ABOUT

Graduate Study at UW-Whitewater

Founded in 1868 as the State of Wisconsin’s second Normal School, UW-Whitewater has developed into a premier regional comprehensive university.  Graduate Education at UW-Whitewater began in 1960 as part of a state-wide initiative to offer graduate courses that led to a master’s degree in education for certified teachers. We conferred the first masters degrees in 1964.  However, from this modest beginning, Graduate Studies has grown and developed a number of acclaimed programs designed to meet the vocational and professional needs of today’s complex and evolving workplace. We now offer dozens of master’s degree programs and post-baccalaureate certicificates, ranging from Applied Economics to a Masters of  Business Administration, from Communication to Education, from Professional Development to Environmental Safety.  Also, since 2014, graduate students can earn a Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA).

In 1960, 32 teachers enrolled in summer graduate courses to improve their teaching skills: in Fall 2020,  1,503 graduate students of diverse backgrounds from 36 states and 20 countries from Europe, Asia, Africa, and Central America convened here, in a lovely 400 acre campus, located conveniently near Milwaukee, Madison and Chicago, in the center of the “Midwest Research Triangle.”  To see what graduate education here at UW-Whitewater is about,  please read our Mission Statement, along with the Graduate Course Criteria and the Learning Outcomes that define the serious and professional programs you will encounter here at UW-Whitewater.

1. Graduate students at UW-Whitewater enter post-baccalaureate programs prepared to function as self-motivated and independent learners. Graduate students draw upon their foundational knowledge, maturity and greater self-understanding of their professional goals.
2. Graduate study at UW-Whitewater is designed to meet appropriate professional learning outcomes. Coursework integrates advanced content, an examination of professional practice, and reflection upon experiences derived in practicum, clinical and/or field settings.
3. Graduate students at UW-Whitewater engage in more complex ways with disciplinary content through analysis, synthesis, evaluation, reflection and application than at the undergraduate level. When graduate work serves an introductory function, the work will be more extensive and covered at an accelerated pace in comparison to undergraduate work in order to facilitate full engagement with more advanced theory and practice
4. Graduate students at UW-Whitewater are expected to understand and apply abstract concepts and integrate new information into a broader and, in particular, a deeper knowledge base. They have a greater ability to synthesize concepts and skills taught in a single course as well as across the program curriculum.
5. Graduate coursework at UW-Whitewater requires greater depth of engagement with more specialized disciplinary content, which in turn requires higher expectations for academic and intellectual attainment.
6. Graduate study at UW-Whitewater engages students more frequently and more fully with the scholarly and professional research of the discipline, and focuses on primary source materials and graduate-level texts where appropriate.
7. Graduate faculty at UW-Whitewater often have more frequent and personal contact with graduate students, entering into mentor relationships which support a transition into professional practice and/or career advancement.
8. Graduate study at UW-Whitewater draws more frequently on students’ experiences. As a result, course discussions and projects often foster collaborative approaches to advanced understanding of professional challenges and/or contexts.
9. Graduate study at UW-Whitewater requires more intense and sustained evaluative experiences, including self-reflection, frequent peer feedback, and detailed formative and summative assessment associated with specific professional or accreditation standards and/or capstone experiences.

1. Advanced abilities in gathering, investigating, documenting, analyzing, interpreting, evaluating, and synthesizing complex information from the discipline and its practice.
2. Ability to apply discipline-specific skills (e.g., procedures, techniques, craft, technology and tool use) and knowledge (e.g., ideas, problems, concepts, vocabulary, history and theory of the discipline) to real-world contexts.
3. Highly developed functional skills and behaviors necessary for maturing professionals including self-direction, problem-solving, decision-making, collaboration, and the capacity for networking and leadership.
4. Writing skills that reflect advanced practice in professional contexts.
5. Effective oral communication and interpersonal skills that support successful interaction with colleagues and professionally relevant constituents.
6. A capacity to recognize ethical challenges relevant to disciplinary practice and the ability to articulate and justify a professional response.
7. The ability to understand and respond effectively to the diverse interests and needs of domestic and global colleagues and constituents served by the discipline and its practice.
8. Recognition of the need for continuous professional development through self-directed learning and on-going engagement with colleagues and other professionals.

• The UWW Audit and Review Process
• Graduate Audit and Review Committee
• Graduate Student Degree Completion Data
• HLC 2015 Re-accrediation report