Theme Three: Enhancing the Student Experience
UW-Stevens Point is a place where students explore an array of opportunities to grow in knowledge, skills, and dispositions to prepare for professional careers, additional post-graduation pathways, and experiences as global citizens. Whether students are high-achieving, under-prepared for college, or in between, faculty and staff meet students where they are, and do what it takes to help them find their path. While at UW-Stevens Point, students learn to step outside their familiar habits and beliefs in order to see connections between themselves and the world around them, to empathize with the differences they encounter, and to place their newfound abilities in the service of a larger community. Students also experience applied learning in the classroom through substantial interactions with instructors and peers, hands-on laboratories, field-based courses, structured opportunities to reflect and to integrate learning for real-world applications, and meaningful engagements with diverse ways of knowing.
At the same time, students apply learning outside the classroom through internships, student employment, performances and exhibitions, student research, student leadership, athletics, recreation, and student organization opportunities. From their first year onward, UW-Stevens Point students will be engaged in and out of the classroom in high-impact practices that enhance their learning, foster their intellectual and emotional development, and help achieve their personal and career goals.
Preparing students to excel and lead, UWSP will take full and systemic advantage of the most advanced evidence-based scholarly teaching practices and educational tools. We will provide expanded opportunities for experiential learning, as well as opportunities to work across disciplines and fields of knowledge. In particular, UWSP will continue to serve as a leader in the region for innovative pedagogies, clearly defined learning outcomes, and critical thinking skills and dispositions essential for our students to make a life, a living, and a difference in our world. Utilizing our post-pandemic lens, we will continue to reinvest in transformative face-to-face classroom experiences that students have come to cherish.
At the same time, we will provide new and enhanced professional development training for instructors to facilitate student success in virtual spaces through adaptive curricular approaches that create a culturally responsive digital environment. With more flexible course offerings and course modalities including flipped classrooms, hybrid models, asynchronous and synchronous online learning, we will help students maximize their potential, reduce barriers to graduation, and allow more students to complete degrees in a timely manner.
For our students to thrive in an increasingly diverse and complex context, we must help them develop their abilities to communicate, understand, and work with people who are different than themselves. Building a community where every member is welcomed, supported, and valued is an essential foundation to education and learning. We will continue providing professional development to foster an equity-minded approach to teaching and learning. We will promote strategies that validate the experiences of all students. To close the equity gap, we will ensure that students have equitable access to faculty mentorship, campus engagement, programs and services, and chances to participate in high-impact practices. We prepare our students not just to participate, but to lead, and to understand how to build teams that are diverse in this global society.
We will maintain and improve services that promote student success, including advising, professional and personal development, and support for the overall well-being of our students. We will enhance our services while paying attention to the specific needs of our students by creating responsive processes that adapt to change. In particular, we will improve our support for rural, first-generation, post-traditional, and underprepared students as well as for students from traditionally under-represented and underserved groups. We will continue to focus on strategies to improve student retention, academic success, and personal growth, while enhancing the existing student involvement experiences and networks.
Goals:
- We will prioritize and expand high-impact practices (HIP) to boost student learning, development, and engagement.
- We will deliver vibrant yet tailored student services that support the retention and success of all students.
- We will build and enhance a community that values inclusion, equity, and diversity.
- We will create an enriched learning environment through the use of advanced evidence-based practices and educational tools, innovative technologies, and equity-minded pedagogies.