Student Experience
Providing Personalized Support Every Step of the Way
You Can Thrive with Individualized Faculty Support and Instruction
At WGU, you have an entire team of faculty members whose #1 job is empowering you toward success. WGU faculty members are leading experts in their fields. They are there to provide you with personalized instruction and support in your specific courses and with your overall degree program. You interact with these faculty members regularly to help you stay on track, get answers to questions, and find success.
You have your own faculty member, assigned to help you succeed.
Student-Facing Faculty
Students primarily interact with three types of faculty at WGU: Program Mentors, Course Instructors, and Evaluators. Mentors and instructors interface with students by phone or by web to provide tailored instruction and support in their areas of experience, while Evaluators provide feedback and perspective on student assessments. This "division of labor" enables each type of faculty member to deliver top-notch, student-focused support.
Program Mentors
Upon enrollment, each student is assigned a Program Mentor, an expert in the field who:
- Creates a personalized term plan that fits a student's life and goals.
- Provides program instruction and guidance from enrollment to graduation.
- Provides information on programs, policies, and procedures.
- Assesses student strengths and development needs to help establish a study plan.
Course Instructors
As subject-matter experts with advanced degrees in the courses they instruct, Course Instructors:
- Help students create a personalized course plan with the right amount of faculty support.
- Bring WGU courses of study to life via one-to-many or one-to-one forums.
- Provide instruction both proactively and reactively—the type and intensity of instruction varies based on a student's needs in a particular subject.
- Provide content expertise if students are struggling with course material.
Evaluators
Evaluators are subject-matter experts who review assessments to determine if competency has been demonstrated. Evaluators:
- Are experts in their areas of evaluation, with doctoral degrees or other post-graduate training or certifications.
- Review submissions extensively, providing clear and comprehensive feedback to support student development.
- Focus on evaluating student performance, free of bias and other barriers to fair and timely evaluation because they do not personally interact with students or develop curriculum and assessments.
A Faculty Model with Students at the Center
WGU faculty and staff are committed to focusing on students in every aspect of their work. Innovation, ownership, a sense of urgency, and continuous learning are part of every employee’s job description.
Curriculum and Assessment Faculty
While students interact with faculty members who specialize in instruction, support, and evaluation, behind the scenes another group of faculty members is busy developing our high-quality curriculum and assessments, ensuring the quality of what students are learning and the value of their degrees. This separation of faculty roles is key to WGU's ability to provide on-demand, one-on-one faculty support without sacrificing our commitment to continuous improvement in our programs.
Assessment Faculty
Assessment faculty members are experts in the science and craft of creating high-quality assessments that are valid and reliable. Assessments that can establish which students have achieved competency and which still need additional learning are central to WGU's competency-based model.
WGU's teams of assessment experts are aligned by college and guided by Academic Vice Presidents and other leaders committed to the highest levels of academic integrity. They also collaborate with student-facing faculty and other subject-matter experts to ensure that WGU always employs an evidence-based approach to student assessment and always invests in continuous improvement in assessment.
Curriculum Faculty
Faculty members who specialize in curriculum development are experts in the science of learning. These college-aligned faculty members are deeply informed about the competencies required by academic standard-setting organizations and the industries they serve. They ensure the curriculum and instructional materials are evidence-based and academically rigorous—as well as engaging and focused on student success.
Curriculum faculty members collaborate with student-facing faculty and other subject-matter experts—including Academic Vice Presidents and Program Councils of academic and industry experts—to ensure content is accurate and pedagogically sound.
"What we do here changes lives. When someone earns a degree, that changes things for their family and, through the influence of their family, changes the community. And that changes the world. I have the chance to help change the world every day at work, and that inspires me to give my best."
![Jim McCleskey headshot]()
Jim McCleskey
Course Instructor
College of Business
“Encouraging students to believe in their capacity for success is an integral part of mentoring. WGU Course Instructors couple that encouragement with a commitment to creatively supporting students’ mastery of the competencies in our courses. We frequently remind students that learning requires exertion, but they are not laboring alone.”
