Department of Family and Consumer Sciences

2003 Academic Plan

October 1, 2003

Executive Summary

With the selection of a new department head, the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences has signaled their commitment to refocusing and strengthening our department’s contributions to the College, University and State. We see Strengthening Rural Families and Communities as our central focus area, one that integrates our research, teaching and outreach efforts. Nutrition and Health is a second focus area, one which can contribute to the first, but that has its own strength and importance to the department. Renewed energy will be channeled to continuing to increase extramural funding, interdisciplinary programs, and leadership development. The creation of an interdisciplinary Institute for Children, Youth and Families housed in the department will be our unifying effort. We will continue to encourage internationalization through faculty and student exchanges, international study tours, and international research. All program options will be reviewed in the next three years in light of enrollment and resources.

Introduction

The past five years has been one of upheaval for the department. During that time there have been two department heads, with a third beginning June 1, 2003. Departmental perceptions contributed to a protectionist mentality. Morale has been shaky due to lingering feelings of under appreciation by the College and University, misunderstandings of the field of FCSC, and more allegiance to program units and specializations than to the discipline. Energy and enthusiasm were low, despite significant programs and contributions being made by the department in the areas of external funding, interdisciplinary activity, and increasing student numbers from a low in 1999-2000.

We are entering a new era under new leadership. Dialog is being undertaken to Strengthen Rural Families and Communities in our research and outreach mission, a key piece of the College’s Strategic Issues III. We are committed to the Mission of the University of Wyoming, contributing to scholarship in teaching, research, service and outreach.

Workforce

FCSC has 10 academic faculty members: 2 in Child & Family Studies (plus one vacant position from a recent retirement), 4 in Nutrition, 3 in Textiles and Merchandising, and one general FCSC. All academic faculty have teaching, research, and service splits which vary by individual. We also have one Extension tenure-track faculty member, two extension Academic Professionals, and three extension project coordinators for WIN the Rockies and Cent$ible Nutrition whose academic home is FCSC. In addition there is one full time Academic Professional who directs our Early Care and Education Centers with three full-time teachers, and a half-time teaching position in Textiles and Merchandising.

Teaching

Our department contributes more courses to the USP than any in the college. We are number one in the College of Agriculture in student credit hour FTEs, number two in number of graduates, and number 2 in number of student majors. We have pioneered ePortfolio assessment of student outcomes; created a learning community; participated in and published a study on writing across the curriculum with Agricultural and Applied Economics, the Writing Center, and the Office of Academic and Student Programs; and undertaken a 3-year curriculum mapping and revision process (see Assessment). Preliminary curriculum changes include the following:

· Renumbering four courses to better reflect sequencing, writing objectives, and prerequisites.

· Discontinuing five courses in textiles and merchandising and addition of three new courses to support the new apparel design minor.

· Modifying four courses to reduce course credits or change content/focus.

· Name changes for five courses to reflect the change in option from Family Services to Family Life Education.

· Addition of two dual-listed, team-taught graduate courses to support the interdisciplinary early childhood development masters program.

Karen Williams, Sonya Meyer, Bruce Cameron, Michael Liebman, Virginia Vincenti, and Dena Goldberg have participated in Ellbogen Center for Teaching and Learning funded projects and have presented them at the inVISIBLE College Conference and nationally. In the last five years, Dr. Rhoda Schantz received the 2002 Teaching Award of Merit from the National Association of Colleges of Teachers of Agriculture, Mortar Board Top Prof, and Advisor of the Year awards or nominations each year. Dr. Donna Brown, a former Ellbogen award winner, won Top Prof from Mortar Board and advising honors.

Programs

Family and Consumer Sciences has one major and one B.S. degree. Within the major there are the following options: Dietetics, Human Nutrition and Food, Professional Child Development, Family Life Education, Textiles and Merchandising. The Child Dev. option is also available through distance delivery, as is our Early Childhood Program Director’s Certificate. In addition we have the following minors: Child & Family Studies, Apparel Design, Interior Design, and Adult Aging,. Our students can choose the Nutrition option and be in the career tracks of pre-medicine or pre-physical therapy. We averaged 34.25 graduates per year from 1998-2002, and averaged 144.25 majors in that same period.

At the M.S. level we have one degree, with students able to specialize within the programs. We also deliver a joint degree in Human Nutrition with Animal Science; and an Interdisciplinary Master’s in Early Childhood Development with Curriculum & Instruction, Kinesiology and Health, Communication Disorders, Nursing, and Psychology. The department has historically received 7 state-supported graduate assistantships. This was reduced to 6 for fall 2003.

