Giving - UW Outreach School

Giving to the Outreach School

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."
W. B. Yeats

The programs of the University of Wyoming Outreach School are well defined by Yeats’ definition of education: we provide opportunities for learners of many ages, interests, locations, and motivations to discover the fire of education that will in many ways enhance their lives and improve their communities. For us, this is an exciting, rewarding endeavor that is worth our investment. We invite alumni, friends, and supporters of the Outreach School to be part of a network of programs that will help the university fulfill commitments to learning and support learners within their own communities.

Our Passion:

"Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource."
John F. Kennedy

The tradition of distinctive educational outreach and service is long and rich at the University of Wyoming. We were the first university west of Missouri to offer correspondence courses, and for nearly a century the university has sent its faculty across the state to meet with citizens, students, teachers, business owners, ranchers, and farmers to help them learn.

The Outreach School has long been the conduit for an expanded access to learning. Since 1976, university degree programs have been available at the University of Wyoming/Casper College Center, and for nearly three decades those degree programs have been available statewide through Outreach Credit Programs. Wyoming Public Radio has brought news and entertainment to the state for over 40 years. Enrichment programs and conferences and institutes have been bringing new opportunities and ideas to citizens of Wyoming since the 1950s. Through this variety of avenues, the Outreach School is a critical part of the University of Wyoming’s mission, providing wide access to a variety of university programs.

The mission of the University of Wyoming Outreach School is to extend the University of Wyoming educational programs to the state and beyond.

Our work at the Outreach School is about such things as dreams and renewal, and about learning in many forms—from an intriguing new piece of music heard over the radio, to the satisfaction of a new skill learned in an enrichment class, to the triumph of the completion of a degree by the first person in a family to go to college.

For the Outreach School, learners are broadly defined: from the listener of Wyoming Public Radio who learns more about the world through WPR’s award-winning news programs, to the enrichment student who enhances his or her life by taking a non-credit course or attending a conference through our Community Service Education unit, to the students who work toward their baccalaureate or graduate degrees at a distance—at the UW/CC Center in Casper and around the state and nation through Outreach Credit Programs. Of necessity, all our efforts at providing access to learning opportunities are supported by the Division of Outreach Technology Services, which maintains the technological infrastructure that enables us to reach students at distance, and by our academic coordinators, who serve learners from locations around the state.

Being responsive to the needs of learners is a central focus of the educational programs of the Outreach School. For some learners, we change lives. Our degree-seeking students average 33 years of age. Many of them are single parents seeking a way to better their lives and the lives of their children. About 300 students receive University of Wyoming degrees and certificates in Outreach programs each year.

Other Outreach programs offer opportunities for personal growth. Community Service Education delivers over 100 conferences and events per year, and Wyoming Public Radio has over 50,000 listeners per week.

Our Priorities:

"Learning is not obtained by chance; it must be sought for with ardor and
attended to with diligence."
Abigail Adams

In order to meet the growth in the number and variety of learners, the Outreach School must be able to help attract and support the finest UW programs and faculty, encourage and sustain learners, and develop and maintain the most stable, robust, and effective technological infrastructure to connect learners to the university. A partnership with alumni, friends, and supporters will allow the Outreach School to support access and learning opportunities that accommodate the continuing growth in the number of learners we serve and the variety of programs we offer.

The Outreach School will focus on four areas of distinction as we channel our efforts to support the university’s goals:
• Learning
• Access
• Partnerships and synergism
• Welcoming growth

Much of what the Outreach School will be able to accomplish in the future will be through partnerships that create productive synergisms for the effective utilization of intellectual, technological, and financial resources. We invite your support for Outreach School programs that will enhance opportunities for learning and access and allow us to accommodate the rapid growth of the numbers of learners we serve and the learning opportunities we provide.

