The university recently announced and appointed two new strong leadership positions within the university administration, the associate vice-president (AVP) student experience and the vice-provost academic programs. Previously, these two portfolios were led by one individual, the vice-provost academic programs and students.
This change has long been advocated for by students and the University Students’ Council (USC), and has been a top advocacy priority for this year’s executive.
The AVP student experience will act similarly to deans of students at other institutions.
The ‘student’ portfolios at other institutions are typically responsible for the ‘out-of-the-classroom’ experience and support services. Western has many great services and programs, including services for students with disabilities, counseling (academic, career and personal), service-learning opportunities, experiential learning, assistance for indigenous students and many others.
However, without a single administrator given the mandate to coordinate and set the vision for how these services need to work together, we have not hit our fullest potential.
Students feel like they have been lost in the shuffle, not sure which service provider they were looking for. With a new senior leader reporting to the provost, this crucial priority will continually improve the lives of students and provide support throughout their studies, while being connected to the academic mission of the institution. We encourage this position to continue to take leadership over all aspects of the student experience and student wellness outside of the classroom.
This position will be a natural partner to the USC and we are excited to begin work immediately. We are extremely pleased with this direction of the university and we believe it is a signal to students that we will never lose the ‘best student experience.’
The announcement of a vice-provost academic programs is also incredibly valuable to the lives of students. This position will be able to focus on the teaching and learning of students. This person will be able to focus on the ‘in-the-classroom’ experience. Allowing development in crucial areas such as tech-enabled learning, teaching support, the USC advocated for initiative of teaching fellows, and several other current teaching priorities.
With this renewed focus, we believe the teaching quality at our university will continue to improve for students.
While we expect changes to be incremental during the initial years of these positions, we are excited for this positive step towards being more collaborative, coordinated and deliberate in the experience of our students.
Pat Whelan is the president of the University Students’ Council for the 2013/2014 term. He previously served as a senator representing undergraduate students, and is a Computer Science and Management student.