and there are a decreasing
number of jobs in which the repetitive fulfillment
of a task is an issue—now it’s creative decisionmaking,”
he says. “It has been the case that the
experiences offered by liberal education are what
have prepared you with analytical intelligence for
any situation, and this is becoming a need for everyone.
It is one of the many interesting challenges
that continuing education has been successfully
taking on.”
(This topic is being addressed during
the Liberal and Professional Education Pre-Conference
Workshop at the Annual Conference on
Wednesday afternoon, March 26.)
Wiltenburg has been Dean at Washington University
since 1996, and also is an Associate Dean in Arts
and Sciences. He received the Missouri Governors
Award for Teaching Excellence, and continues to
regularly teach literature, as well as humanities
for first-year medical school students. He holds a
bachelor’s degree in English from Cornell University,
and a master’s and doctoral degree—both in English
—from the University of Rochester.
Book is UCEA President-Elect
Patricia Book, Vice President for Regional Development
at Kent State University, will begin serving as
the Association’s President-Elect this month. “As I
reflect upon the presidential leaders of UCEA, I feel
truly humbled to join their ranks to serve our professional
organization,” she says. “I am thrilled to have
this chance to serve our membership.”
Like Wiltenburg, Book looks forward to giving back to
an Association that has assisted her own professional
development. “UCEA was there for me when I entered
this field,” she says. “At that time, newfound colleagues
from across the country openly shared information,
ideas, strategies, and advice with me as a newcomer
eager to learn. It has been such a valuable professional
network—one that has produced lifelong friendships.”
Book was named Kent State’s first Vice President
for Regional Development in 2004; she joined Kent
State after serving in a similar leadership role at Penn
State University. Her administrative career includes
applied research and capacity building in the areas of
community and economic development in the public
and nonprofit private sectors, and nearly 20 years
in higher education administration leading university/
community partnerships and outreach. She holds
a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Oakland
University, a master’s degree in cultural anthropology
from the University of Connecticut and a doctorate
in medical anthropology, also from Connecticut.
Book says that CE has always been in a change agent
role within the larger institution, and that public expectations
for higher education are at an all time high.
The adult learner, she says, is at the center of state and
federal policy debates where workforce development
is seen as central to the ability to attract and retain
industry, and critical to economic competitiveness.
“Policy makers are challenging institutions to collaborate
more across sectors to create clearer pathways
for learners to progress toward degrees, to better differentiate
our missions to achieve excellence, and to
address issues of affordability and access with an increased
aggressiveness and a shared sense of urgency,”
she says. “As continuing higher education leaders, our
role is in part to help our institutions step up to these
challenges in new and innovative ways.”
— Doug Davala |
