WISE Membership Now at 12!

3/14/2005

WISE welcomes new international and domestic members

Five more schools join the Web-based Information Science Education consortium

Founding members of the Web-based Information Science Education consortium (WISE), the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, announce that five additional institutions of higher education have joined the collaborative distance education program, increasing the total number of WISE member schools to twelve and expanding the consortium to include international universities.  The WISE consortium will increase the quality, access, and diversity of online educational opportunities. The initiative is part of a two-year, $713,492 grant received by SU and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

The new members join existing members, Indiana University- Indianapolis, Rutgers University, Simmons College, University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill, University of Pittsburgh and the founding members Syracuse University and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  The new members include:

·        University of British Columbia, School of Library, Archival and Information Studies (Edie Rasmussen, Director);

·        University of Maryland, College of Information Studies (Jennifer Preece, Dean);

·        University of Texas at Austin, School of Information (Andrew Dillon, Dean);

·        University of Western Ontario, Faculty of Information & Media Studies (Catherine L. Ross, Dean); and

·        Victoria University of Wellington, School of Information Management (Sid Huff, Head of School).

The WISE program is a joint effort between SU and the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, focused on developing faculty training for online pedagogy; standards and metrics for high-quality online library and information science (LIS) education; and a collaborative marketplace for online LIS courses.

“Many people aspire to pursue graduate studies in LIS, but with just over 50 accredited schools in the U.S., many potential students often do not have access to local site-based programs. With the introduction of our new members, students can access a wide variety of high-quality courses and faculty from leading information science schools across the world,” says Kingma.

Kingma added that WISE courses are available for the Summer semester and will have expanded offerings in the Fall of 2005.  Kingma stated that the consortium is preparing for its official introduction to the LIS community at the Special Libraries Association (SLA) Annual Conference in Toronto, June 5-8, 2005.

For more information, visit the WISE Web site at www.wiseeducation.org

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