MoreStudents have a new academic opportunity as a result of an innovative partnership between Eastern Wyoming College and the University of Wyoming Outreach School, one of the leading distance education providers in the region.
EWC will now offer a land surveying option to students interested in an associate of arts degree in interdisciplinary studies. Interdisciplinary Studies is a flexible degree program that contains general education requirements for an AA degree.
Although specific courses meet the general education requirements for EWC, the UW Outreach School will provide the electives needed for completion of the land surveying option. UW already delivers a successful land surveying certificate nationwide through distance education and the same courses will be used to meet the electives of this new program.
Rod Skaggs, who oversees the UW LS certificate program, and Dee Ludwig, EWC associate dean of instruction, met on several occasions to develop the LS option in the IS degree. “The cooperation between UW and EWC has always been positive and this was no exception,” Ludwig said.
Bob Taylor, owner of Benchmark of Torrington, a land surveying company, was instrumental in and supportive of this venture.
"I feel that this land surveying option will provide a much needed benefit to individuals pursuing careers in land surveying or related fields. This program will also be very beneficial to land surveying firms, constantly in search of skilled employees with appropriate educational background, said Taylor.
“The AA degree with the land surveying option will help provide the well rounded educational background and the basic technical training necessary to develop a qualified professional," he continued.
Examples of UW electives for the land surveying option are Public Land Surveys I, II, III; Route or Advanced Surveying; Boundary Control and Legal Principles; and Ethics for the Professional Surveyor. These courses are delivered via weekly videotaped lectures of one to two hours in length. In addition, students generally meet in the evenings once a week through audio teleconference.
Weekly assignments are mailed to the instructor, graded, and returned. Students are expected to maintain the schedule of the class established by the instructor at the beginning of the course. All course materials are sent to students/sites at the beginning of each semester. It should be noted that this land surveying option is not a substitute for the land surveying certificate program that is offered through the UW Outreach School. The certificate program is tailored to satisfy state board requirements for surveying education in either the licensing process or continuing education for maintaining an existing license. Students in this distance program should contact the board in their respective state regarding acceptability of these courses for their state’s particular needs.
Momentum for this UW/EWC partnership stemmed from of a meeting in 2002 with the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, EWC, UW, and Benchmark of Torrington to discuss how State of Wyoming land surveying companies might qualify for workforce development training funds for their employees.
For information about the land surveying option in the IS program at EWC contact Ludwig, at 1.800.658.3195, e-mail dludwig@ewc.wy.edu or visit www.ewc.wy.edu
For information about the UW land surveying certificate program contact Janet Bass, Eastern Outreach Center academic coordinator, 307.532.8204, e-mail jbass@uwyo.edu or visit http://outreach.uwyo.edu/occ.
