Education Archives

Student Spotlight: Ally Loukas, MSEd ‘20, CAGS Student

Ally Loukas is a full-time teacher, full-time mom, and full-time student with UNE Online. Here, she talks about her experience in getting both her MSEd and her CAGS at UNE Online, and how she felt supported and confident throughout her academic journey. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and what encouraged you to pursue your MSEd and now CAGS with UNE? I’m a full-time first-grade teacher, and I live in Gouldsboro, ME with my husband, our 1 ½-year-old, and a wonderful rescue dog. I chose to get my MSEd at UNE primarily because of the flexibility of the program. When I began the program, I was pregnant and working full time, and now that I have a…

Tags: Education | Graduate Programs in Education | UNE Online

Stackable Certificate Programs at UNE Online

One way to earn your master’s degree at UNE is through stackable certificate programs. Each graduate certificate offered at UNE Online is stackable to the corresponding master’s degree in that program. What does “stackable” mean? Each credit a student earns while getting their graduate certificate can be counted toward the master’s degree, should they choose to pursue one at a later date. This way students can gradually work their way to a master’s degree. Stackable certificate programs are a convenient way to start small and ease your way into a master’s degree, that on their own also hold value in the workforce. Stack grad certificate credits toward a master’s degree The academic credits that students earn can be reused or…

NEW: Master of Science in Education – Inclusion Education

UNE is pleased to announce a new online Master of Science in Education – Inclusion Education (MSEd-IE) offered by the College of Graduate and Professional Studies. The MSEd-IE program is an approved program for preparation for the Teacher of Students with Disabilities 282 Endorsement in the State of Maine and is offered 100% online. Prepares educators to become special education teachers Within this program, students will learn the best practices in inclusion including how to model, teach, and nurture behavioral skills. Our faculty members include highly qualified and experienced educators with first-hand knowledge of inclusion best practices. What is “inclusion education”? An inclusive classroom provides students with disabilities the opportunity to learn alongside their peers in age-appropriate, general education classrooms.…

Tags: Education | Graduate Programs in Education | MSEd | MSEd-IE

Spotlight: Joel Lowsky, Ed.D. ‘17

We previously interviewed Joel Lowsky, Ed.D. ‘17, about his career, his research, and his plans for the future – here’s an update on what he’s up to, how he is using his Ed.D. in his work, and how his Ed.D. has helped him with career advancement. Do you want to give us an overview of what you’ve been up to since graduation? Shortly after graduation, I landed a management position at Aspen Dental Management, the dental support organization that supports all of the Aspen Dental-branded practices across the country. With more than 800 practices across 42 states, I lead a nationwide team of recruiters and relationship builders. As someone with no background in dental or recruiting, I may…

Tags: Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) | Ed.D | Education | Graduate Programs in Education

UNE Among Elite 70 in 2021 U.S. News & World Report, Grad Education Rankings

2021 Best Online Programs in Graduate Education

U.S. News & World Report is a recognized leader in graduate school rankings – and UNE’s commitment to providing a high-quality educational experience has resulted in a top-70 ranking among all Online Master’s in Education programs in the country for 2021. This prestigious U.S. News & World Report ranking, which surveyed more than 1,200 programs, places UNE in good company among other highly competitive graduate schools that offer programs in Education – and UNE Online is the only school in Maine to earn a top 70 spot. The online Graduate Education Programs at the University of New England are dedicated to advancing and developing reflective and resourceful teachers and school leaders who are competent, caring, and qualified. Courses are refreshed…

Meet Our Team: Fiona Mokry, Student Support Specialist

‘Meet our Team’ spotlights are just one way we like to share a little bit about the people who are dedicated to UNE Online’s signature student-centric experience. What do you do here at UNE Online? I’m a Student Support Specialist for the Education programs. I work mostly with MSEd and CAGS students. What stands out to you in the Education program? My team – they’re all awesome and always ready to help the new girl on the block. 🙂 What’s your favorite part about being a Student Support Specialist? Talking to students and making personal connections. Chatting with some students about what’s going on in their schools and everything they’re balancing right now (because of the pandemic) has been really…

