New teacher preparation programs approved by BGSU board

BOWLING GREEN, O.—Along with University budget items, the Bowling Green State University Board of Trustees granted dean emeritus status to Dr. Linda Petrosino, who retires at the end of this month from the College of Health and Human Services. Petrosino has been with BGSU since 1986 and had been chair of the communication disorders department and associate dean before being appointed dean in 2002.

In other business, the trustees approved three new programs that will help the College of Education and Human Development expand its pathways to teacher licensure.

Two of the programs must first be approved by the Ohio Board of Regents before they may be offered at BGSU. The first of those is a new master of education in teacher education in middle childhood (grades 4-9), adolescent and young adult (grades 7-12) education, and world languages (grades 4-12). Upon completion of the program, graduates may apply for an Ohio Teaching License.

The second is a post-baccalaureate certificate program providing an alternative route to initial licensure at the graduate level for middle childhood, adolescent and young adult, and world languages teachers. This is aimed at helping those with degrees in other fields enter the teaching profession.

The third program, which will begin this fall, is for a graduate certificate in assistive technology, which refers to technology that helps individuals with disabilities control their environment, explained Dr. Mary Murray, associate dean for student and academic affairs. This will be an enhancement for current special education teachers as well as for those seeking a teaching position, she said.

Also approved was a Graduate Certificate Program for Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). Offered through the English department and comprising four three-credit graduate courses, it can be a component of master’s degrees in areas such as English, foreign languages or BGSU’s MACIE Program. It is designed for anyone wishing to gain the basic expertise in linguistics to teach English professionally, such as public school teachers, those working with migrant workers, anyone wishing to teach English overseas or people who want to work with international students or refugees locally. It is the only 12-credit TESOL certificate program in northwest Ohio, said Dr. Sheri Wells-Jensen, English, and comes in response to an expressed need in the community.

Also at the meeting, the trustees granted the request from the School of Media and Communication to change the name of its Ph.D. to match the school’s name. Both the school and the degree were known as communication studies before the school changed its name in 2009. The new Ph.D. name will also help eliminate confusion with another BGSU program, said School Director Terry Rentner.

In addition, the board approved hiring Dr. Venu Dasigi, the incoming chair of the computer sciences department, as a full professor with tenure. Dasigi, a tenured full professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering at the Southern Polytechnic State University in Georgia, received his doctorate in computer science from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1988.

The trustees will meet next on Sept. 28.

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(Posted June 21, 2012 )