Our funding and development priorities are:
• Living Stipends
• Scholarship Opportunities
• Student Emergency Fund
• Modern Facilities and Technology
• Development Board

Living Stipends: Students who care for families and have work responsibilities have a particularly challenging environment in which to learn. Securing living allowance stipends for these students can help relieve them of the necessity of attempting to hold down several low-paying jobs and provide them with the freedom to learn and the time to care for their families.
• Renewed, continuing, and increased support from the Myra Fox Skelton Foundation
• New living stipend programs for Outreach students such as the Outreach Opportunity Stipend from the Wyoming Women’s Foundation

Scholarships Opportunities: Scholarships that help pay for students’ learning opportunities are essential, especially for students who may be trying to support themselves and their families while going to school. You may donate funds to existing scholarships designed for outreach students or assist with creating new opportunities.
• Scholarships in support of students enrolled in new degree programs
• Endowed or named scholarships in support of credit and non-credit students
• Scholarships in support of adult, non-traditional, and first generation students

Student Emergency Fund: Older, more non-traditional students, particularly those with families, face some emergencies that younger students might not face. A student with the need to buy medicine for a sick child may not have enough funds to pay for books or other educational supplies. The Outreach School seeks to develop a renewable fund that will allow us to help students in crisis, so that students can move through crisis to focus on learning.

Modern Facilities and Technology: The learners who participate in university programs offered through the Outreach School make a conscious choice to change and to grow. Many of them are returning to college after many years, and may seek degrees or skills or information from the institution in order to better their own lives, the lives of their children, and the life of their communities. The Outreach School must adapt to changes in the learning environment and the technological infrastructure necessary for effective learning environments.

Today’s digital world and globalization require modern facilities and equipment to provide the best possible learning communities, the places where individuals interact, teach and learn, and secure their personal goals for education and professional development. The University of Wyoming needs to invest in technology to support the many forms of classroom learning, teaching, and community service. Our initiatives and goals include securing public and private funding for new facilities in Casper, Cheyenne, and at locations throughout the state.

Additionally, the technology and equipment is available to greatly improve video conferencing as a means of communicating, whether it is at the office, at home, or in the classroom. Video conferencing makes it possible for the Outreach School to extend our “reach” locally, statewide, regionally, nationally, and worldwide.

Wyoming Public Radio and the University of Wyoming became the first players in the state in the new era of digital radio broadcasting, and by the end of 2006 had installed HD digital transmitters at its network stations in Gillette, Jackson, Douglas, and Jackson with the remaining 10 stations to be converted during 2007’s construction season. The project has a cost of approximately $1.2 million and is largely supported by grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Wyoming Legislature, and private sources.
• Modern facilities and equipment for Casper, Cheyenne, and other regional areas
• Support and expansion of the Outreach Video Network
• Technology to facilitate high-quality, on-demand streaming video via the Internet for distribution of educational content
• New post-production equipment to position UWTV as the leader for high definition local programming

Development Board: The Outreach School’s success in building capacity in fundraising will be greatly supported by a robust, engaged, and enthusiastic development board. The Outreach School’s “Circle of Friends”, will reflect the nature of our geographic, educational, and personal diversity. We will count on our “Friends” to raise the profile of the Outreach School, and bring new ideas, new supporters, and additional financial support to our efforts.
• Board Job Description
• Board Selection and Stewardship
• Inaugural Board Meeting

Our Successes:

"We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done."
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Our early funding successes have included these programs:
• Outreach Opportunity Stipend
• Skelton Scholars Program
• UW/CC Center Student Leadership Scholarship
• UW/CC Center Student Emergency Fund
• McMurry Technical Education Scholarship
• Zimmerman Secondary Science Scholarship
• Casper-Star Tribune Journalism Award
• Community Service Education Enrichment Scholarship for Kids
• Support from First Interstate Bank, Wyoming Community Foundation, Rocky Mountain Power, the Paul Stock Foundation, and the Sue Jorgensen Memorial
• Approximately 50,000 individual citizens each week listen to WPR, or roughly one out of every three adults within the coverage area. Listeners spend on average nine hours each week listening to WPR.

These programs promote community leadership opportunities and provide much-need financial support to students whose aspirations are narrowed only by their personal financial limitations.

For more information regarding gift opportunities, please e-mail Maggi Murdock, dean of the Outreach School, at murdock@uwyo.edu or call 1-800-448-7801.

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