Gretchen Bartleson honored with Outstanding Service Award from

Gretchen Bartleson, dean of the Center for Teaching and Learning/Iowa Community College Online Consortium, received the Midwestern Higher Education Compact’s (MHEC) Outstanding Service Award on November 18, during the commission’s annual meeting in Indianapolis, Ind. Bartleson was nominated by fellow colleagues for her contribution to MHEC’s participation in the Midwestern-State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (M-SARA). SARA provides a voluntary, regional approach to state oversight of postsecondary distance education.

The award recognized Bartleson for providing exemplary leadership, committing to the Compact’s principles, securing participation in the Compact’s programs and services, and increasing visibility for the organization.

“Gretchen is such a strong supporter of students and has served MHEC well as the first chair of the M-SARA Regional Steering Committee for the past six years,” said Susan Heegaard, MHEC president. “Her ability to listen to every voice at the table and build consensus has been incredibly helpful as we chartered new territory with state authorization. She has consistently worked to build the network not only in the MHEC region but nationally, which is one of largest examples of collaboration in higher education history.”

In addition to her extensive involvement and leadership with M-SARA, Bartleson has also been an active participant in Iowa’s Open Educational Resources (OER) State Action Team, where she and others are helping Iowa gather data about OER implementation. OER are textbooks and ancillary learning materials that are accessible via the Internet at little or no cost to students or institutions. She has also been involved in providing input to MHEC’s Technologies Committee, helping to build the campus information technology community’s capacity to develop strategic sourcing methods, assisting institutions’ ability to provide solutions in an ever-changing landscape. Finally, she has also been instrumental in research for MHEC’s work in concurrent enrollment. Also known as dual enrollment, it provides high school students the opportunity to take college credit-bearing courses.

About MHEC
Legislatively created, the Midwestern Higher Education Compact’s purpose is to provide greater higher education opportunities and services in the Midwestern region. Collectively, MHEC creates solutions that build higher education’s capacity to better serve individuals, institutions, and states by leveraging the region’s resources, expertise, ideas, and experiences through multi-state: Convening, Programs, Research, and Contracts. Member states are: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. www.mhec.org

Media Contact

Mary Roberson
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O: (612) 677-2765; C: (612) 805-3396
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