Western Illinois U. - Board of Trustees BA

I will be visiting Western Illinois University in about a week and a half (a colleague of mine is a professor there). I would like to relate some experiences of those who have had experience with WIU's Board of Trustees BA completion program (formerly known as the Board of Governors' BA).

Dr. Bear has always had very nice things to say about this program. Has anyone here on Degreeinfo had experience with Western Illinois?

Tony Pina
Faculty, Cal State U. San Bernardino

 

My wife Rosie is enrolled in this, although she will be getting her degree from Excelsior instead.

The people at WIU have always been friendly and helpful, and have always processed incoming transcripts quickly. The fees are wonderfully low.

Rosie narrowly missed the deadline to enroll under the old requirements (15 credits from any of the BOG universities). The new requirements are much more stringent (30 credits from WIU, and many more distribution requirements). Since Northeastern Illinois University still uses something like the old requirements, I don't feel that WIU is competitive any more.

WIU awarded Rosie 11 credits for her foreign credential (Certificate for Overseas Techers of English) where Excelsior would award none. On the other hand, Excelsior awarded many credits that WIU would not -- for a GRE Subject exam, and for NYU and FLATS language exams. Apparently the only language exam WIU accepts is the CLEP (which is available for French and Spanish only).

Awarding of credit is inconsistent. One course for which credit was denied because it was a "professional" course was accepted when the transcript happened to be re-submitted. Another course appeared on WIU's transcript after WIU had told us they had rejected it.

The transcript system seems to be antiquated; all the titles of courses transferred in have to be horribly abbreviated to fit in a column on the transcript.

 

German -- thanks.

The NYU and FLATS exams are available for many languages, and are accepted by many US colleges. But not by WIU.

Giving credit for language knowledge is iffy. The US is largely monolingual; but what about Switzerland or the Netherlands, where people with just a high-school education commonly speak 3 or 4 languages? Should they all get a year or two off college?

 

The latest issue of WIU's BOT/BA newsletter has a full-page article on Prof. Igolima Amachree, similar to this press release:
http://www.wiu.edu/release.php?id=2265

Prof. Amachree is an advisor to the Liberian transitional government, and is the brother-in-law of Liberia's transitional leader, Charles Gyude Bryant.

Tony, when you visit WIU, you might want to look up Prof. Amachree, and raise the issue of Saint Regis University with him.

 

Mark,

To be honest, I have not been keeping up on the many posts about SRU on Degreeinfo. Where should I look to get up to speed on SRU and Liberia?

Tony

 

Here is the evidence that SRU confers Master's degrees for no work:
http://www.gwinnettdailyonline.com/GDP/archive/article41D2CE9A7369435D9D6149DC60B01481.asp

Here is the latest word on the Liberian government's apparent approval of SRU and related schools:
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12872

The Liberian education system disintegrated under Charles Taylor. The problem may be that Taylor's education minister, Mrs D. Evelyn S. White-Kandakai, has been re-appointed to the current government over the objections of most Liberian educators.
http://www.theperspective.org/inquirer/moreconfusion.html

 

Thanks. I'll check it out.

 

I graduated in May of 96 using a combination of transfer credits, portfolio credits, and 27(+/-) hours from WIU (good selection of credits and a decent price). I had a good experience with instructors and administration, and I would recommend the program without hesitation.

I have also responded to two surveys concerning a potential offering of a Masters program. WIU must have opted against it so far.

The only drawback is that the local Walmarts here in north Alabama do not carry WIU logo gear (Alabama and Auburn get all of the rack space for some reason). I have to pay full price from the bookstore in Macomb. Such is life....

Kevin

 

Re: Re: Western Illinois U. - Board of Trustees BA

Interesting...If I have the chance, I'll ask about the masters program.

Tony Pina
Faculty, Cal State U. San Bernardino

 

Are you back from WIU, Tony? Anything to report?

 

How could I have missed a thread on Western?

I did my freshman year of college at Western, before transfering. I only have good things to say about the school. I have no idea what their distance program was like, but their residential program was very welcoming to an 18 kid from Chicago who had never lived anywhere else .


Jon

 

I had a chance to meet briefly with the University Provost and the Associate Dean of the College of Education. Unfortunately, Dr. Amachree was not available when I was, but I may have a chance to contact him a bit later.

Accroding to the Provost, the Board of Trustees BA program is undergoing some enhancements, including making it less of a correspondence program and more of a true DL degree, using more telecommunications and online components. The Board of Trustees MA program is still being discussed, so no real news as of yet. There are a number of online MA programs currently available at the university, so it would not be too much of a strech to offer it, but they would have to work out the whole portfolio and alternative credit thing (not as common at the graduate level).

Western Illinois' campus was surprisingly big and modern, considering its rural small-town setting--very good library and campus facilities.

Tony Pina
Faculty, Cal State U. San Bernardino