Academic Excellence

Develop Immersive Opportunities

Establish immersive experiences that transform the world into a laboratory for learning.

Year 1 Highlights 

• Conducted review of institutional opportunities and currently analyzing them against best practices
• Updated the Literacy Center at Southwest Primary School to provide adequate space and resources to all students

Year 2 Highlights

• LR Athletics has teamed up with the Ridgeview Community to offer a new mentorship and leadership program.
• LR Nursing students partnered with the Catawba County Health Department to offer vaccination clinics throughout the county.
• The College of Education along with the College of Health Science teamed up with Catawba County Christian Ministries to provide an LR clinic to individuals in need.
• LR Athletics has launched the third year programming for the Bears Leadership Academy that focuses on career readiness and preparing student-athletes for life after college.

Specialized Academic Experiences

Restructure and enhance high-end opportunities including honors, scholars, fellows and academic programs.

Year 1 Highlight 

• Conducting review of how programs overlap and best use of resources, while a revision of our Scholars Day program was implemented

Year 2 Highlights

• A new concept for the Honors program was presented which incorporates all scholar opportunities into the Honors program with a new advising  and administrative structure; the proposal will be reviewed during the 2021-2022 academic year.
• Occupational Therapy students now can join Alpha Omega Tau, a specialized honor society for students and graduates of occupational therapy.

Revise Student Advising

Restructure student advising from academic guidance to life coaching, integrating vocation and purpose.

Year 1 Highlight

• Conducted a review of best practices with a focus on successful models at peer and aspirational institutions, while gaining a better understanding of the needs at LR

Year 2 Highlights

• A new advising council is being established. Possible initiatives from this proposal include providing academic advisors with additional support and to use with their students and offering training sessions to ensure consistency with advising.
• A new First Year Advisor position was established so that additional attention could be given to students through the advising process.
• Implement “Academic Plan,” an advising feature in PowerCampus and training has begun.

Efficiency of Faculty Resources

Benchmark LR with national data and peer institutions to establish goals for student/faculty ratio and student credit hour productivity in an effort to enhance student learning.

Year 1 Highlights

• Reviewed the current approach to faculty contracts and reassigned time, examined the results of "The Delaware Study of Costs and Productivity" conducted in early 2019 to benchmark LR data with national data and reviewed various distributed workload models.
• A recommendation for proposed faculty workload distribution will be presented in April

Year 2 Highlights

• The initiative team working on this goal has proposed a revision to the current faculty workload model, recognizing the totality of faculty work (teaching, service, and professional development).

Expand Online Programming

Year 2 Highlights

• The seminary has begun reviewing ways to incorporate online delivery of content, as well as implementation of a fully online program.
• The LREDI program was launched as a fully online certificate program through the Asheville campus.

Pivot to Student-Centered Learning

Effect a shift in campus culture toward prioritizing student-centered learning, while utilizing learning designers to support faculty instruction and development.

Year 1 Highlight

• Established definition and goals, preparing to present a proposal that includes a training program

Year 2 Highlights

• Course design grants were established and implemented to help faculty transition their current course structure to be more innovative and student focused.
• F180 was reconfigured to offer better data on teaching innovations/high-impact practices.
• Using COVID as a catalyst, LR has invested in multiple technology enhancements that facilitate online learning. These include DesignPlus (to enhance our Canvas sites), GoReact, Hypothesis, and Screencast-o-matic, among others.
• Staffing in the Center for Teaching and Learning.
• A full-time Course Design Specialist was added to the staff of the Center for Teaching and Learning.

Reconceptualize Faculty Work & Rewards

Review faculty work assignments, compensation, and contracts to prioritize and incentive student-centered learning and engagement.

Year 1 Highlights

• Reviewed faculty evaluation processes with deans of all LR colleges
• Gathered feedback on the faculty evaluation process at LR and reported to the provost
• Developing a proposal to revise the faculty evaluation process

Year 2 Highlights

• A new proposal governing faculty evaluation and development has been drafted and will be presented to faculty for review during the 2021-2022 academic year.
• With a grant from NetVUE (Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education), the Living Well Center for Vocation and Purpose (under the direction of Dr. Mindy Makant) provided 10 faculty members with a vocation-focused faculty development opportunity.

Academic Program Review

Implement a campus-wide program review process to determine viability and level of support.

Year 1 Highlights

• Created a program review process based on best practices and feedback from the campus
• The process began in August 2020

Year 2 Highlights - Complete

• A comprehensive program review process and timeline has been established so that all programs will be evaluated every five years. English and Political Science served as pilot programs in 2020-2021 and 5 additional programs will go through the process in 2021-2022.

Redevelop LR's Academic Core

Revise and update LR’s Core Curriculum, including the convocation program, desired learning outcomes, and the integration of vocation and purpose.

Year 1 Highlights

• The Core revision team has met with eight groups of faculty and staff to discuss the undergraduate common learning goals, and we're currently reviewing the data from those listening sessions

Year 2 Highlights

• The initiative team charged with redeveloping LR’s core has held listening sessions and planning sessions with multiple campus constituencies. A draft proposal for a revised core was developed out of these listening sessions and is still in the revision stage. Additional input will be sought during the 2021-2022 academic year.

Alternative Models for Learning

Year 2 Highlights

• The institutional realized that all faculty and staff must be ready to transition from traditional models of teaching and working at any moment. Therefore, all areas are now better equipped and prepared to shift to online or hybrid modes of delivery when doing so is necessary or desirable.
• New models for learning are now a part of the repertoire of content delivery