Education Commons^™

Financial Matters: Developing And Implementing A Holistic & Inclusive Financial Literacy & Educational Planning Culture At Wmu, Shashanta S. James

Academic Leadership Academy

This poster discusses the development and Implementation of a holistic & inclusive financial literacy & educational planning culture at WMU.

Get On The Bus: College Talent & Industry Tours, Christopher Sell

Academic Leadership Academy

Employers and career services professionals are always looking for ways to efficiently connect students to internships and job opportunities early in their college careers. Streamlining the early identification process for college students and employers has become vital to higher education institutions and companies in Michigan as they strive to retain talent in the state. College and university educators are equally committed to helping students learn the professional networking skills necessary for achieving their career goals.

In order to address both outcomes, career services staff at Western Michigan University (WMU) created a five-day immersion program that allows engineering & applied sciences …

Assessing Student Leader Competencies, Lynnae Stankus

Academic Leadership Academy

This project consisted of creating an online survey for student leaders on campus. The survey was open for a period of one month, and 72 students participated in the survey. This study aimed to focus on student leadership competencies in Western Michigan University (WMU) student leaders, and to qualify their experiences.

Development And Implementation Of A Criminal History Review Policy, Amy Tuley

Academic Leadership Academy

The intent of this project was to research, develop, and implement a criminal history policy for the School of Social Work. The Admissions Committee wanted to develop a policy that held to the integrity of the Social Work profession, while holding true to the Social Work values of self-determination and elimination of discrimination.

Creation Of A Custom Course Textbook For The Wmu First-Year Experience Seminar, Maleeka T. Love

Academic Leadership Academy

Since the inception of the First-Year Seminar (FYS) course in 2005, there has been a desire to create a custom textbook. In the fall of 2009, a committee comprised of seminar faculty, staff and students began the planning process for creating a custom textbook for Western Michigan University’s First-Year Seminar. The FYS program will be fully prepared for a “full customization” textbook within the next two years.

Leg-Up: Helping Youth Apply Engineering, Tycho K. Fredericks, Steven E. Butt

Academic Leadership Academy

Leg-Up is a program that was designed to encourage youth to understand and apply math and engineering concepts they are taught in school. This program immerses middle school students in real world problem solving; it allows students to select a problem they deem important, and with the aid of mentors, determine a solution via the scientific method.

Scholarworks At Wmu, Maira Bundza

Academic Leadership Academy

This project is about the scholarly repository - ScholarWorks at WMU. ScholarWorks is an online open access repository for Western Michigan University's research, scholarly and creative output. ScholarWorks serves as a permanent digital archive for these materials, and is administered by University Libraries.

Western And You Parent/Family Academy, Shari Glaser

Academic Leadership Academy

The Western and YOU Parent/Family Academy is a newly created interactive classroom experience that took place during the 2011 Orientation program. It provided an opportunity for family members to experience (or re-experience) the classroom environment. The course offered a hands-on approach in educating our families to better understand and assist students through the transition of attending college.

A Qualitative Assessment Of Non-Traditional Graduate Student Cohort Experiences At A Wmu Regional Location, Amy Routhier

Academic Leadership Academy

Objective: Evaluate the non-traditional graduate student cohort program experience (marketing, competition, decision-making process, and student services) at a WMU regional location and provide recommendations for the program that will result in increased satisfaction and program enrollment.

"Elementary" Engineering Experiences, Steven E. Butt, Tycho K. Fredericks

Academic Leadership Academy

Through early exposure to engineering, this program attempts to open the minds of children to future exciting opportunities that are accessible to them if they are appropriately prepared in mathematics and science. The program consists of a two to four hour session in which students, parents, and teachers are walked through a sequence of hands-on activities in various locations within the CEAS building. In addition to immersing the students in engaging activities, time is also invested in helping students understand who engineers are and what engineers do. This includes describing the various engineering disciplines, and their workplaces.

A Four-Year Comparative Analysis Of First-Year Experience Seminar (Fye 2100), Toni Woolfork-Barnes

Academic Leadership Academy

The University introduced its first comprehensive First-Year Experience (FYE) Program Department in 2005. FYE is designed to assist students in becoming more knowledgeable and familiar with campus during their first year at school. The First-Year Seminar course (FYE 2100) is specifically designed to facilitate first-year students’ transition and engagement within the University, and this poster contains data of the progress of FYE over the past four years.

Preparing Students For Acceptance In Wmu Occupational Therapy Programs, Debra Lindstrom Hazel

Academic Leadership Academy

The goal of this project was to provide pre-Occupational Therapy (OT) students with methods for understanding what occupational therapy is, offering them relevant leadership opportunities, and fostering a diverse environment for the to prepare for future careers.

