Whitworth President's Report

Goal 1: Advance Whitworth's distinctive approach to integrating Christian faith and learning

OBJECTIVE
Deepen the capacity of students and faculty to integrate faith and learning and ensure that 100 percent of Whitworth's academic departments assess student-learning outcomes in faith-learning integration.

KPI 1.2.1: Increase to 100 percent the number of academic majors that include and assess student-learning outcomes in faith-learning integration.

During the 2011-12 academic year, a sub-group of the Academic Advisory Group compiled a conceptual framework for the integration of faith and learning. The framework includes categories for vocation – what kind of work Whitworth students are called to do; ethical and public-policy implications, covering commitment to good and ethical action and how that plays out in a community; and the intersection between theological assumptions and academic disciplines. The framework is designed to encourage involvement, to promote faith integration, and to provide clarity and common language regarding faith integration.

"All academic majors have student-learning outcomes, and all assess those outcomes annually," says Interim Provost Barbara Sanders. "The outcomes are listed in the catalog. At the start of the plan, about 60 percent of the departments included faith-related outcomes. We are in the process of working with departments as they are reviewed on a four-year cycle by the Teaching, Learning and Assessment Committee to ensure that they have included a faith-related outcome and are assessing that outcome."

OBJECTIVE
Support rich learning opportunities across the curriculum in which students are challenged to strengthen connections between their worldview convictions, academic studies, and vocational discernment.

KPI 1.3.2: Improve by 50 percent the proportion of alumni who report over the five years following graduation that they engage in ongoing discernment and pursuit of their calling/vocation.

The Weyerhaeuser Younger Scholars Program is designed "to encourage, educate and inspire a future generation of Christian academics" by identifying academically gifted undergrads and encouraging them to pursue scholarly careers and Christian vocations.

Paul Long, '08, was a Weyerhaeuser Scholar at Whitworth. He graduated with a B.S. in biochemistry, and he will finish medical school at the University of Utah next May. Last year, he took a leave of absence to travel with his wife to East India, where they worked with a mission hospital, completing two public-health research projects and working to develop six free-care clinics. Next year, following his graduation from medical school, Paul will attend an internal-medicine residency; after that, he and his wife have plans to work both in the U.S. and abroad (especially in Southeast Asia).

When asked what spurred him on through his biochem curriculum combined with varsity sports at Whitworth, Paul says, "Toby Schwarz, my cross country and track coach, taught me about hard work and dedication (and that 'life isn't fair' ...). Kamesh Sankaran mentored me in so many different areas that it would be impossible to list them. And I would not have been a 'young scholar' had it not been for all of the professors I had. From Gospel of John with Terry McGonigal to Quantum Chemistry with Karen Stevens to Core 250 with Forrest Baird, the diversity of the education I received at Whitworth is, I believe, unparalleled."

To review additional KPIs related to Goal 1, click here.