FCSC reduced the required hours for graduation to 128 in 2002 while still meeting accreditation requirements. Several course were renumbered to better reflect prerequisites and sequencing, and courses were eliminated that had not been taught for several years. Additional work needs to be done in this area, as is indicated in the section under Plan.

Research and Creative Endeavor FCSC had the highest amount of external funding dollars in the College in 2002-2003, thanks to research grants plus the $4.3 million WIN the Rockies project; we are number 2 in extramural funds when using a four-year average. Health-related nutrition research is a departmental strength, and an area, which will continue to grow with Dr. Broughton’s patent, and the opportunities it brings. International research projects have been underway in China, Mongolia, and Iran. Research publications have lagged in some areas of the department over the last five years. This is changing with two faculty members going up for full professor Fall 2003, and another by 2005.

Extension We have a productive, well-respected extension presence. Linda Melcher was recognized as Dietician of the Year by the Wyoming dietetics Association for her work with the Cent$ible Nutrition Program, bringing in more than $20 million dollars during her 25 year career. Suzy Pelican has done extensive research on the WIN the Rockies project, having a national impact as a model program in impacting obesity and health. Randy Weigel’s CYFAR program has gained state recognition for impact with troubled youth.

Family & Consumer Sciences FTE’s
	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-2001	2001-2002	Total	4-yr. Avg.
Research FTE’s	3.17	3.17	3.58	3.92	13.84	3.46
Instruction FTE’s	4.75	5.75	5.34	5.67	21.51	5.3775
R&I FTE’s	7.92	8.92	8.92	9.69	35.45	8.8625
EXT FTE’s	1.08	2.08	2.08	2.41	7.65	1.9125
Total FTE’s	9	11	11	12	43	10.75

Plan

1. Progress on 1999 University Academic Plan Action Items

The 1999 Academic Plan noted Departmental strength in the area of Child & Family Studies, and in the area of Human Nutrition and foods, and suggested that these areas should be institutional foci. Action items directly targeted at our department were as follows:

2. One degree in Family and Consumer Sciences should be retained at both the undergraduate and graduate levels excepting the interdisciplinary M.S. program in Food Science and Human Nutrition.

This was accomplished. We now have one degree program at the undergraduate level in Family and Consumer Sciences, with options that students can choose for specialization rather than separate majors. All master’s degree students receive one degree, then are allowed to indicate their specialization on the transcript. At the graduate level we have maintained our interdisciplinary M.S. in Food Science and Human Nutrition.

3. Cross-college taskforces in Child and Family Studies and in Human Nutrition and Foods should develop collaborative efforts to strengthen their respective instruction, research and outreach efforts. Increase interdisciplinary programs in Child Development and Human Nutrition. The Child and Family Studies effort should include an assessment and analysis of their diverse university services and child-care facilities.

1) The cross-college taskforce in Child Development created an interdisciplinary master’s degree with an emphasis in Early Childhood Development in 2001. Family & Consumer Sciences, Communication Disorders, Curriculum & Instruction, Nursing, Kinesiology & Health, and Psychology jointly deliver it.

2) The Board of Trustees approved a new Early Care and Education Center in Spring 2003 through bonding. We are currently planning with the architectural firm. Occupancy is expected by Fall 2005.

3) We are collaborating with the Wyoming Institute for Disabilities (WIND) out of Health Sciences on a CSREES grant (2002-2005) to develop the distance delivery of our Family Life Education option, with an emphasis in increasing access to distance education for students with disabilities.

4) The Department of Family & Consumer Sciences and the College of Health Sciences deliver WIN the Rockies, a $4.3 million nutrition education grant. Suzy Pelican, from FCSC is author of the proposal and the Principal Investigator. Michael Liebman of FCSC is a key member of the project, and Sylvia Moore in Health Sciences is a P.I.

5) In 2002 we began an interdisciplinary minor in Textile and Apparel Design with the Art Department.

4. Assessment

It is our belief that assessment of student learning should go beyond individual course tests and projects. While many of our courses incorporate authentic assessment strategies, we also want a mechanism that allows formative assessment of student outcomes. We believe that students need to be active participants in the assessment process. It is important for them to be able to self-assess and document progress in their learning and skill development at the same time they are getting feedback from faculty and peers.

