Sandra Courter

Sandra Lee Shaw Courter
April 11, 1947 - October 8, 2014
MADISON - Sandra died after a courageous battle with multiple myeloma, a plasma cell cancer in the bone marrow. She retired as professor emerita from the Department of Engineering Professional Development, University of Wisconsin - Madison when she was diagnosed December 2009.
She is survived by her husband, Robert Lee Courter and their three children: Andrew lives in San Francisco with his wife Anne Marie (Koehn) and daughter Ainsley; Zachary lives in Berkeley and is finishing his seminary degree at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary; Margaret is a student in the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Wisconsin.
Sandra was born the oldest of six children on a farm in southeastern Ohio in 1947 to Otto Ansel and Elizabeth Caroline (Hansley) Shaw. She is also survived by her mother and all her siblings and their children: Deborah (Edward) Penrod, Austin and Alexander; William (Debra) Shaw, Mackenzie, Morgan, and Mallory; Roger (Kathy) Shaw, Hobart, Huntley, and Gertrude; Paul (Deborah) Shaw, Otto and Eli; and Matthew (Christine) Shaw, Isaac, Clare, Maximillian, Benjamin, and Sophia.
After graduating from Logan High School in 1965, she attended Ohio State University for two years before transferring to Wisconsin and graduating in January 1969 with an Education degree in English and French.
She married Robert on June 14, 1969. They've been together since high school - 51 years.
After eight years teaching in Circleville, Barneveld and Stoughton, she returned to the University of Wisconsin to earn a Master of Science Degree in Educational Administration. She worked in the Dean's Office and helped promote the first Continuing Education Unit (CEU) with Assistant Dean Harland Sampson.
She then accepted a position with the University of Wisconsin Extension, Department of Applied Science and Engineering where she administered their new continuing education professional degree program for practicing engineers. Next, she accepted a position at the University of Wisconsin College of Engineering, where she taught technical communication courses for over 30 years. She developed the first technical presentation course which is now required in many departments and helped develop the Certificate in Technical Communication.
In the College of Engineering, she designed teaching improvement workshops for teaching assistants and these workshops became a model for campus-level programs. She worked with the Dean of Academic Affairs to design the Engineering Learning Center that provided faculty and staff development programs. This is now part of the Wendt Services for Teaching and Learning. She helped further engineering education research and was very proud of an NSF award to study how people learn engineering.
In 1996, she received her Doctor of Philosophy degree in Educational Administration, was awarded the Bollinger Academic Staff Award, and became a member of the University of Wisconsin Teaching Academy. She helped develop the Teaching Academy Summer Institute (TASI), now in its 14th year.
She was an active member of the American Society for Engineering Education and a Fellow in the Educational Research Methods Division. She was a founding member of the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) where she taught a variety of courses about teaching and learning in higher education - both online and in traditional formats.
When she retired in December 2009, she received a Governor's Certificate of Commendation from the State of Wisconsin for 31+ years of dedicated service and a Chancellor's Certificate of Appreciation from UW-Madison. Finally, she was granted emerita status following a record of distinguished service to the University.
She was an active member of Bethel Lutheran Church and Celebration Circle and served as Council President in 1992. She has been a trustee on the Bethel Lutheran Church Endowment Foundation since 1990.
Sandra enjoyed gardening, sewing, teaching and learning. Always interested and curious, she loved new ideas and new places; she spent months in Europe as a teen, traveled often to present professionally, and recently to visit family. Her faith and her family brought her great joy.
She and her family are most grateful to Dr. Natalie Callander and her professional team at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center. Sandra hoped that, in lieu of flowers, any donations in her memory would be directed to either the Bethel Lutheran Church Endowment Foundation (608-257-3577) or the Trillium Fund for Multiple Myeloma Research at the UW Carbone Cancer Center (608-263-0160).
A memorial service will be held at Bethel Lutheran Church, 312 Wisconsin Ave. Madison, on Monday, October 13, 2014 at 11:00 AM with Pastor Scot Sorensen presiding.