Transformational Experiences

Washburn University Board of Regents' Responsibilities

In February, 2004, members of the Washburn University Board of Regents engaged in a self-study workshop, engaging in a discussion of their "job description."

Among other things, there was discussion regarding good planning and their participative role in the planning process, including the approval and oversight of a plan's implementation.

In that spirit, the Washburn University Regents would be well-advised to study the Academic Strategic Plan dated October 24, 2003 prior to approving the implementation of the new proposed Transformational Experiences graduation requirement.

The Academic Strategic Plan and Program Reviews

The Academic Strategic Plan states that student success is "dependent on a solid educational foundation for each undergraduate student." The Plan also states that the base on which the transformational experience should be built is a "purposeful, powerful, and principled general education core."

The annual summaries of Program Review documents indicates that the foundation to support transformational experiences is not in place.

Rather than implementing a signature program of this scope, the University and its students would be better served by spending the $1.0 million transformational experience budget on more basic educational needs in order to secure this solid foundation.

Four specific areas where the implementation of the current Academic Strategic Plan should receive more attention are:

1. Admission Requirements

The Academic Strategic Plan states that Washburn University will consider an overall admission standard, raise the standards for unconditional admissions, and address the learning needs of the least well-prepared segment of the student body while developing the admission requirements for most of the academic programs.

Program Review summary reports indicate the following:

  • English - This area recommended re-evaluation of the advising program in light of the increased number of traditional-aged majors and that support for under-prepared students in freshman English should be bolstered through supplemental instruction.
  • Biology - This department has experienced reduced student ability and lack of motivation, increasing the remedial demands on the department.
  • Mathematics - This department needs to address several important curricular issues while managing the enrollment growth and to pay attention to the introductory level of the curriculum in order to meet the student's needs and improve learning.

2. Faculty Development

The Academic Strategic Plan states that Washburn University will further enhance the faculty development program, provide additional resources for faculty travel to professional meetings, and develop a program of individual development contracts with faculty to match the talents and interests of individual faculty members with the goals and needs of the institution.

Program Review summary reports indicate the following:

  • Education - Summer school offerings for teachers in this region are a challenge and there is a need to fund the Professional Development Series model.
  • Philosophy - Only one full-time faculty member is available to teach the full range of major courses in this discipline.
  • Mass Media - This department is understaffed with a low percentage of faculty with terminal degrees.
  • Allied Health - None of the faculty hold doctoral degrees.
  • Art - Over 50% of the instruction is provided by part-time instructors.
  • Biology - Labs do not count as instruction when considering faculty loads.
  • Nursing - This school reported low faculty salaries and a low percentage of faculty with terminal degrees and requested sabbatical leave to allow its faculty to complete PhD's.

3. Learning Environment

The Academic Strategic Plan states that Washburn University will provide strong support for a high quality learning environment by evaluating and responding to campus space needs, including classroom, laboratory, office and meeting spaces and by improving the availability of information resources required to support instruction and scholarly activity.

Program Review summary reports indicate the following:

  • English needs to reduce class size to 20 in EN101.
  • Student Health needs to expand their facility to accommodate the 26% growth in clinic volume.
  • Health, PE & Exercise Science reported a critical shortage of classroom and office space.
  • Mass Media reported that computer and broadcast equipment is outdated.
  • Theatre reported a weakness of inadequate rehearsal/performance class space.
  • Allied Health has outgrown its current space.
  • Art space has restricted enrollment in some courses to art majors.
  • Biology reported a decline in service from Mabee Library when the library dropped its subscription to Biological Abstracts.
  • Mathematics demands exceed availability of space in the math lab and faculty office space.

4. Allocation of Funding

The Academic Strategic Plan includes various proposed new positions and other needs. New positions include a Scholarship Advisor, a Grants Facilitator position, and a Director of Community Service Programs. In addition to addressing classroom expansion and renovation, funding is also required to provide more community-based health services to at-risk populations, to improve the facilities of the University's public television station, and to increase funding available to assist students who wish to study abroad.

The proposed $850,000 budget for Transformational Experiences provides for study abroad scholarships and administration costs to coordinate community service experiences. The majority of the budget, $510,000, is designated to address faculty load. Resources to develop library resources are not included in the proposed budget.

The Program Review summary reports indicate that many academic areas are suffering from budget constraints.

  • Education needs funding for student teacher supervision.
  • English needs an increased budget for the Visiting Writers Series and Inscape.
  • Health, PE and Exercise Science needs additional clerical support and a new faculty position to coordinate the PE-198 program.
  • The Intercollegiate Athletics budget has not kept pace with increasing operating costs.
  • Mass Media needs a new position in advertising and cited the lack of resources as one of its program weaknesses.
  • KTWU is limited in its ability to work with Mass Media in developing lab experiences for students interested in broadcasting since the University limits its financial support to bookkeeping.
  • Theatre reported that a 1998 cost analysis for theatre improvements could not be funded.
  • Allied Health is attempting to secure grant funds for routine preventative maintenance on its x-ray equipment, since University resources have not been allocated for this need.
  • Art needs to add a sculpture and basic design faculty position.
  • Biology stated that the cost of supplies has outpaced the increase in the operating budget.
  • Chemistry has been prevented from upgrading and purchasing instrumentation due to a lack of funds.
  • Physics and Astronomy needs an additional $2,000 to cover recruitment expenses.
  • Psychology cannot offer financial aid for incoming Masters students, as is the practice of other institutions.
  • Lack of scholarships was mentioned as a concern by several departments.

Proposed Transformational Experiences Graduation Requirement Should Be Rejected

In the December 5, 2005 edition of the Washburn University Review, a Washburn student, Ryan Gilliland, provided an excellent alternative to the new proposed degree requirement. He recommended that transformational experiences be accepted as a certificate program, citing among other reasons, the "glaring inefficiencies" in Washburn University's academic advising situation.

There are so many basic needs at this institution that still need to be addressed that it seems ill-advised to allow the faculty and administration to be distracted with working through the details of the Transformational Experiences proposal. The impact of this requirement on non-traditional, foreign, off-campus and struggling students has not been fully determined. The distribution of the administrative burden of this overly broad initiative has yet to be worked through.

The Washburn University Board of Regents should not accept this proposal as presented. Instead, they should seriously consider implementing Transformational Experiences as a certificate program, complementing the certificate programs in the Leadership Institute that will satisfy the Leadership Transformational Experiences requirement.

Board members should also consider whether implementation of this additional graduation requirement might not have an adverse impact on enrollment, by pushing students to other schools after their sophomore year, as their understanding of the Transformational Experiences requirement increases.

Implementation of this proposed graduation requirement is quite complex. Marketing methodology, "sound bites", assessment standards and record keeping are various issues currently being discussed. Faculty are already reporting the danger of the Transformational Experiences requirement being misunderstood due to the difficulty of articulating the concept to incoming freshman.

Beware!