Whole Students, Whole Support

Western Michigan University is focused on supporting Broncos from the moment their education begins all the way through to a quality life and a meaningful career. Our whole-person approach to education means you're supported in every aspect of life—in the classroom, at home, while working, at the gym, even when you're choosing food while grocery shopping.

We believe offering resources is just the beginning; making the most of those resources to enrich your college experience is a team effort—and the impact lasts a lifetime. At Western, students are supported from submitting their application, during their entire Western experience to walking across the graduation stage and starting a career. We're on this journey together.

Dedicated support in all dimensions

From start to finish

Western has extensive student support resources, but for many Broncos, knowing where to begin can be overwhelming. Supported by the Empowering Futures Gift, the Navigator Program includes a network of professionals and students to provide proactive, individualized support across your academic and well-being needs.

Student Success Navigators begin their work long before a new Bronco steps foot on campus. Connecting in the summer, navigators will provide individualized support to students—but that's just the beginning. This support continues even after your questions are answered; our navigators check in and guide you through your college experience.

This network of support also includes additional professional navigators with specialized knowledge in multicultural, well-being and financial aid services.

While this support is available to all undergraduate students, the navigator network will initially focus on those who are first-generation college students, Pell-eligible and from historically marginalized communities.

Explore the Navigator Network

A student looks at a notebook with highlighted text.

Learn about the Navigator Network

Right help to students at the right time

In the fall 2022 semester, Western will launch the most ambitious and comprehensive student success program in its history. Made possible by the Empowering Futures Gift, WMU Student Success Navigators will provide an unprecedented level of support for students. The program will provide the right help to the right student at the right time by removing three barriers:

It will make it easier for students to find the help they need by eliminating the paradox of student support—there is so much available that knowing where to go and where to begin is overwhelming.
It will normalize help-seeking. Too many college students believe their need for help is exceptional rather than normal.
A dedicated professional navigator will accompany the student through their undergraduate years at Western, meeting their needs and enhancing a sense of belonging and community.

New student support resources

The program will launch with 11 new professional navigators and 10 new student employees who will provide proactive, individualized support that includes and extends beyond academic support across eight dimensions of student well-being. While available to all students, the Student Success Navigators will initially focus on those who are first-generation college students, Pell-eligible and historically marginalized communities.

How it works

Student Success Navigators will start supportive relationships with students even before they arrive on campus, reaching out over the summer to introduce themselves. When students arrive on campus, the navigators will proactively reach out to make a personal connection.

Over the course of the academic year, students will receive proactive outreach from the University in the form of phone calls, pulse surveys and coordinated student support that continuously assesses their progress and well-being.

As students’ needs are identified, their Student Success Navigator will guide them to appropriate support—but it doesn’t end there. An essential element of the Navigator model is to close the loop. When a case is opened, the Student Success Navigator will ensure it is closed. Did the Bronco Study Zone help? Did the student connect with a counselor? Did the fitness class help manage stress?

The Student Success Navigators are just the beginning, supported by a cadre of specialists. As needs surface, students can be referred to navigators with specialized knowledge and skills in in three critical areas of focus:

Multicultural Specialists will provide direct support to students from historically marginalized communities, including asset-based coaching and connections to relevant student groups, support and programming that create belonging.
Student Affairs Specialists will provide well-being and mental health resources as well as engagement with campus groups and programming to encourage thriving.
A Financial Aid Specialist will provide holistic support in financial well-being and literacy and help students navigate financial aid and billing.

With this network of support, the University will envelop each student in the program with an individualized student support team that is tailored to their unique needs. Powered by the Salesforce Student Success Hub, each member of the student’s team will be armed with a 360 degree view of the student’s needs and progress. The Student Success Hub will allow individual team members to have the information needed while also protecting confidential protected information, such as medical and mental health records.

Tailored support

The model also provides tiered support. Some students may simply need a referral or to know someone knows their name. Others may want or need a higher level of support. The Navigator model is designed to right-size the support for each student along three tiers of support:

Tier 1 support includes referral to services, general programming and a dedicated Student Success Navigator. In addition, specialists will provide services to students to support all eight dimensions of well-being and Multicultural Specialists will provide support on dimensions of identity, culture and sense of belonging.
Tier 2 support will provide asset-based coaching where students will create individualized plans that help them get the most out of their WMU experience. Students will receive asset-based coaching based on CliftonStrengths. The plan will be adapted as the student experience evolves. Multicultural Specialists will provide specialized, asset-based coaching for students from historically marginalized communities.
Tier 3 support offers high-touch, high-impact interventions reserved for the students who indicate a need for consistent and proactive case management. This level of support will be provided by Student Support Specialists and subject matter experts in student affairs.

An asset-based approach

The WMU Navigator Network is based on new thinking in higher education. It is an asset-based approach that seeks to surface, emphasize and embolden students’ strengths and remove barriers to their success. The approach stands in contrast to historical perspectives that envision students who struggle as somehow deficient or in need of “fixing.” An asset-based approach is focused on enabling whole people with their own strengths to grow and thrive by removing barriers and providing resources.

Worth the work

A student working on a piece of equipment.

Western is dedicated to providing meaningful, resume-worthy experience for WMU students, extending learning that begins in the classroom. Beginning in fall 2022, the Broncos Lead Internship Program will provide support for Broncos exploring their career options, including wages for work completed at internships in a network of businesses and companies.

All Western sophomore to senior students in good academic standing are eligible to apply for an internship that is funded at approximately $15/hour for 20 hours per week during a 12-week period. The University will support 100 of these internships during the 2022-23 academic year and plans to grow the number significantly in subsequent years.