The faculty in the Department of Family & Consumer Sciences began a formative assessment process in 2001. The first task was to have each faculty member submit a list of competencies from their program accrediting bodies, and to indicate which courses addressed those competencies. These were submitted to the departmental course and curriculum committee. The committee did a map of competencies and skills to see overlap among the standards to assist with formative curriculum change. This information allowed us to reduce the number of hours for all options to 128 in 2002. Our department conducted a thorough examination of writing competence in our students and writing requirements in our courses in 2001. As an unintended bi-product, we were able to see that we had too many courses offerings at the 4000 level, and very few at other levels. This information was used change course numbering, address sequencing, and address prerequisites in 2002. (See Teaching on page 1 for specific changes.)

In 2002, the faculty produced an FCS Competency Areas Grid. ( See http://www.uwyo.edu/Family/Family.htm , “Assessment” for all assessment related documents and reports.) It addressed the seven basic competency areas of Family and Consumer Sciences and the five contemporary themes. All of our courses were listed to see which competency areas and themes they addressed. Competency areas include basic human needs, individual well-being, strong and resilient families, community vitality and community as family context, ecosystems-systems theory, lifespan development, and professional orientation including an integrative perspective. Contemporary themes are wellness, global interdependence, resource development and sustainability, capacity building, and use of technology. This information will be used to look at course duplication, overlap and gaps to assure that our students are getting the experiences they need to have their competency and skill levels addressed through the electronic portfolio system.

We currently begin student assessment in FCSC 1010 using a developmental electronic portfolio developed as a funded project through the Ellbogen Center for Teaching and Learning in 2002. During this time we participated in trainings, seminars and discussions with faculty in other colleges including Business and Health Sciences. In the ePortfolios, students self-evaluate and must document their current proficiency, set goals, and identify mechanism to achieve goals in each of the FCSC core skills, then work to refine their portfolios and document growth by FCSC 4010 with input from their advisers and FCS faculty. The skills include information and computer literacy, thinking, understanding global diversity, communicating, applying art to daily life, professional/personal skills, lifelong learning, and writing. Students may create their ePortfolios on CD ROM or as a web page. All students also participate in exit interviews upon graduation.

Assessment Action Items

1. Identify competencies for the General FCS Option, Food and Nutrition Minor, and Child and Family Studies Minor. (Virginia Vincenti, Rhoda Schantz, Dave Carson and Karen Williams, by May 2004.) Success measure: Competencies posted to departmental website.

2. Identify indicators of novice, competent and expert levels for the FCS core skills to be used to assess student ePortfolios in FCSC 4010. (Course and Curriculum Committee with input by all faculty members by May 2005). Success measure: Definitions of skill levels posted to the web and listed in FCSC 1010 and 4010 syllabi. Sample ePortfolios evaluated by students and faculty.

3. Train FCS faculty in web development and ePortfolio assessment. (Karen Williams and hired web specialist by December 2004). Success measure: All faculty members will be able to produce, access, and evaluate ePortfolios.

4. All FCS students will produce beginning ePortfolios in FCS 1010 and final ePortfolios as their outcomes assessement in FCS. (All students with faculty feedback by spring 2005.) Success measure: ePortfolios posted to departmental web page.

5. Complete curriculum mapping by 2005. (Departmental Course and Curriculum Committee with input from full faculty) Success measure: Fully implement curriculum plan by 2007 including course deletions and changes. Ongoing changes will occur through formative assessment of student outcomes by the faculty.

Areas of Distinction & Issues in Moving Forward III

In the College Strategic Plan and Moving Forward III, we see our selves positioned to contribute primarily to the following areas of distinction:

· Professions and issues critical to the region: as per MFIII, we are working with the College of Education and state government to build a seamless P-16 system. We are also addressing important workforce development needs in child care, family life education, health-related nutrition fields, textile and apparel design and merchandising, and interior design. We want to target hiring to have more impact on child and youth development and associated needs identified during the Governor’s Roundtable on Children and Families in May 2003.

· Life sciences: Our nutrition program unit was recognized in the 1999 Academic Plan as an area of distinction. Much of their current research focuses on health: asthma, diabetes, obesity, and autism. We see a strong contribution the nutrition faculty could make in its research and teaching to the distinction in the life sciences.

