OUR STRATEGIC PLAN begins with a deliberately bold vision: Wichita State University is internationally recognized as the model for applied learning and research.
Wichita State as the model for the world? Really?
update on the university's bold
vision for the future.
Yes. Those who drafted the plan in 2012-13 chose their words carefully. They wanted an aspirational and audacious vision. They chose one that is built on a solid foundation of WSU’s historic dedication to both theory and practice.
Fulfillment of this vision is very much an active work in progress.
Members of the Strategic Planning Advancement Committee have met with deans and recently with the Faculty Senate executive committee to encourage progress on the vision and on Strategic Plan Goal 1, which is to “Guarantee an applied learning or research experience for every student by each academic program.”
So what do we mean by applied learning and research?
Here’s the definition that has evolved from three stages of the Strategic Planning process, involving reviews of academic and business research and discussions involving hundreds of faculty, staff, students and employer representatives:
Applied learning occurs when students develop knowledge, skills, and values from personal direct experiences that go beyond the traditional lecture or lab. Applied learning encompasses a variety of activities including service learning, undergraduate research, theses, dissertations, and other creative (e.g., live performances) and professional services (e.g., practicums, internships, clinical rotations, and cooperative education).
• To be considered applied learning, the personal direct experience of each student must:
• Mirror or embody knowledge and practice in real world situations
• Prepare a student for a career or post graduate education
• Involve development or creation of a work product, service, or idea
• Include occupationally focused work
• Apply learned program skills
• Engage populations outside the classroom
Why is applied learning critical to WSU’s strategy? The implementation of applied learning creates competitive advantages for both our students and the university. Our students graduate with application that extends classroom lessons through direct practical experience. A guaranteed applied learning experience differentiates WSU from many other universities, and helps us recruit and retain students.
Applied learning and research both involve expanding knowledge by doing. Thus, the nearly completed Experiential Engineering Building will include 25 engineering laboratories, along with a large community makerspace called GoCreate. All are designed to promote active learning and discovery.
By no means is Innovation Campus the exclusive location for applied learning and research. It has been underway for years all across this campus and community. This is a model as old as the university. In the second floor corridor of the Rhatigan Student Center you can find a reproduction of the first front page of the Sunflower, from January 1896.
Remarkably, it includes a reference to the value of applied learning in the context of encouraging students to participate in a literary society: “It is in such practice that the student learns to apply the discipline and knowledge acquired in the classroom, that he learns to become independent and self-confident.”
One hundred and twenty years later, we’re still striving to develop the independence and confidence of our students by providing abundant opportunities for real world application of knowledge gained here.
The Strategic Planning Advancement Committee was appointed in spring 2016. Each college and other Academic Affairs units selected a trusted person to ensure that outcomes and metrics are set and measured within the college or unit. Members include:
Stephen Arnold, associate dean for Academic and Student Affairs and professor, College of Health Professions; Randy Barbour, graduate student representative, Psychology; Cindy Claycomb, chair, assistant to the President for Strategic Planning and professor, President’s Office; Connie Dietz, Career Development Center executive director, Office of Academic Affairs; Kimberly Engber, dean of the Honors College and associate professor, Dorothy and Bill Cohen Honors College; Kevin Konda, assistant director, Rhatigan Student Center; Charles Koeber, Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, senior associate dean and associate professor; Dennis Livesay, dean of the Graduate School, professor and associate vice president Research and Technology Transfer, Graduate School; Cathy Moore-Jansen, interim associate dean/coordinator collection development and associate professor, University Libraries; Richard Muma, associate vice president, quality assurance and accountability and professor, Office of Academic Affairs; John Perry, Department of Management, chairperson and associate professor, W. Frank Barton School of Business; Robert Ross, associate professor, Marketing, W. Frank Barton School of Business; Amy Schwiethale, associate professor, School of Performing Arts, College of Fine Arts; Clay Stoldt, associate dean and professor, College of Education; Janet Twomey, associate dean, Graduate Studies, Research and Faculty Success and professor, College of Engineering
To ask questions or to share your opinion with the Strategic Planning Advancement Committee, email cindy.claycomb@wichita.edu, or any of the members listed.
