Pillar #3 Forever Washburn | Programs and Teaching Excellence
By LISA LOEWEN
When you ask students and alumni what makes Washburn special, their answers have a common theme: the personal attention they received from professors who genuinely cared about their success.
With $80 million earmarked for programs and teaching excellence, Washburn is making an investment in its education offerings to help its professors continue to provide students with personal attention and experiential learning opportunities.
Marshall Meek, president of the Washburn University Alumni Association and Foundation, said the donations received from the Forever Washburn campaign will establish endowed chairs and deanships to give departments and professors added flexibility to incorporate more practical and hands-on instruction for students.
“When we talk about funding faculty support, this isn’t about raising money to pay their salaries,” Meek said. “It is about giving professors the ability to say ‘yes’ to opportunities to make learning experiences better for students.”
Washburn’s Pitch Competition is a prime example of this type of practical, experiential learning opportunity.
“Anyone can go to a university and take a class in entrepreneurship and create a business plan,” Meek said. “But at Washburn, you can take that class and then compete in the Pitch Competition where you have the opportunity to win $10,000 to actually go start your business.”
This type of program support fund, one that builds on the basic curriculum, is what sets a Washburn education apart from other higher education institutions.
In addition to allowing professors to incorporate more hand-on learning, the Forever Washburn campaign will also help Washburn professors maintain the teaching excellence for which the university is known. Private dollars can create faculty awards to incentivize teaching excellence and offer more opportunities for faculty development.
While Washburn is committed to superior education across all fields of study, it’s most in-demand programs include business, health care, applied studies and technical trades. Capitalizing on this demand, Washburn aims to double the enrollment in the School of Business with state-of-the-art facilities and practical learning opportunities.
Instead of separate schools for nursing, applied studies or health care technical certifications, Washburn plans to create a unique health care learning experience by realigning its programs to create an interprofessional health care education that simulates real-world environments.
Meek said that under this new alignment, students in those programs can come together under one roof to operate similar to how the medical community does in the real world.
He added that Washburn has always been a leader in preparing students for successful careers and that this campaign will keep the university’s programs and teaching excellence on the forefront of education.
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