Rumors of demise debunked. (Letters).

It has never been easy being a pioneer in the West. Think of Lewis and Clark as they forged ahead to the Northwest, and of John Wesley Powell as he mapped the Colorado River's tortuous route through the Grand Canyon. Think, too, of Western Governors University as we chart new territory in the field of higher education. We have one thing in common: overcoming rumors of demise. Recently, University Business referred to WGU as a "well-documented disaster." No doubt our 2,500 students, 45-member staff and faculty, 19 governors of western states, and our advisory board of corporate technology leaders would take issue with this description. Two-and-a-half years after introducing our first online competency-based degrees, WGU continues to expand our student base, financial support, partnerships, and national influence. The university is achieving its goat to expand access to higher education, particularly for working adults. The average WGU student is 40 years old, and over 90 percent work full-time. The university has students enrolled from 46 states and nine countries. Our budget increased to $5.3 million in FY 2001, up from $3.9 million in FY 2000, while net assets continued to increase. Of the 2,500 enrolled students, 2050 are taking courses through the university, while 450 are enrolled in WGU degree or certificate programs. The university now offers eight competency-based degree programs including associate's, bachelor's, and master's degrees in three areas: information technology, business, and education. WGU offers over 1,000 courses in its online catalog, from 45 colleges, universities, and commercial providers. Since launching its Web site, WGU has had over 1.5 million users and logged over 30 million hits. Several important milestones were achieved in 2001, including the first five graduates, an additional accreditation, receipt of several major grants, and new partnerships. Students in Alaska, Utah, and Washington were among these first graduates. Each student had a unique reason to enroll in WGU, but they all shared a common desire to study at their own pace and time, and to receive validation for the knowledge they had previously earned. A year ago, the university received national accreditation from the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC). The Accrediting Commission of the DETC is a nationally recognized institutional accrediting agency approved by the U.S. Department of Education and by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. WGU also has accreditation status as a candidate with four regional accrediting associations. In September, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education William Hansen announced a grant from the Department of Education to support the WGU Teachers College, a national telecommunications network that will provide accredited, online degrees and certificates to K-12 teachers and prospective teachers. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation also announced a $1 million grant, which was matched by the State of Utah, to train Utah school principals and district superintendents in technology leadership. The university has 23 corporate and foundation partners who financially support it in its mission, including America Online, Apple Computer, AT&T, Cisco Systems, Convergys, Drake International, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Hewlett Packard, IBM, KPMG Consulting, Marriott Corporation, Micron, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle, Qwest, Sallie Mae, SCT Corp, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Sun Microsystems, Swartz Foundation, Thomson Learning/Prometric, and 3Com. We invite your readers to explore the future of distance learning with us as WGU pioneers new territory and continues to fight the battle of misinformation. A good place to begin is with our website at www.wgu.edu.

ROBERT W. MENDENHALL, President
Western Governors University
Salt Lake City, Utah