Dr. Nicholas Wysocki

Dr. Nicholas Wysocki

Winona State University College of Education professor Dr. Nicholas Wysocki is working to develop a Post-Baccalaureate Multicultural Education Certificate to help working professionals, employed in the various sectors of Destination Medical Centers, deal with both their own multicultural competence, as well as the equity issues faced by members of their communities and workplaces. This new certificate program will take place on the WSU Rochester campus.

Wysocki aims to have the program in place for the first graduate cohort in the Spring of 2016. His expertise comes from graduate work at The University of Iowa in the area of Social Foundations of Education, specifically the Sociology of Education, Multicultural Education, and the History of American Education.

In addition, Dr. Nicholas Wysocki has been selected as a Fellow for the Collaborative Leadership Fellows (CLF) Program for 2015. This is a community-based leadership program designed to help participants learn and practice the skills of working collaboratively across the county, school district, higher education, business, non-profit, and faith based sectors in Rochester. This program is an opportunity for Wysocki to develop engagement skills for focus group member communications and to identify the equity issues most significant to them. It is through these collaborative efforts that Wysocki will shape the course content and hybrid delivery methods for WSU’s new Multicultural Education Certificate.

About the Winona State University College of Education

As the first teacher preparation school west of the Mississippi River and the first home of the National Education Association, the Winona State University College of Education has a long and storied history of innovation and leadership. The college enrollment, including all teacher education programs university-wide, is approximately 1,262 undergraduate students and 270 graduate students, supported by 40 full-time professors. With campuses in both Winona and Rochester, the College of Education is divided into seven departments and three centers, ranging from Early Childhood & Elementary Education to Counselor Education and Education Leadership. The college offers 22 Undergraduate Teacher Licensure programs, one Post-Baccalaureate Teacher Licensure program, 12 master’s programs, and three additional licensure and certificate programs. Initial licensure and advanced programs are accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the Minnesota Board of Teaching (BOT) and meet all standards accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Education Programs (CACREP) and are recognized for state licensure in both school and community counseling. Educational Leadership is accredited by the Minnesota Board of School Administrators (BOSA). The WSU Children’s Center is accredited by the National Association of the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

As the educational needs of communities throughout Minnesota continue to change, the College of Education will continue to respond. The Teach21 initiative, launched in 2009 and funded through a $4 million grant from the Bush Foundation, aims to transform WSU’s teacher preparation programs through a combined approach of targeted recruitment, effective training, specialized placement, and ongoing support. WSU’s Education Village initiative, which received initial funding during the 2013-14 Minnesota legislative session, is a bold, responsive plan to renovate existing campus facilities to offer integrated, flexible, state-of-the-art learning and teaching spaces, and provide future teachers with the preparation, support and inspiration they need to be successful in the 21st century classroom.

To learn more about the WSU College of Education visit: http://www.winona.edu/education/.