U.S. Department of Education
Strengthening Institutions

In 2007, Texas Wesleyan University was selected to receive nearly $2 million from the U.S. Department of Education’s Strengthening Institutions Program. Wesleyan was the only university in the state to receive this award and was one of 20 institutions nationwide. With a goal of increasing student success in terms of retention and graduation rates, the Strengthening Institutions Program funding totals $1.98 million over five years beginning October 1, 2007.

The project has four major focus areas:

• The development of Learning Communities (LC) improves students' learning, grades, retention, engagement, and overall satisfaction with the college experience. The initial pilot of Wesleyan LCs targets incoming freshmen providing a connection among core courses and the freshman seminar. An additional LC will be formed later in the project for our transfer students to assist them with building relationships and establishing networking opportunities. LCs help students learn more deeply by collaborating with faculty and their peers and further promotes concepts of inclusion, mutual respect, and recognition of the richness of diversity.
• The introduction of new advising strategies assists faculty and staff with advising techniques and processes that better serve students in planning their college and future careers. Additionally, new advising technologies such as the online advising tool, eAdvisor, increase the quality and quantity of faculty-student interaction. This holistic redesign includes consideration of individual learning styles and career aptitudes, Career/Education Portfolios (CEPs), and early alert/warning systems.
• A new Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) provides our faculty with professional development on 21st-century technologies and tools needed to improve instruction.
• State-of-the-art technology is a key component in the program. Upgrades include smart classroom tools such as interactive whiteboards, projectors which connect with DVD players, VCRs, and video streaming. Campus-wide wireless access to the Internet supports 24/7 access to information, communication, and web-assisted courses.

The University continues to increase the amount grants and contracts received to support student scholarship, outreach, technology infrastructure, economic development, and teaching and learning.  Among these:  the Rosedale Redevelopment Initiative, School of Education multi-year grants, the TexPrep Pre-Freshmen Engineering Program, and the U.S. Department of Education’s Strengthening Institutions project.  The President’s Review, Spring 2009 details these exciting accomplishments.

Texas Wesleyan has always been known as an institution that values good teaching with an emphasis on scholar-teachers. With a continuing tradition of quality faculty and small class sizes, Wesleyan is focused on moving to a new student-centered learning paradigm.