· Statewide leadership in cultural endeavors, the arts, and the humanities. Our minor in Apparel Design with the Art Department contributes to this area. Dr. Brown’s Coat Couture Collection will continue to be featured each spring in the American Heritage Center. Dr. Meyer, Dr. Brown and their graduate students will continue to create art exhibits for the Art Museum, compete in national and international design competitions, and house our historic clothing collection in the American Heritage Center for the benefit of the research community

College of Agriculture Strategic Issues III

We are excited to participate in the College’s desire to redefine. We see our strength as the ability to contribute to cultivating healthy sustainable systems, particularly in rural communities. At the center of the mural developed during Dean Galey’s tour of the state is the family. Because of our grounding in systems theory, we are uniquely able to address the identified issues raised during the visioning sessions related to youth development, vibrant small communicates, information bases for decision making, diversity including value-added products, and involvement of local citizens in state and community decision-making processes. As shown in Strategic Issues III, we have accomplished and look forward to making new progress in:

Learning

Pursue avenues for incorporating lifelong learning, and leadership/communication skills for all undergraduate students

Continue to contribute strongly to the USP – we currently lead the College with 18 courses
Continue to emphasize undergraduate research, professional service experience, and inquiry-based learning throughout the College – we embed practicums, internships, and service learning in our core courses, and have a commitment to working with Jim Wangberg to lead in problem-based learning strategies
Continue to review the entire curriculum – we have been working on curriculum mapping for two years and intend to complete the task in the next 1-2 years. We lead in assessment with our electronic portfolio system.

Engagement

Explore with the Outreach School, opportunities – our FCSC/Child Development option is recognized as a national model. It has more than doubled enrollment in 3 years. With the addition of the FLE pre-professional certificate and the FCSC/FLE option bachelor’s degree in the next two years, we will once again be breaking ground for the nation and anticipate high enrollments.

Reach out to increase coordination between relevant College units and other entities in the state –

Our faculty has regularly participated in town meetings, state board and advisory board meetings and has had a significant impact on state policy.
We are the Department of Health’s CISS grantee, and continue to work with them, the Department of Family Services, and the Department of Education on federal grants.

Discovery

Enhance and support a culture of attracting extramural grants throughout the College

The Institute for Children, Youth and Families will allow and support efforts at external funding. Discussions have already occurred with President Dubois, Vice President Gern and Vice President Buchanan about strategic approaches.
We will create a research/creative endeavor semester for every faculty member to support grant writing and publishing efforts using existing development funds earmarked for professional development.
Each faculty member is meeting with the department head to discuss opportunities for external funding. Several already have proposals under development with NIH, DHHS, USDA, and NSF.

Explore development of interdisciplinary graduate programs:

We will build on our interdisciplinary master’s degree in Early Childhood Development and look at it as a model for other departmental program master’s degree options, such as

an interdisciplinary master’s program in Nutrition with FCSC, Animal Science, Pharmacy, and Kinesiology and Health.

III. Other Departmental Issues

Our department deals with multiple accrediting bodies and their requirements for student outcomes. The major accrediting groups are the American Dietetics Association (students seeking the RDA), the National Association for the Education of Young Children (professional child development/early childhood teacher certification), FIDER (interior design minor), and the National Council on Family Relations (Family Life Education). Dr. Vincenti, current President of the American Association of Family & Consumer Science, assist students who wish to be certified in Family and Consumer Sciences Teacher Certification by the Professional Teaching Standards Board or in other states. We are working to educate these organizations about competency-based assessment to allow us look at reducing and combining courses.

Client-related issues for this department stem from the rural, frontier nature of our state.

Key challenges for our constituents include chronic shortage of health and mental health professionals, lower per capita participation in health insurance, high rate of family poverty, high rate of depression and suicide, increasing special education needs and metal health needs in children and youth, limited family support services (housing, transportation, employment), limited consumer and family advocacy, and inability to leave their communities to further their education goals. In order to address these needs, we look forward to collaborating with Cooperative Extension to support additional personnel, funding and programs throughout the state. The Institute for Children, Youth and Families, once created, will bring together research expertise from FCSC, Education, Psychology, Kinesiology and Health, Nursing, Communication Disorders, and Social Work to address these issues.

IV. Hiring Plans for 2004-2009

In times of scarce resources, faculty hires need to be targeted and aligned with departmental goals. As vacancies occur, the focus will be to build key areas necessary to the College of Agriculture Issue: Strengthening Rural Families and Communities. They will also be used to build the needed expertise for the Institute for Children, Youth and Families.

