Western Governors U. President Wins a McGraw Prize in Education

The president of Western Governors University, an online, nonprofit institution founded in 1996, will be honored later today as one of three winners of the 2010 Harold W. McGraw Jr. Prize in Education. The university’s president, Robert W. Mendenhall, was cited for creating “a compelling example of how technology and a competency-based academic model — where students earn degrees by demonstrating what they know and can do — can expand access to higher education.” The other winners are Christopher Cerf, a pioneer in literacy and other television programming for children, and Larry Rosenstock, founder of an innovative public charter school in San Diego. Each winner receives a gift of $25,000 and a bronze sculpture.