![Carmen Turner headshot]()
Carmen Turner
Course Instructor
Teachers College
“WGU students humble me because many of them persist through adversity that might have overwhelmed me. They inspire me to help every one of my students succeed.”
![Gideon Weinstein headshot]()
Gideon Weinstein
Course Instructor, Teachers College
"Exceptional mentoring means believing in our model. Our unique approach coupled with deep collaboration between mentoring support teams is not only effective, but demonstrates a university-wide commitment that is special and second to none."
![Kari Toney headshot]()
Kari Toney
Program Mentor
College of IT
"What we do here changes lives. When someone earns a degree, that changes things for their family and, through the influence of their family, changes the community. And that changes the world. I have the chance to help change the world every day at work, and that inspires me to give my best."
![Jim McCleskey headshot]()
Jim McCleskey
Course Instructor
College of Business
“Encouraging students to believe in their capacity for success is an integral part of mentoring. WGU Course Instructors couple that encouragement with a commitment to creatively supporting students’ mastery of the competencies in our courses. We frequently remind students that learning requires exertion, but they are not laboring alone.”
![Carmen Turner headshot]()
Carmen Turner
Course Instructor
Teachers College
“WGU students humble me because many of them persist through adversity that might have overwhelmed me. They inspire me to help every one of my students succeed.”
![Gideon Weinstein headshot]()
Gideon Weinstein
Course Instructor, Teachers College
"Exceptional mentoring means believing in our model. Our unique approach coupled with deep collaboration between mentoring support teams is not only effective, but demonstrates a university-wide commitment that is special and second to none."
![Kari Toney headshot]()
Kari Toney
Program Mentor
College of IT
University Academic Leaders
University
Dr. Marni Baker Stein
"WGU’s intense focus on learners, combined with its mission to improve the quality of and expand access to higher education, is unique and truly inspirational." Provost and Chief Academic Officer, Dr. Stein leads all of WGU's academic programs, faculty, and teams, driving the university’s focus on quality and student success.
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Program Development
Dr. Sarah DeMark
As the Vice President of Program Development at WGU, Dr. DeMark helps keep WGU at the forefront of competency-based education by directing the university’s academic portfolio strategy as well as program design and development, with a portfolio of more than 60 degrees, 600 courses, and 1,000 assessments.
Our degrees
Nursing
Dr. Jan Jones-Schenk
As the Senior Vice President for the College of Health Professions at WGU, Dr. Jones-Schenk led the development of an innovative national prelicensure B.S. in nursing program. Jones-Schenk is a past president of the American Nurses Credentialing Center Board of Directors, served eight years on the American Nurses Association Board of Directors and nine years as a Trustee for Park City Medical Center.
College of Health & Nursing
Teaching
Dr. Mark Milliron
As the Senior Vice President and Executive Dean of WGU's Teachers College, Dr. Milliron has a long history of championing and supporting the work of WGU. He served on the Board of Trustees and was the Chair of the Academic Policy Committee from 2003 to 2009. He helped support the launch of WGU Indiana and WGU Washington, and later served as the Founding Chancellor of WGU Texas in 2011.
Teachers College
Information Technology
Dr. Ashutosh Tiwary
Leading the College of IT, Dr. Tiwary sets the strategic direction of the college to focus on building lifelong learning relationships with its students. His professional experience spans CEO, general manager, and SVP roles across the IT industry, including at Microsoft, AWS, and Teradata.
College of IT
Program Curriculum
Joann Kozyrev
As Vice President for Design & Development, Kozyrev leads curriculum specialists, instructional designers, assessment experts, and content creators and curators. Continuously improving the relevance and quality of our learning experiences ensures that WGU graduates can credibly demonstrate the value they have to offer to employers and their communities.
WGU's learning modelView Our Colleges and Find Degrees
All of our degree programs are carefully chosen with employment and success in mind. Our special model of
online-learning is designed for the working adult, and our commitment to keep costs down means better ROI for
our graduates.
