In this three-part article series, senior academic advisor Wayne Clugston provides insights on historical traditions and experiential knowledge needed to make academic innovation relevant both to past and future purposes.
Wayne Clugston is a higher education management consultant and a pioneer in developing and delivering curriculum designed for adult learners. After 18 years of administrative responsibilities on traditional Christian college campuses, including leadership as an academic dean, he formed an educational services company that developed an “Organizational Management” degree-completion curriculum and successfully licensed it to more than 60 accredited colleges and universities located in 23 different states. Many of these clients were faith-based institutions that were poised to address working adults’ educational needs: ready to embrace change.
An entrepreneur, Clugston is co-founder of Bridgepoint Education, Inc., now a public company which owns two regionally accredited universities serving more than 75,000 students, many completing undergraduate and graduate degree programs online.
In his role as senior academic advisor and education management consultant, he provides insights on historical traditions and experiential knowledge needed to make academic innovation relevant both to past and future purposes. Clugston earned a BA degree in English from Roberts Wesleyan College and an EdD in Educational Leadership from Seattle University.
Question: Tell me the attributes of the best Christian professor in your memory?
Clugston:“I was most influenced by Christian professors who were scholarly co-journeyers, models of Christian grace who facilitated intellectual inquiry and the pursuit of truth—women and men who didn’t tolerate easy answers.”
Question: You have worked with hundreds of Christian college and university presidents, provosts, and faculty. Tell me the attributes that you have seen in a president that you admire.
Clugston: “The most effective presidents are individuals who have passionate vision, tenacious focus, and wisdom to creatively blend strengths of their colleagues, insights from providential perspectives, and constituent participation to build an interdependent community.”
Question: How do you integrate an institution’s cosmology of faith into textbooks and courses?
Clugston:“In most instructional situations in the Christian university, you accomplish it best by creating an open environment intentionally designed to stimulate incisive discussion and personal discovery within the framework and tenets of the Christian faith. Henri Nouwen's observation is worth considering:
"Teaching, from the point of view of a Christian spirituality, means the commitment to provide the fearless space where questions can be responded to, not by prefabricated answers, but by an articulate encouragement to enter into them seriously and personally."”
Question:How can a Christian college or university make sure that its online adjunct faculty represent the institution in the same manner as a full-time faculty member might for the traditional campus student experience?
Clugston:“Using the same hiring criteria for full-time, on-campus faculty and for adjuncts is the soundest approach: it creates continuity in institutional purpose and collegiality in relationships—factors which support a governance structure that effectively includes representation by both full-time and adjunct faculty,” says higher education management consultant, Wayne Clugston.
Question: We hear so much about retention or persistence. We hear that Christian colleges and universities have a higher graduation rate than other regionally accredited institutions. What tips can you give the leadership of a Christian college or university with respect to improving its overall graduation rate?
Clugston:“It’s all about community building and creating meaningful relationships—things that many Christian universities do well. In the online environment particularly, supportive one-on-one communication with students is essential. These personal contacts by student services advisors need to be strategically and frequently made in the days and weeks immediately following enrollment. Online instructors should be specifically trained to be “encouragers” who are always attentive to opportunities to respond holistically to student needs.”
Stay Tuned for Part 2
To read more of higher education management consultant Wayne Clugston’s thoughts, stay tuned for the second installment of this three-part article series, coming next week.
Contact Significant Systems
To learn more about our education management consulting firm Significant Systems, check out our website. If you have any interest in pursuing our new model of education for your institution, Contact Us.
Remember, our goal is simple:
• Provide Broader Access
• Lower Tuition and Fees
• Leave your Institution with Less Debt and More Graduates
• Facilitate Education with a Purpose
Looking forward to our possible conversation!
Dr. Michael K. Clifford
Chairman
760.801.5021(My personal cell)
mkc@mclifford.com
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