WAUKESHA – Beginning this fall Waukesha County residents will have another option to earn a bachelor’s degree. In an agreement with the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha, the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh will offer a Bachelor of Liberal Studies (BLS) degree at the Waukesha campus. UW-Waukesha dean and campus executive officer Patrick Schmitt and UW Oshkosh’s Martin Tadlock, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Lifelong Learning and Community Engagement, will sign the pact Tuesday, August 5, at 2 p.m. in the UW-Waukesha student lounge, located in the Commons on campus at 1500 N. University Dr.

This collaboration offers UW-Waukesha students the opportunity to earn credits toward both their associate and bachelor’s degree simultaneously. With an emphasis in leadership development, UW Oshkosh’s BLS program is designed specifically to serve adult nontraditional students and is taught as a combination of on UW-Waukesha’s campus and online.

The third-largest university in the UW System, UW-Oshkosh is reaching out to make its educational programs more accessible across the state. Adult learners often encounter obstacles to attending classes on the traditional university schedule. With online and distance-learning, students need not make drastic sacrifices in scheduling their work and family lives — nor in the quality of the education they receive.

According to findings released in 2006 by the Wisconsin Committee on Baccalaureate Expansion (COBE), the state is well below the national average in the number of four-year college graduates. In order to make up the difference the UW System will need to graduate 72,000 additional students with bachelor degrees by 2010.

“Area employers want employees with strong communication skills, effective problem-solving and critical-thinking abilities, and agility when it comes to change and continuous improvement,” said Charles Hill, director of The Center For New Learning at UW-Oshkosh. “Adult learners, whose lives are already filled with work and family responsibilities, face obstacles traditional students do not. This program helps them overcome some of those obstacles.”

“This is a significant expansion of the University of Wisconsin presence in Waukesha,” Schmitt commented. “We expect it to be the first of many additions to UW-Waukesha’s offering of UW degrees,” he further anticipates.

Applications are now being accepted to the Bachelors of Liberal Studies program at UW-Waukesha. For more information on this program or to talk to an advisor, please contact Lynn Brandt. at (800) INFO-UWO or brandtl@uwosh.edu.

UW-Waukesha has the largest enrollment among the 13 freshman-sophomore University of Wisconsin Colleges campuses, offering associate of arts & science degrees and the best start on a college degree and unlimited career opportunities. For information about programs, admission or financial aid, contact the Student Services office at 888-2UW-WAUK (888-289-9285) or visit the Web at waukesha.uwc.edu.

The Center For New Learning at UW Oshkosh administers seven programs that offer adult nontraditional students certificate or bachelor degree opportunities. For more information, on The Center For New Learning visit www.uwosh.edu/newlearning.

Founded in 1871, the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh enrolls more than 12,700 (11,500 on campus) full-time students, offers 74 associate, baccalaureate and master’s degree programs in the colleges of Business, Education and Human Services, Letters and Science and Nursing. The educational, cultural and economic engine for 1.2 million citizens of northeastern Wisconsin, UW Oshkosh now also will serve the southeastern area.

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 For more information or to set up an interview, contact Jaime Hunt at (920) 424-1398 or huntj@uwosh.edu.

Find more UW Oshkosh news at www.uwosh.edu/news.

Find more UW-Waukesha news at www.waukesha.uwc.edu/news