Introducing Two New Graduate Certificates in Education

UNE Online announces two new Graduate Certificates in Education

UNE Online has been delivering fully remote graduate courses for over ten years, and experience has taught us that online education is an art with proven techniques that lead to high-quality learning experiences. As such, we have designed two new graduate certificates in Education to help our students face the challenges and struggles of online learning during this pandemic. These two new graduate certificates in Education are online certificate pathways for individuals to use to become knowledgeable with online learning design and obtain the skills necessary to be able to successfully teach, design, and create meaningful online learning experiences for their own students. The two new graduate certificates in Education are: Graduate Certificate in Designing Learning Experiences Graduate Certificate in …

Tags: Education | Graduate Certificate in Education | Graduate Programs in Education | Master of Science in Education

Alumni Spotlight: Skip Wilhoit, Ed.D.

Skip Wilhoit, Ed.D. was recently awarded a $2.7 million dollar grant to benefit his K-12 school district. Here, he gives details about the grant he won, and how he used his real-life experience to shape his educational journey. Tell us a little about yourself and what kind of work you do After I served in the Army, I spent the first part of my civilian career in education as a teacher and coach. After that, I explored other options in TV and radio broadcasting, and I eventually found my way back into education. In 2002, I started work at the school district level, in the federal Safe and Drug-Free schools program. One of the major initiatives at that time was…

CGPS Collaborates to Meet Challenges of COVID-19

In 2020, all of education (higher education as well as K-12) has been grappling with the new realities of remote learning and “pivoting” to emergency remote teaching as schools and institutions are forced to close related to COVID-19. As an entirely online graduate school with years of experience delivering online learning experiences, UNE’s College of Graduate and Professional Studies (CGPS) is well-prepared to handle new challenges brought on by COVID-19, in support of our impacted students and faculty. Collaboration across the college CGPS provides fully online and asynchronous instruction and strives to provide authentic experiential learning for all students. For students thinking about a new career, gaining real-world experience can be invaluable. Many CGPS academic programs offer site-based or…

Tags: Education | Graduate Programs in Public Health | Instructional Design | Master of Science in Education | MSEd

Peggy Wallace Responds with Online Education Modifications During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Peggy Wallace has been teaching in the online Master of Science in Education program for 10+ years. She is a seasoned veteran who has taught hundreds of students online and has had to modify her instruction in those online settings many times before. With COVID-19, educators are seeing the need to extensively modify aspects of learning experiences to accommodate their students in a new world. We spoke to Peggy about the modifications she is making in her courses that require in-person teacher/student tutoring and what she is doing to support her students during the COVID-19 pandemic. You’ve modified your online instruction to accommodate the needs of students before. How is dealing with the fallout from COVID-19 different? In the past,…

Program Director Spotlight: Dr. Jayne Pelletier, Education Program

Dr. Jayne Pelletier, Program Director for the Graduate Programs in Education

Dr. Jayne Pelletier is the Program Director for the Graduate Programs in Education at the College of Graduate and Professional Studies here at the University of New England. In this post, Dr. Pelletier discusses her background, love of education, and imparts some words of wisdom to her faculty and students. Can you tell me a little bit about your background? Sure! I knew early on that I wanted to be a teacher, but I was an adult with small children before I went back to school to earn my Master of Arts in Teaching. After graduation, I taught middle school science and English, then moved to teaching high school, and eventually began teaching night classes for a college in New…

UNE Joins Top 60 in 2020 U.S. News & World Report, Grad Education Rankings

U.S. News & World Report Grad Education Badge

UNE’s commitment to providing a high-quality educational experience has resulted in a rise to the top 60 Online Programs in Graduate Education in the 2020 U.S. News & World Report rankings. The online Graduate Education Programs at the University of New England are dedicated to advancing and developing reflective and resourceful teachers and school leaders who are competent, caring and qualified. UNE’s online graduate degrees in Education provide students with the knowledge and skills to become leaders and shape the future of education. Degrees and certificates in Education at UNE Online include: MSEd: Master of Science in Education MSEd RS: Master of Science in Education – Reading Specialist CAGS: Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study CAGS AEL:…

Tags: Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) | Education | Graduate Programs in Education | Master of Science in Education

Policy - An Interprofessional Approach

A series of illustrated, intertwined gears to depict how How our online, interprofessional public policy course works

