WGU Names Dr. Francine Peterman National Director of Teachers College

SALT LAKE CITY, March 17, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Western Governors University (WGU) has named Dr. Francine Peterman as the National Director and Dean of its Teachers College. In this assignment, Dr. Peterman will oversee WGU's Teachers College, which currently has more than 14,000 enrolled students in all 50 states.

Peterman joins WGU with more than four decades of experience in K–12 and teacher education, with particular emphasis on preparing teachers for urban schools. For the past three years, Peterman served as Professor and Dean of the College of Education and Human Services at Montclair State University in New Jersey. From 2009 to 2012, she was Professor and Dean of the Division of Education at Queens College of the City University of New York. Previously, she was Department Chair and Professor at Cleveland State University in Ohio.

Prior to her higher education experience, Peterman was a classroom teacher and district curriculum coordinator who taught for 12 years in public schools in Miami, Florida, and four years in Tucson, Arizona. As a curriculum coordinator, Peterman managed innovative projects to provide responsive programming for gifted and talented learners. During her career she managed numerous grant projects to prepare teachers in Cleveland, New York, New Jersey, and the greater Washington, D.C., area. She earned a Ph.D. in Teacher Education from the University of Arizona and has worked with the Woodrow Wilson Foundation and advisory committees involved in the establishment of teaching standards for Ohio and professional development for educators throughout the Mid-Atlantic states.  She served on the Board of Examiners for the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). 

"Dr. Peterman has built a reputation for her focus on improving education for students in underserved areas," said WGU President Dr. Robert W. Mendenhall. "We are confident that her experience will be invaluable to us as we continue to lead the way in high-quality, innovative teacher education."

WGU's Teachers College, the first online teachers college to earn NCATE accreditation for its programs that lead to teacher licensure, offers bachelor's, post-baccalaureate, and master's degrees for aspiring and already-licensed teachers and K–12 leaders. Established in 2003 with the support of the U.S. Department of Education, WGU's Teachers College is the largest producer of math and science teachers in the U.S. In 2014, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) ranked WGU's secondary teacher preparation program as the top program in the nation in terms of quality from a list of 2,400 programs, and WGU was one of only 10 institutions named to the top lists for both elementary and secondary teacher education. In 2015, NCTQ named WGU the country's best value in teacher education.

About WGU

Now with 70,000 students and 59,000 graduates nationwide, WGU offers more than 50 online, competency-based bachelor's and master's degree programs in the high-demand fields of business, K–12 teacher education, information technology, and health professions, including nursing. Recognized by President Obama as an innovative university that "awards credits based on learning, not seat time," WGU has been named one of Fast Company's "Most Innovative Companies"  and has been featured on NPR's "All Things Considered," NBC Nightly News, CNN's "Schools of Thought," and in The New York Times.

WGU is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. The university has earned the support of more than 20 leading corporations and foundations, including AT&T, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Lilly Endowment, HCA, Hewlett-Packard, Lumina Foundation, Microsoft, Oracle, SunGard Higher Education, USA Funds, and Zions Bank. More information is available at wgu.edu or by calling 866.225.5948.

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Contact for media inquiries:
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SOURCE Western Governors University