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$3.1 million awarded since 1992 Program Innovation Fund supports college and University strategic goals By Deborah A. Benedetti
Dr. Patricia A. Book, associate vice president for outreach and executive director, Division of Continuing Education, administers the Program Innovation Fund, which supports innovative and creative outreach program development.	During the last five years, the Program Innovation Fund (PIF) has helped 523 Penn State faculty members in every academic college and many Commonwealth College locations develop and deliver outreach programming to Pennsylvania citizens and people throughout the United States and the world, according to Dr. Patricia A. Book.   “Since the Program Innovation Fund was established in fiscal year 1992–93, more than $3.1 million in funding has been awarded to faculty members developing outreach programs,” Book, associate vice president for outreach and executive director, Division of Continuing Education, said. “The Coordinating Council for Outreach and Cooperative Extension recognized early on that seed funds were critical to fostering innovation and creativity in the outreach activities of the academic colleges. This idea resulted in the creation of the Program Innovation Fund.”   Book administers the fund, which since its inception has supported 238 programs. The fund awards grants through a request-for-proposal process.   “I’m extremely pleased with the impact these funds have had on outreach program development University-wide,” she said. “This fund and other University funds have played a significant role in stimulating faculty development of new outreach programs.”   The impact of PIF funding is illustrated by these examples: Faculty members in the College of the Liberal Arts developed conferences on the acquisition of Spanish and Romance languages in response to the college’s strategic focus on languages. The Center for Studies in Landscape History in the College of Arts and Architecture held the first-ever symposium on landscape history, and the Performance, Art, Culture, Pedagogy Symposium brought together artists and scholars from around the world for a first-of-its-kind event. The Eberly College of Science formed a corporate partnership with Hewlett-Packard and launched a Post-baccalaureate Premedical Certificate Program. The College of Communications developed its first Communications Law Institute. A teaching/learning distance education model developed by a nutrition professor was used to deliver the Bridge to Excellence teleconference to hundreds of nutrition professionals in the southwestern United States. The Wastewater Biology program grew from six programs a year to nearly 50 programs a year. A number of faculty members were able to experiment with new learning approaches and create programs and courses using information technologies and the Web. Several programs were able to be offered at multiple University locations, including a training program for certified public accountants, a customer service certificate program and the Chemical Dependency Counseling Program.   A committee chaired by Dr. Wayne Smutz, associate director of the Division of Continuing Education and director of program development services, and comprised of representatives from Continuing Education, Distance Education, the Coordinating Council for Outreach and Cooperative Extension, and Cooperative Extension reviews Program Innovation Fund proposals twice a year and submits funding recommendations to Book.   Book noted that Program Innovation Fund seed funds are designed to assist faculty members in developing credit and noncredit programs offered in a wide variety of formats, including conferences and specialized institutes, modules or courses that are delivered using technology or through certificate programs and other means. Faculty members also are encouraged to focus on programs that address President Graham Spanier’s key initiatives of information science and technology, environmental studies, materials science, and children, youth and families.   The purpose of the fund is to facilitate innovative program development that enhances the quality of Penn State outreach programming; to support programs that address unmet educational needs and serve new audiences or existing audiences in new ways; to provide for program ventures that recover costs; to develop sustainable outreach programs that address the strategic goals of the academic colleges and outreach units; and to leverage funding for programs from external sources.   In 1998, the PIF proposal process was refined to increase emphasis on the development of interdisciplinary, intercollege and interunit proposals. Faculty members applying for funding are now asked to review their program ideas with their Coordinating Council for Outreach and Cooperative Extension deans, as well as with a representative from one of the four major units of Outreach and Cooperative Extension (Continuing Education, Distance Education, Public Broadcasting and Cooperative Extension) before submitting their proposal, Book explained. Matrix team leaders in the Outreach Office of Program Development are available to help faculty members involve multiple outreach units in their program.   For information about the Program Innovation Fund, visit the fund’s Web site at www.outreach.psu.edu/Innovation. PIF Review Committee   Wayne Smutz, associate director of the Division of Continuing Education and director of program development services, chairs the Program Innovation Fund (PIF) Review Committee.   Members are James Fong, director, Marketing Research; Sara Parks, associate dean for outreach, Cooperative Extension and international programs, College of Health and Human Development; Stephen Wright, director, Distance Education Programs; David English, regional director, Greater Pittsburgh, Penn State McKeesport; Suzanne Wrye, director of program development, Conferences and Institutes; Robert Surridge, assistant provost for community outreach and economic development, Penn State Harrisburg; John Harwood, director, Education Technology Services, Center for Academic Computing; and Diane Brown, associate dean and associate director, Cooperative Extension, College of Agricultural Sciences.