One WMU: Transforming the Bronco College Experience

Introducing One WMU: Transforming the Bronco college experience

Thanks to the hard work of over 75 individuals, One WMU has officially launched and is moving quickly to co-create an integrated and supportive student success strategy under a new academic unit known as a university college. The addition will be especially advantageous in creating a launchpad for students who enter the university without a decided major and those who find themselves transitioning between majors.

The One WMU initiative kicked off in September of this year and is already progressing toward completion of its second phase.

In Phase I, dozens of administrators, faculty, and staff were consulted to establish short- and long-term objectives for the process. From there, key concepts emerged and design teams were created to align campus authorities with their respective area of expertise; team leads and a core design team were established and immediately went to work making decisions on the what and the why of the new unit.

Phase II is underway and scheduled to wrap up by the end of December. The current goal is to assess the scope and efficacy of existing student services on campus; students, advising professionals, and student support staff have been asked to provide input. Their contributions will be used for the development of comprehensive process maps. The teams have been tackling topics related to centralized decision-making, advising, leveraging data and technology, reimagining the first-year student experience, aligning academic support with students’ needs and how the concept of meta-majors might be integrated at WMU.

Phase III will kick off in January and will produce prototypes based on input gathered in the current phase. The faculty design committee will be formed and begin work in January, planning the transition of University Studies to the new college, among other opportunities. Phase IV will engage the campus community and provide another opportunity for shareholders to make recommendations before Phase V begins in March; the aim of the final phase will be to determine what recommendations are most desirable, feasible, and viable.

An official launch of the university college is scheduled for fall 2020 and will employ the strategies developed throughout the five-phase planning process.

Thank you to all who have contributed thus far. This collaborative initiative requires participation from many stakeholders to be successful, as the teams are designing our future!

Stay informed with regular updates on the progress and launch of the university college by visiting the One WMU website.