On the Road
with Rachel Hendrickson

I've traveled recently to some of our NEA-represented campuses as part of a team to talk to members abut their possible participation in a new NEA program offering professional development on NEA's new portal, OWL.org.

From the mountains of Montana to the farmlands of Chico, California, I met some really great NEA higher education folks. The University of Montana in Missoula is situated in a valley surrounded by mountains with snow on their peaks in June. The temperature was in the high 40s. NEA higher ed members Kay Unger and Bill Chaloupka accompanied our team in meeting with the distance and continuing education administrators.

The U. of Montana is part of a consortium with other Montana campuses to deliver higher education classes via distance education to the state's widely scattered K-12 educators. Faculty in the education department have developed an innovative online master's degree in educational leadership, and the institution itself has a number of other courses and certificate programs online.

We went from there to Cal State-Chico, where the temperature was in the upper 90s, and the greetings were warm as well. NEA member Mike Kotar was there to welcome us. The folks in Chico have developed an interesting completer degree in Liberal Studies. It is geared to people who have an associate degree or some college experience and who would like to become elementary education teachers.

We're finding great programs being offered by NEA members around the United States, and many more still in development that offer great promise for our members.

—Rachel Hendrickson coordinates NEA higher ed activities.