K-State's Beth Unger receives honor for leadership in Distance Learning and Instructional Technology

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Source: Elizabeth Unger, 785-532-6520, beth@k-state.edu
http://www.k-state.edu/vpast/about/vpast.htm
News release prepared by: Beth Bohn, 785-532-6415

Monday, August 7, 2006

K-STATE'S BETH UNGER RECEIVES HONOR FOR LEADERSHIP IN DISTANCE LEARNING AND INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY

MANHATTAN -- The individual who has guided Kansas State University's use of technology in education for the last 12 years is being recognized for her efforts.

Elizabeth Unger, K-State vice provost of academic services and technology and dean of continuing education, has received the Excellence in Leadership Award from Colleague to Colleague, a professional association of faculty, staff and administrators from institutions in Kansas and Missouri.

The award was presented at the annual Summer Institute on Distance Learning and Instructional Technology conference, Aug. 3-4, at the University of Kansas' Edwards Campus in Overland Park. The workshop is sponsored by Colleague to Colleague and Johnson County Community College.

The Excellence in Leadership Award is given annually for outstanding efforts in support of instructional technology.

Under Unger's leadership, K-State has been recognized as one of the most "wired" universities, continually increasing its ranking in Yahoo! Magazine's list of the "Top 100 Wired Universities in the Nation."

Unger has led K-State's efforts to design, equip and operate more than 40 high-tech classrooms, lecture halls and laboratories on campus. She also was behind the creation of K-State's Information Technology Assistance Center, which is the first point of contact for technology-related questions by faculty, staff and students. The center also helps faculty with instructional, curricular and graphic design expertise in using software and/or hardware in their individual courses. In addition, it investigates the latest technologies to see how they could be used to enhance teaching and learning at K-State.

Unger's leadership helped create K-State Online, a course management system used by the majority of K-State faculty in both their on-campus and distance education teaching. In the last school year, more than 2,600 faculty and 23,000 students used the K-State Online system. In the spring 2006 semester, K-State Online was used in more than 1,650 on-campus courses and nearly 300 distance courses.

As the number of bachelor's, master's and certificate programs being offered through distance education has increased through Unger's charge, so has the number of K-State distance education students. The university had more than 8,700 distance students during the 2005-2006 school year. The students came from 100 Kansas counties, all 50 states and 16 countries. Many of the programs K-State offers through distance education, such as the Web-based master of agribusiness program, have been nationally recognized for innovation and excellence.

Other K-State education technology initiatives under Unger's leadership include the creation of the K-State InfoCommons in Hale Library; K-State's Integrated Information Initiative; and new uses for Internet2, including K-State joining with the University of Nebraska and Oregon State University in 1999 to offer the first graduate-level plant pathology course over Internet2. Future projects under Unger include portals, digital libraries and a combination of wired and wireless technologies to serve the campus, distance education students and the general public. These endeavors include the Digital Library Project, an effort to deliver all on-campus library services to distance learners via the Web.

Unger is an engineer, mathematician and computer scientist. She holds a bachelor's in mechanical engineering and a master's in mathematics from Michigan State University. Her doctorate, in computer science, is from the University of Kansas. At K-State, Unger also serves as a professor of computer science. She joined K-State in 1966 as associate director of the university's computer center, going on to serve as its acting director. She also has served as associate dean of K-State's Graduate School.