At the current time, our Textiles and Merchandising program unit has 3 ½ positions, and has addressed course rotation to meet the student needs in the Textiles and Merchandising option, the Interior Design minor, and the Apparel Design minor. There are currently 60 students with majors or minors in this area. No immediate hiring needs exist, although if student numbers continue to increase, we would work to increase our half-time teaching position to a full-time academic professional.

Child & Family Studies and Nutrition were recognized as areas of strength in the 1999-2004 Academic Plan. They have continued to be strong contributors to the department and to the University of Wyoming. Hiring will be targeted to these areas.

Child & Family Studies has experienced one retirement, one member being named to the headship necessitating a reduced teaching load, thus leaving only one full-time teaching faculty member. The immediate hiring need is there.

An assistant professor position in Family Life Education with expertise in rural family issues is our top hiring priority. A Department of Family & Consumer Sciences must have a strong family component, and this will be essential if an Institute for Children, Youth and Families is to be created on campus.
There has been a great increase in our distance education majors with the child development option, and a profound need in the state for teachers with an early childhood endorsement. In June 2004, the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education and the Outreach School will request a full time distance teaching position at the assistant professor level. The position will be 80% teaching and 20% advising. As the Family Life Education Option comes online, an additional jointly funded position could be requested in 2006 if enrollment warrants.
The next vacancy in our on-campus faculty will be replaced with a Lifespan Human Development assistant professor with expertise in youth development.

Nutrition: Any vacancies through retirement or resignation will be targeted to the Human Nutrition and Food option, to increase the research expertise in youth and adolescent nutrition while providing additional teaching flexibility in core nutrition courses.

Action Items for 2004-2009

1. Redesign the departmental web page by Fall 2004. (Karen Williams, faculty, and webmaster.)

Staff, equip and open the new Early Care and Education facility by Fall 2005, approved by Board of Trustees for bonding in 2003. (Karen Williams, Mark Bittner, Anne Leonard) Success measure: center built, stable budget, and interdisciplinary steering committee in place.
Complete curriculum mapping, including assessment of student outcome measures by 2005. Use curriculum mapping, numbers of student majors, and existing resources to evaluate all departmental options by 2006. (Karen Williams and Departmental Course and Curriculum Committee) Success measure: Fully implement curriculum plan by 2007 including course deletions and changes.
Explore university-wide interest in the creation of an Institute for Children, Youth and Families by May 2004 through meetings with Education, Health Sciences and Arts & Sciences. Identify funding and structure for the Institute for Children, Youth and Families by 2006 through UW Foundations and state agencies. If cross-college interest has been established, create the Institute for Children, Youth and Families by 2007. (Karen Williams will take the lead, Anne Leonard will assist with funding, input and effort by entire faculty)- Success measures: MOU with participating departments on campus; funded grants.
Develop a five-year student recruitment plan for undergraduate majors and graduate students. (Karen Williams and Departmental Recruitment Committee) Success measure: Increase student majors by 25% by 2009.
Increase extramural funding for research and creative endeavor. (Entire faculty.) Success measure: Increase of 20% by 2009

7. Complete CSREES funded project to deliver FLE option at a distance. Karen Williams and WIND by 2005. Success measure: first students enrolled in courses by 2005, with entire program online by Dec. 2006.

8. Participate in the development of a multidisciplinary nutrition program in conjunction with Pharmacy, Kinesiology and Health, and Animal Science. (Shane Broughton, Michael Liebman, Dena Goldberg by 2009.) Success measures: Degree program established; participation on thesis committees; participation in research seminar

9. Successfully complete reaccreditation of the dietetics program, assuring that the dietetic specialization curriculum complies with all new accreditation competencies (Rhoda Schantz by 2004) Success measure: Self-study submitted by 2005; site visit completed in 2006

10. Develop a culinary nutrition track to parallel the existing pre-med, pre-physical therapy, communication and nursing tracks delivered in this program unit. (Rhoda Schantz by 2005) Success measure: List of courses from existing courses presented to FCSC Course and Curriculum Committee by 2004; Track listed in University Bulletin by 2005.

11. Increase scholarly productivity, including creative endeavor and scholarship of teaching and learning. (entire faculty) Success measures: research semesters created for faculty using existing development funds that target professional development; increased refereed publication submissions by 20%; increased student entries to conferences, competitions and exhibits, including the Undergraduate Research Days;

12. Enhance curriculum/instruction by incorporating Problem-based Learning into the classroom. (entire faculty) Success measures: By 2007 – incorporate PBL into a minimum of three classes; by 2009 – incorporate PBL into a minimum of six classes.