Effectively Managing Time To Degree: Best Practices For Doctoral Advising, Gary Bischof

Academic Leadership Academy

The intent of this project is to identify best practices in doctoral advising at Western Michigan University and in the professional literature. This project aims to support the goal of reducing the time to degree (TTD) for graduate programs at WMU, which is identified as an indicator in the Academic Affairs Strategic Plan 2010. This project will focus on TTD for doctoral students at WMU.

Haworth College Of Business: Student Leadership Advisory Board, Jan Gabel-Goes

Academic Leadership Academy

WMU’s Haworth College of Business offers a leadership organization to aspiring Business students: the Student Leadership Advisory Board (SLAB). SLAB is an organization assembled to enhance and further develop the value of a business degree from WMU. Members are ambassadors for the college, who promote, provide input and feedback on many college projects and activities.

Integrating Diverse Backgrounds To The Aviation Program, Gail Y. Rouscher

Academic Leadership Academy

The intended goal of this leadership project was to create a resource that will be a living document for those students new to the United States, Western Michigan University, College of Aviation, and the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek area. This leadership project was initiated to recognize the needs of, and provide support to, the many international students currently enrolled at the WMU College of Aviation.

Recruitment And Retention Of Students In The Lee Honors College, Helen Sharp, Jennifer Varner

Academic Leadership Academy

Western Michigan University’s Lee Honors College (LHC) is elective for exceptional incoming students and also for students with an outstanding performance at WMU. The purposes of this project were to examine the honors programs at other universities, determine the factors that contribute to students’ decisions to enroll in the LHC and to remain enrolled, and develop recommendations toward the goal of increasing the census in the LHC.

Implementing A Campus Wide Universal Student Event Calendar, Chris Sligh

Academic Leadership Academy

Due to the limitations of the past University Relations calendar system, a new project was developed to create a campus-wide universal student calendar. This would make it so that organization meetings and events of interest are in one location, making it much more productive for students. This solution would greatly enhance the communication for not only students, but for the whole campus community.

Enhancing Wmu Student Services Through Extended University Programs, Betty D. Dennis

Academic Leadership Academy

WMU is committed to offering the same quality academic programs and student support services throughout its locations. In an effort to maintain and continually improve these resources, Western Michigan University’s Extended University Programs (EUP) will cross-train regional site staff in admissions, academic and career advising. The purpose of cross-training staff is to streamline the transfer process, and use staff more efficiently.

Creating An Alternative Route To Teaching Certification And Adding Teaching Endorsements For Community Members, Marcia Fetters

Academic Leadership Academy

This project was to develop an alternative route for community members who wish to come to WMU to earn secondary teaching certification. The first focus will be for science and mathematics teachers, since this is an area of national shortage. The goal will be to expand to other disciplines in the future.

English Department Faculty Development Forum, Beth Bradburn

Academic Leadership Academy

This project consisted of the first ever English department retreat, where different disciplines in the field (Linguistics, Rhetoric and Writing, Literature, English Education, and Creative Writing) came together and shared their insights to the English language. This forum was called “What is a Difficult Text?”, and was followed by another forum, called “Authority.”

A Portrait Of Change: Student Engagement At Western Michigan University, Suzan F. Ayers

Academic Leadership Academy

The NSSE (National Survey of Student Engagement) is a national survey that asks first-year (FY) and senior (SR) students about their college experience, how much time they spend studying, and the types of interactions they have with faculty. The results are used in a variety of ways, including assessment, institutional improvement, and prompting discussion on teaching and learning initiatives. This survey was conducted at WMU.

Micro Enterprise – Macro Impact In Liberia (Memi), Susan Weinger

Academic Leadership Academy

The aim of this project was to support the start-up of a few small businesses by collecting quality used and new wedding dresses and sending them to Liberia, West Africa. The project began by helping a 30-year old mother, who just graduated from college in Liberia, in starting a bridal gown rental business.

Creating An Interdisciplinary Game Development Minor, Karlis Kaugars

Academic Leadership Academy

This project suggests a new minor to the Academic Catalogue- Game Development. Game Production is multidisciplinary in nature. A minor in game development would consist of six to eight introductory courses, each from a different department, emphasizing core concepts of the discipline with a focus on how discipline topics relate to game design.

American-Chinese Connections Via Mathematics: International Conference On Representation Theory (Icrt) V, Terrel Hodge

Academic Leadership Academy

Representation theory is a mathematical means for capturing and studying symmetries within all sorts of systems. Starting a decade ago, a triennial conference surrounding representation theory was initiated by a small group of Chinese and American mathematicians. This conference is conducted to introduce Chinese and American mathematicians to cutting-edge research in various subfields of representation theory.

The Business Learning Community: A New Option For Freshman Business Students Starting In Fall 2009, Nancy Schullery

Academic Leadership Academy

In Fall 2009, entering freshmen will have the option of living in a community with other students who are interested in Business. The Business community residence will emphasize peer support, and foster a positive environment for academic and social success amongst those with similar career interests. This community will reside at LeFevre Hall on WMU's campus.