In his monthly campus report for October, West Liberty University President Robin C. Capehart said the university’s new Institute for Innovation in Education will be a resource throughout the state of West Virginia for the advancement of teaching, learning and leadership.
Capehart said the institute, headed by senior fellows Susan McGowan-Koyzis and Terry Wallace and executive director Ron Witt, was created to take the “good ideas” contributed by faculty and staff and put them into practice for the benefit of WLU and education throughout the state.
Wallace explained that WLU, the only institution of higher education to participate in all of the Higher Education Policy Commissions statewide forums this fall, has been asked by the HEPC chancellor to contribute to the commission’s higher education strategic planning process. He explained that there has been a “culture change” in West Virginia. The number of graduating high school seniors has peaked and the state finds itself around 8,000 four-year college graduates short of replacing the current workforce.
“Job openings are going begging in this state,” Wallace said, “and business growth is stunted for the lack of qualified college graduates.”
The role of the Institute for Innovation in Education is to work toward graduating students who can fill that void. Toward that end, Wallace said, the institute will endeavor to recruit the very best high school seniors and non-traditional students, such as military veterans, to be the “next generation” of leaders in the state.
Capehart also reported that fall enrollment at WLU is 2,788, an increase of 2 percent over 2010, and that freshman class enrollment is up 5 percent over last year. The number of Elbin Scholars is up 44 percent. PROMISE scholars constitute 14 percent of all full-time students, he reported, and incoming freshmen had higher grade point averages and ACT scores than the previous freshman class.
“This is a reflection of the quality of education we’re providing at West Liberty University,” Capehart said.
He cited new academic programs, such as the physician assistant program slated to begin in July, 2012. “This will be a significant program not only for WLU but for the entire state,” Capehart noted.
Several new programs in the College of Education, a new Office of International Education and an Honors College also are being created. Groundbreaking on the new Health Sciences building is set for the spring of 2012 and an international Masters of Business Administration program is being prepared for submission to HEPC.
The Honors College, led by McGowan-Koyzis, will offer enhancements to current courses for outstanding students. She said WLU will actively recruit the best high school graduates from throughout the region. “We hope to have 40 freshmen in the Honors College next fall,” she added.
Capehart said, “We’re in a period of radical transition. Our Institute for Innovation in Education will play a major role in advancing education in the state of West Virginia. These developments are part of our plan to take West Liberty University from being a good college to a great university.”