Western will work to promote wide access to the program with emphasis on students who might not otherwise be able to take on an internship: first-generation college students and historically marginalized populations.

Explore the Broncos Lead Internship Program

Resume-worthy experience

A quality education is a vital start for students to become career-ready, and experiential learning provides students a leg up in securing their first job and helps them thrive in post-graduate life. Unpaid internships create a financial barrier for some students. The Empowering Futures Gift is lowering that barrier by enabling students to secure resume-worthy, network-building experience while receiving the funds to continue their education.

Internships provide an invaluable opportunity for students to put their knowledge to the test and find their true purpose. The 2020-21 WMU Post-graduation Activity Report finds recent graduates who completed an internship were three times as likely to have a job related to their degree. They were also twice as likely to be satisfied with their job compared with their peers who did not have an internship.

A student speaking with a professor in a classroom.

Career and Student Employment Services will shepherd the Broncos Lead Internship Program utilizing two new support staff who will guide students on career preparation, assess their progress and provide day-to-day support as well as cultivate a network of 40-50 host organizations.

All WMU sophomore to senior students in good academic standing are eligible to apply for an internship that is funded at approximately $15/hour for 20 hours per week during a 12-week period. Western will work to promote wide access to the program with emphasis on high-need students who might not otherwise be able to take on an internship: first-generation college students and historically marginalized populations. The University will support 100 of these internships in the 2022-23 academic year with a goal of scaling up significantly in the next five years.

A nursing student looking at an IV bag with her teacher.

Participation in the program is need-based for employers but not for students. The program will provide support to West Michigan organizations, specifically small businesses, nonprofits and start-ups that cannot otherwise support paid internships. All participating host organizations must have a designated mentor for the student and commit to a meaningful experience.

The combination of student and organizational support in the Broncos Lead Internship Program should provide a robust program that contributes significantly to both student success and community vitality. By gaining direct, paid, on-the-job experience while building their skillset and professional network, students who successfully complete the program will be ready to pursue their purpose, enter their chosen field and contribute to the workforce and the larger community.

The whole student

At Western, we think about students as whole people with physical, mental and emotional health needs. The University strives to meet these needs during their entire college career in a way that helps them grow strong and prepare for a strong quality of life. That's why we're developing a comprehensive well-being experience where all students can thrive and grow strong.

As an enhancement to current services and further supported by the Empowering Futures Gift, a peer health education program would allow Broncos to help other Broncos with all aspects of their well-being, including:

Mental health
Social wellness
Belonging
Substance abuse issues
Spiritual wellness
Purpose

A new wellness coaching system would offer in-person and telehealth options at no cost. Students will work with a wellness coach to assess and build a personalized action plan around the WMU Well-being Wheel.

Additionally, access to Uwill provides 24/7 year-round mental health support for all students at no cost. The program meets students where they are, allowing them to access support that is tailored to their unique needs and preferences. Explore Uwill

Western's 8 dimensions of well-being

At Western, we foster development in your social, emotional, intellectual, occupational, spiritual, financial, environmental and physical well-being.

Learn about the Well-being Wheel

Explore the Well-being Model

At Western, we offer a holistic experience where we think about students as whole people preparing for a quality life and a meaningful career. We are focused on helping our students meet their academic, career and well-being goals. The Empowering Futures Gift is enabling us to advance our efforts as we aim to strengthen this critical component of the Western experience.

We have strengths to build on: 60% of Western students feel that their health and well-being is a priority at Western and 66% of students indicate that health is a priority for them. We want to grow those numbers substantially.

One of four pillars of the Empowering Futures Gift is enhanced student well-being with new support for student mental health and healthy lifestyles. In support of that pillar, our Wellness Executive Team of experts are developing a comprehensive approach based on eight dimensions of well-being and social determinants of health.

An integrated model with impact

Developing an experience where all students can thrive and grow strong requires an integrated, comprehensive approach. For example, we have evidence that interventions beyond counseling can have a tremendous impact on mental health. The top three benefits cited by students who use the Student Recreation Center are more energy, less stress and greater self-esteem—clear evidence of what many studies have demonstrated for years: physical health strengthens mental health. As another example, education and training can play a crucial role in creating a culture of belonging. Eighty-eight percent of first year students who completed Health Promotion and Education training felt they were better equipped to help a friend who is struggling.

Social, emotional, intellectual, occupations, spiritual, financial, environmental, physical well-being.

The Empowering Futures Gift is making our aspirations a reality. As we continue to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of proposed strategies, some that are currently under consideration include a peer health education program. These paid student educators will specialize in mental health, social wellness, belonging, substance abuse issues, spiritual wellness and purpose. This strategy is in alignment with the JED Campus recommendations, which offers national best-practice strategies for enhancing student mental health.

As currently proposed, peer educators will help Broncos build their skills and provide widespread opportunities for students, faculty and staff to learn how to help students in distress and connect them to support resources and also build skills in self-care, resiliency and social connectedness.

We are also considering a new wellness coaching system at no cost to students that offers in-person and telehealth options. Students will work with a wellness coach to assess and build a personalized action plan around the WMU Well-being Wheel.

I came to this University with the mindset that I was going to be part of an institution that is not only diverse but also cares about the success of our students. To be a Bronco is to be part of a community—people who will definitely help and support each other.

——Aunner Calderón '22, from Grand Rapids

Read Aunner's story

Learn about the Empowering Futures Gift

Content last updated Dec. 2, 2022, and is subject to change without notice.

Empowering Futures