Barb Inch retires from UWSP Extension

An adult education specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point who has been a strong advocate for continuing education for more than 30 years will retire this summer.

Barbara Inch, director of marketing for UWSP Extension, will leave her post at the end of June. She came to UWSP as a member of the education faculty and specialist in educational psychology in 1969. An associate director of Continuing Education and Outreach for 15 years, Inch also served as acting associate dean of students at UWSP for about 18 months in the early 1970s. In the 1960s before coming to UWSP, she worked as a counselor at a community college and at a high school in Michigan.

A Detroit native, Inch says she has been delighted to live in a community the size of Stevens Point and to work at a university like UWSP. During her tenure with Extension, she has been among those responsible for several innovative programs. In fact, two recent Extension programs brought national awards for Inch and her colleagues.

One of the nationally recognized innovations was The Learning Through Education Technologies (LETS) program which brought K-9 teachers from different area school districts to UWSP to learn about integrating learning technologies into their classrooms. The program brought accolades to Inch and two colleagues from the National Continuing Education Association which recognized them for exemplary programming.

Among Inch's proudest accomplishments is coordinating the annual Surveyors' Institute which began 25 years ago with 200 participants and now includes more than 700 surveyors from throughout the state. In gratitude for her years of work on the conference, the surveyors awarded Inch an honorary membership in their organization. Other programs Inch initiated at UWSP include Singlerama, an educational conference for divorced, widowed and single people which attracted more than 600 participants each year. Continuing Education Day for Women, College Week for Women and UWSP's Elderhostel also were programs initiated and coordinated by Inch in the 1970s.

During retirement Inch plans to maintain her home in Stevens Point and continue to pursue her love of travel. A hiking trip through western England and a Grecian sailing trip are scheduled this summer. Also this summer, she will learn "How to Write Your Life Story" at a workshop at The Clearing in Door County. The sessions will be led by Wisconsin author Gerald Apps, Inch's major professor in graduate school. A recipient of a Ph.D. in adult and continuing education from UW-Madison in 1987, Inch has a long-term dream to establish an institute for learning in retirement at UWSP. Inch holds a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University and a master’s from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

During her own retirement, she also plans to spend time with her daughter and family in Michigan and her son and daughter who live in the Twin Cities area. She and her son have purchased a lot on Little Long Lake in northwestern Wisconsin.

Describing herself as a "lifelong volunteer," Inch will continue serving on the Central Wisconsin Symphony Board, the Portage County Women's Fund Steering Committee and the Portage County Cultural Festival planning committee.