Newsletters

Academic Affairs Winter 2023 Student Success  ·  Academic Excellence Message From The Provost There is a lot happening in Academic Affairs right now. We recently submitted our Year 7 Report to Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU). A huge thank you to Dr. Sue Monahan for leading that work, which involved working with quite a few of you. And, I’d like to also thank Dr. Katherine Schmidt for assisting Sue and others in writing the 97-page report. An NWCCU team will be on campus April 12-14. We are excited about new academic programs that will be coming to WOU. The Division of Health and Exercise Science proposed a Master of Science in Human Wellness and Performance, which has been approved by WOU’s Board of Trustees and Oregon’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission and is anticipated to begin Fall 2023. An interdisciplinary group of faculty worked to develop a Bachelor of Arts and a minor in Ethnic Studies; these exciting proposals were approved at the last Board of Trustees meeting and will continue to work through state level approvals. Another interdisciplinary group of faculty developed both an undergraduate and a graduate level certificate in Healthcare Administration, both of which have been fully approved and will be available beginning Fall 2023. WOU is on track to begin our first professional doctorate program Fall 2024, when the first cohort of our Occupational Therapy Doctorate program is scheduled to begin. These are just some of the recent curricular developments, in addition to the many, many program modifications that have been submitted this year to maximize academic excellence and the relevancy of our curriculum....

Academic Affairs Fall 2022 Student Success  ·  Academic Excellence Message From The Provost It has been great to see so many more people on campus this fall; the increased presence of students, faculty and staff builds the feeling of community that makes WOU special. I know people are concerned about enrollment and fiscal pressures, but it seems like we may have turned an important corner by bringing in more new students than we did last year, even if our overall enrollment was down. Our enrollment management teams are working hard to continue this positive trajectory and increase the number of students at WOU. I am pleased by the level of engagement we have seen from the College Restructure Taskforce. They have worked hard this summer and fall. I appreciate the engagement of the broader campus community and their willingness to give constructive feedback to the Taskforce, who have used this feedback to refine their work. I expect that the Taskforce will submit their final report and recommendations in December or early January. After that, President Peters and I will study the final report and recommendations. I anticipate that we will also put together an implementation team this winter to start the process of making changes to our structure; I don’t anticipate the changes will be made for Fall 2023, but possibly Fall 2024. There is also the possibility that the changes could be done gradually over the next couple of years. I want to remind people about the College Restructure Taskforce charge. Here is some language from the College Restructure Taskforce’s charge and potential outcomes: The College of Liberal...

Academic Affairs Summer 2022 Student Success  ·  Academic Excellence Message From The Provost First, I want to thank all employees for continuing to adapt and be flexible during a time of challenges and change in higher education. While we still have obstacles ahead, I am excited about the work we are doing to evolve our curriculum and our ability to respond to changing economic and workforce needs.  This spring and summer, we watched campus come back to life. WOU has hosted a number of large groups on campus this summer and the student athletes have been back for a while now. It is great to see more people out and about. I am looking forward to a more in-person campus experience during the upcoming academic year, compared to the last two years. But many of our students are still looking for flexible course delivery options. Institutional Research will be conducting another student survey this fall to assess students’ experiences and needs for online, hybrid and in-person courses. We will get the results of the survey out to academic programs before they need to submit their tentative schedules for 2023-2024. The College Restructure Taskforce has been busy researching and assessing possible structures for WOU’s academic units. This fall there will be opportunities to give feedback to the Taskforce as they work towards submitting their final report with recommendations. Many thanks to the Taskforce members for their diligent work over the summer to meet the goals outlined in their charge. Many at WOU have been working hard in recent months to contact students who have stopped out, advise new students, and...

Academic Affairs Fall 2021 Student Success  ·  Academic Excellence Message From The Provost It has been uplifting to see our campus come back to life. Students, faculty and staff have told me that they are excited to be learning and working on campus again. The entire campus community has pulled together to start the academic year in a safe manner, with relatively few reported cases of COVID-19, due at least in part to the remarkable compliance with our mask and vaccine requirements. Thank you for making this possible! In October, Institutional Research conducted a survey of students and found the most popular course delivery modality for undergraduates was fully in-person. But the majority of students were interested in combining those fully in-person courses with hybrid and/or fully online courses.  Each academic division received the survey data from their students so they can factor those preferences into their scheduling decisions. I want to once again express tremendous gratitude for the work that faculty and staff did to respond to the pandemic and pivot to online delivery of most of our courses and services. I also want to note the impressive level of problem solving, hard work and creativity from our entire campus community as we managed multiple challenges. Thank you and I hope you have a great academic year. —Provost Rob Winningham In This Issue Important Dates Willamette Promise: Student Leaders Summit Bev's Tech Tips: FAQs Welcome, Keats! Better Know An Office: Academic Innovation Celebrating Students Cover photo by WOU’s own Seyed Shahrokni, who works in the Center for Academic Innovation. Thanks, Seyed! ImportantDates Nov 15: Registration begins for Winter...

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