Have you ever wondered what people mean when they talk about policy? What is it? Who needs it? How does it work? Why should I care about it? UNE Online’s new public policy course, Policy: An Interprofessional Approach (GPH 702) is a great way to find out answers to these questions. You will work with students from other disciplines to better understand how policy impacts individuals, communities and populations and the importance of cross-sector collaboration and partnerships. What is Policy? Public policy refers to any federal, state, or local government action that influences individual or agency behavior. It can be laws, executive orders, regulations, ordinances, court rulings, appropriations, or board and committee decisions. Government decision-making impacts all of us personally…

Dr. Dan Mickool Selected for International Interprofessional Policy Development Work Group

Dr. Dan Mickool is a graduate of the Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) program at the College of Graduate and Professional Studies, and is currently the Director of Continuing Education, as well as a Clinical Instructor in Pharmacy Practice in the School of Pharmacy at the University of New England. Recently, Dr. Mickool was selected to serve on The Global Confederation for Interprofessional Education & Collaborative Practice – Policy Development Work Group. Dr. Mickool is the only pharmacist in the group, and just one of five Americans among 35 international members. The committee holds a monthly virtual meeting and is charged by the World Health Organization with the following topics in 2019: Developing an information note on IPECP (interprofessional education and…

Tags: Education | Education Alumni Spotlight

Alumni Spotlight: Bonnie Blake, Ed.D.

Bonnie Blake, Ed.D. is a graduate of the Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) program at UNE Online. Here, she talks about her experience with the online Ed.D. program, and how she is putting her dissertation research to work, planning the next steps in her career. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself, and what encouraged you to pursue your Ed.D.? I had been an educator at New York University for more than 25 years; first as an advisor, an instructor, and eventually clinical assistant professor, as well as academic director and coordinating chair for the programs in media industry studies and design. I received my Master’s in Graphic Communications Management and Technology from NYU, and it was my desire…

Student Spotlight, Jeffrey L. Brown, Ed.D. Program

Jeffrey Brown, Chief Information Officer, Martin's Point Healthcare, Ed.D. in Transformative Leadership candidate at UNE Online

Jeffrey is currently in his third executive officer role as the Chief Information Officer for Martin’s Point Healthcare. When he felt that he’d reached a growth plateau, he took a year to research before choosing UNE’s Ed.D. to combine leadership skill acquisition, applied science, and applied research.

“The way each class builds on the next within the program, it literally all comes back to myself as a leader in my organization. I’ve experienced rapid-cycle development, seemingly on a weekly basis. Because of this program, I feel that I’ve accelerated my leadership thinking, comfort, and capability by leaps and bounds over the last two years. I can’t say enough about it. It’s been a remarkable experience.”

Infographic: Education Faculty by the Numbers

Graduate Programs in Education Faculty Infographic

Faculty for the Graduate Programs in Education at UNE Online are integral to our students’ success. These tremendous professionals teach and mentor through a scholar-practitioner model because they see our students as their future peers. Calling on their experience as public school hiring managers, our instructors connect every lesson to professional situations and cultivate the skills they know are required for success. Education faculty by the numbers We’ve created this infographic as a way to visually represent some of the amazing credentials our faculty embody. Click to download infographic Praise for our education faculty “Our scholar-practitioner model is incredibly powerful. As educators, we come to grips at some point that a lot of the theory we learn in our prep…

Tags: Education | faculty | Graduate Programs in Education | MSEd

Student Spotlight: Stephanie N. Marcotte, Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

Stephanie Marcotte, an Ed.D. Student at UNE Online, holds multiple leadership roles

Stephanie Marcotte is a student in the Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) program at the College of Graduate and Professional Studies here at the University of New England. She talks about her experience as an online student, how her educational leadership roles have developed throughout her time in the UNE Ed.D. program, and how her identity as a leader has changed throughout the program. What are your current leadership roles? Like many adjunct professors around the country, I work multiple jobs. While I believe in the establishment of full-time benefited teaching opportunities, I have learned a lot from wearing many hats. Currently, I am an adjunct professor of ESL within a credit-bearing community college academic ESL program, a teacher-trainer, a union…