Strengthen international linkages through student and faculty exchanges and international research. (Karen Williams, Donna Brown, Sonya Meyer, Dena Williams) Success measure: minimum of one student exchange per year; one application for international research or travel grant per year.

14. Advocate to address at-risk family issues of resilience, behavioral health, child care, parenting and other important family challenges within University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension. (Randy Weigel, ongoing.) Success measures: increased emphasis and programming; funded projects through CSREES.

15. Expand programming to help Wyoming children, youth and adults achieve healthy weights. (Suzy Pelican, Michael Liebman, Karen Williams – ongoing.) Success measure: Increased walking and physical activity by Wyoming residents; increased healthy weight programming available and taught throughout the state; funds received for research and programming.

16. Continue and expand the Cent$ible Nutrition program. Linda Melcher, ongoing. Success measure: additional television programming; additional clients and sites; continued funding.

Appendix 1

General Action Items from the 1999 Academic Plan

Action Items from the 1999 Academic Plan that relate broadly to FCSC or our contribution to University priorities are addressed below:

5. Non-resident recruitment should continue to focus on northern Colorado. We have a draft of an articulation agreement in the works with Northeastern Community College in Sterling, Colorado.

10. Web site development. We have begun efforts to remodel our web page, adding specialty pages and information on faculty. Complete renovation will be completed by Fall 2004.

18. Work with ASUW and local businesses to promote adequate day care facilities for families of UW students. We have taken over the school age care program for ASUW, added an evening care program, and the new facility will add infant and toddler care to assist families. Mark Bittner is in constant dialog with the for-profit centers in town about availability of care.

20. Creating and implementing certificate programs. We created a Certificate in Early Childhood Program Administration in 2001. We also provide a certificate in Child Care Health Consultation through the Healthy Child Care Wyoming grant, and have a Department of Family Services grant to do portfolio analysis of the state’s Infant/Toddler Director Credential (designed by Karen Williams of FCSC).

26. Efforts at understanding issues related to diversity. All of Child and Family Studies and half of the rest of our faculty have participated in Safe Zone training. Our department brought an exhibit and speaker to the American Heritage Center related to body size diversity acceptance and awareness. WIN Wyoming and WIN the Rockies focuses on weight realities and acceptance. Our department has incorporated understanding and valuing diversity into our core courses and student outcomes. Multicultural Influences on the Young Child has been approved as a D1.

28. Learning Communities. In 2002 the department received a mini grant to develop a learning community for FCSC through the development of an F1 and linked coursework for students through their freshmen and sophomore years, with a distance connection via an online community room (Summer 2003). Dr. Williams’ 2002-2003 sabbatic leave jointly funded by FCSC and the Outreach School focused on distance student interviews related to communities of learners.

32. University Studies. FCSC faculty served on the USP subcommittees during the revision process.

33. Evaluation of core requirements for elimination or minimalization. From 2002 to the present, FCSC has undergone a complete curriculum mapping exercise to look at course overlap, gaps, core competencies and skills, and student assessment. Several courses were eliminated; course numbers were changes to better reflect sequence and prerequisites. Work will be completed by 2005.

35. 128 credit hour degree plans. We are now in full compliance.

38. Outcomes assessment. Student outcomes and assessments have been revisited. An electronic portfolio system was implemented for students in 2002, will be fully in operation by 2006.

42. Increased commitment to international involvement of academic personnel and staff. Over the last five years FCSC faculty have had International Travel grants and College of Agriculture International Program grants including research in Iran by Dena Goldberg, France by Karen Williams, student and faculty exchanges to the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia by Karen Williams, and student study tours to Italy and England by Donna Brown and Sonya Meyer.

49. Off-campus degree programs. FCSC began its distance delivery of the FCSC/Child Dev. option in 2002. It also delivers the Early Childhood Program Administration Certificate at a distance. In 2003 it began a project to develop the FLE option at a distance under a CSREES grant.

95. FCSC and the College of education have eliminated the Family and Consumer Sciences Education program.

99. articulation for a fast-track to teacher certification. Since 2002, FCSC and the Dept. of Elementary and Early Childhood Education have participated on the Wyoming Professional Development Task Force.

143. Coe Library and the Centennial complex. FCSC received a grant of $445,000 to be used for texts and materials related of FCSC at the UW Libraries. The move to house our historic clothing collection in the American Heritage Center is in progress. The Coat Couture Collection is featured each year in the Logia of the AHC.