WMU announces new class of Experience-Driven Learning Venture Grant recipients

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—From spearheading sustainable solutions for a global company to testing propulsion systems with NASA scientists and working alongside Michigan State Police to solve decades-old homicide cases, Western Michigan University students don't have to wait to build skills in their fields. They have opportunities to rack up resume-worthy experience from the minute they arrive on campus.

Now announcing its second class of Experience-Driven Learning Venture Grant recipients, Western is advancing efforts for students to apply classroom knowledge to their careers.

"Experience-Driven Learning isn't just an idea at Western; it's an action and an expectation. These grants allow our expert faculty to pilot meaningful programs that enrich our students' experiences and deepen community and corporate partnerships," says Dr. Chris Cheatham, interim provost and vice president for academic affairs. 

The 2025 cohort both expands the initiative's reach into new disciplines and enhances investments into successful projects from the 2024 inaugural cohort. The nine projects selected include:

• Bronco Challenge for Sustainable Impact
• Center for Excellence and Research in Public Service (CERPS)
• DigitalWMU 2.0: The Career Fair for Digital Marketing Professional Preparation
• Evaluation, Measurement and Research Practicum: Experiential Learning and Giving Back to Campus and Community 
• Future Forward Experience Learning for Kinetic Imaging Program
• IDEAS Collaboratory Phase 2: Building for Enduring Impact
• An Immersive Audio Lab for Multimedia Arts Technology Students
• Paid Internships for Future Teachers
• Setting the Stage: Theatre for Social Change

"These projects allow us to bridge the gap between theory and practice, immersing students in their fields of study and empowering them to pursue their career goals," Cheatham says.

Western’s latest Career Outcomes Report finds 93% of graduates participated in Experience-Driven Learning (EDL) as students. The EDL Venture Grants bolster the University's 2022-32 Strategic Plan goal for all students to engage in experiential education before they graduate.

Amplifying experience

Immersive audio expands the boundaries of a traditional entertainment experience, enveloping the listener in a three-dimensional soundscape. A new lab will amp up opportunities for Western's multimedia arts technology students to learn and implement cutting-edge sound design practices, launching them into their careers with a portfolio of professional-quality examples of their proficiency.

"The proposed lab would allow students to develop new approaches, code innovative software and generate experimental content all geared toward the currently evolving immersive audio industry," says Dr. Carter Rice, associate professor of multimedia arts technology and project lead.

This Venture Grant will fund the transformation of a space within Dalton Center into a state-of-the-art immersive audio mixing station for creating artistic and commercial projects where "students will conduct advanced creative and commercial research, which matches the required skill set of those working professionally in various industries," from film to television to gaming.

The new immersive audio lab opens up the potential for collaboration between students and local businesses and community groups on projects as well as possible commercial work opportunities, in addition to use in classes and independent study. Students from a wide spectrum of majors outside of multimedia arts technology, from jazz studies to music composition to kinetic imaging and film, could also utilize the space.

Water spiders

The world needs more water spiders—and Western can help. While the notion might spark arachnophobia in some, in the high tech and manufacturing realms it refers to employees with interdisciplinary knowledge and broad skills who are adept at flexibility, hovering between realms and departments to maintain efficiency in a world of increasingly evolving technologies and work responsibilities.

"This idea of water spiders also captures what we are doing with our evolving curriculum that requires students to have a broad and strong foundation in the social sciences as well as diverse soft skills and an understanding of—and capacity to now use—AI as one of their many tools," says Dr. Gary Miron, professor of educational leadership, research and technology, and faculty lead on the Evaluation, Measurement and Research (EMR) Practicum grant.

Western is home to the first and oldest graduate-level evaluation program in the United States. Increasingly, artificial intelligence is being woven into companies and processes. This grant will better prepare EMR students to thrive in the fast-changing landscape by allowing them to gain practical experience in real time, more than tripling the number of placements to plan and conduct evaluations and provide evaluation services for community nonprofits, faculty and campus units. 

"Experiential learning is going to be critical for us to shape and prepare our students for a changing world and also maintain our national leadership in the field of evaluation," says Miron.

Building momentum

From doubling the number of students tackling interdisciplinary solutions for sustainability challenges to expanding opportunities for aspiring educators through paid internships, the inaugural cohort of Experience-Driven Learning Venture Grant recipients proved initial investments paid off. 

Some of those projects plan to build on their momentum this year and scale up their impact. That includes Dr. Scott Cowley's DigitalWMU initiative, which launched the first digital marketing career fair of its kind in the country in fall 2024.

"Seeing how many students (at Western) are learning all of these new practices in the digital space is inspiring. It makes us want to bring them back to our team," a company representative who attended the fair remarked in a post-event survey. 

Tracking also shows multiple students earned jobs from connections they made at the event. Cowley hopes to increase the number of companies at the 2025 DigitalWMU Career Fair and grow the number of students in attendance as well through enhanced outreach and engagement.

"We have used EDL grant resources with great care to directly benefit students, and we're thrilled to have this University support once again," he says. "We are literally changing career trajectories."

Grants are supported by funding from the Empowering Futures Gift, Office of the President and Office of the Provost. Learn more about all of the Experience-Driven Learning Venture Grant projects online.

For more WMU news, arts and events, visit WMU News online.