MU Chancellor says real-world experience crucial to student success

Mizzou’s faculty council is getting further involved with student success.

MU Chancellor Alexander Cartwright has asked faculty council to come up with a strategy to expand experiential learning.

By definition, experiential learning is the process of learning through experience. Cartwright said those types of opportunities, such as internships, will help prepare students for the future.

“I challenge Mizzou to ask, ‘Are we student ready?'” Cartwright said in his 100 days address. “As we think about the pathways our students take today, and in the future, have we considered what we need to do to help our students succeed in achieving the outcomes to which they aspire?”

Faculty council chair Bill Wiebold said internships and experiential learning opportunities vary across each college and department. He said they have a couple of committees that will be looking at what each college offers and where some may need to improve.

“In most cases, I don’t think they’re required, but they are certainly offered to students, but there are some colleges where the opportunities are pretty limited,” Wiebold said.

“In some departments it’s not common,” he added. “They may not understand how having of of these types of experiences can really help [students] when they graduate.”

Matt Tschannen, a senior at Mizzou and software engineer intern at Cerner, said he feels ready to graduate because of his internship.

“Internships can really really help with that tactile experience that you can’t get in the classroom,” he said.

“The common denominator there is that they give the student real life experiences,” Wiebold stressed. “And what they may see when they get out and have a job.”