Tags: Ed.D | Education | Graduate Programs in Education | Student Spotlight

Developing Teachers as Leaders: Supervision and Evaluation

Teacher laughing as she undergoes supervision and evaluation

One of the main responsibilities of being an administrator in the K-12 education setting is supervision and evaluation. Understanding the importance that the roles of supervision and evaluation play in the development of teacher leaders is vital to the culture of the school in which the practices are being utilized. In the Graduate Programs in Education at the University of New England, students in the Transformative Leadership focus area, and specifically the Supervision and Evaluation course, are provided the opportunity to share some of the key takeaways they’ve learned from the process of evaluating their own colleagues. Findings from student feedback A central theme that surfaced from this student feedback is that communication is integral to the supervision…

Tags: Education | Graduate Programs in Education | learning theory

Educational Leadership Skills Can Make You an Agent of Change

Smiling woman sitting with colleague using educational leadership skills in the workplace

There are many ways to improve yourself, your organization, or your community, but attaining a doctorate in education might be one of the most overlooked. Leadership is a valuable trait in any sector and the unique adaptability of a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) has been attracting the attention of educators, healthcare officials, public servants, and human resource professionals alike. We’ve seen transportation consultants advancing access to basic services in rural areas, principals looking to undercover alternative pathways to success for students, and a rising number of workforce developers looking to enact more effective training courses. What makes an Ed.D. attractive to a diverse group of students, and how does an Ed.D. enable students to make an impact on…

Tags: Ed.D | Education | Graduate Programs in Education

What Can You Do With an EdD?

Dan Mickool stepping out of the College of Pharmacy building

The Doctor of Education (EdD) program at the University of New England’s College of Graduate and Professional Studies focuses on leadership development, problem-based inquiry, and organizational change. This cohort-based program prepares mid-career professionals to transform self, organization, and community through focused, flexible study. However, those considering a Doctorate in Education often ask us how this emphasis on transformation can benefit their careers. In short, “what can you do with an EdD”? A Diverse Student and Faculty Body Provides Opportunity The EdD student body is the most diverse audience served by our graduate programs in education. In addition to K-12 education professionals, students in the EdD come from clinical backgrounds in healthcare settings, community colleges, and non-profit community groups and service…

Tags: Ed.D | Education | Graduate Programs in Education

Alumni Spotlight: Mike Wilber, Ed.D.

Dr. Mike Wilber, an Ed.D. graduate, is an Adult Basic Education Instructor at the Delaware Department of Education Adult and Prison Education Resources Division in Wilmington, Delaware, helping inmates earn their GEDs and learn job skills. He is also a GED Instructor in the Adult Education Division of James H. Groves Adult High School. Dr. Wilber’s Ed.D. dissertation was designed to examine a particular aspect of the prison population in order to look at the problem of recidivism from a different angle. It’s challenging work, but Dr. Wilber’s passion for teaching and serving others is evident through his most recent award: Region II Teacher Of the Year for 2018. We sat down with Dr. Wilber recently to talk about his…

Tags: Ed.D | Ed.D. Alumni | Ed.D. Student Spotlight | Education | Student Spotlight

Student Spotlight: Devon Gallice — CAGS AEL Program

Devon Gallice is a student in the Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study in Advanced Educational Leadership (CAGS AEL) program here at UNE Online. She is currently a guidance counselor at Dike-Newell School and is working toward earning her Principal — Building Administrator Certificate (040). We spoke with her recently about her experience at UNE and what it’s like balancing career, family, and school. Can you tell me a bit about yourself, and what encouraged you to pursue your CAGS AEL? I had a very non-traditional path towards earning my CAGS in Advanced Educational Leadership. Ever since I was young I knew I wanted to work with kids in some way, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to…

Tags: CAGS AEL | CAGS Student Spotlight | Education

Post Baccalaureate Teacher Certification Program

The Post Baccalaureate Teacher Certification program is a unique way of structuring classes where students begin on-ground in face-to-face classes to earn their Teacher Certification, and then they have the option of taking a few more classes online to earn their Master’s of Science in Education. We spoke with Dr. Lane Clarke, Associate Professor of Education at the University of New England, about the program. How is the Post Baccalaureate Teacher Certification program structured? This Post Baccalaureate Teacher Certification Program is a Teacher Certification plus a master’s program. Our students get the Teacher Certification courses from the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), which are the courses that are required by the State of Maine to become certified as…

Tags: Education | Graduate Programs in Education | Master of Science in Education