Innovative

Provost Lori Werth, Ph.D.

INNOVATIVE

How UPIKE’s Forward-Thinking Leadership is Transforming the Student Experience

Provost Lori Werth, Ph.D., is passionate about the transformational power of a college education. Immigrating as a child to the United States from Romania with her family, Werth grew up in Idaho where her father was a mechanic and mother a housekeeper. “I had to learn to read and write, learned to have grit and work hard,” she says. Encouraging teachers took Werth under their wing, tutoring her in English and mentoring her. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in the fifth grade.

Werth’s childhood story isn’t so different from many students who call UPIKE home. More than 80 percent of students come from rural communities and many are the first in their family to attend college. The university’s first provost, Werth believes students from all backgrounds can be successful with education. One of her main strategic goals is to provide faculty, staff and students the tools and support to realize that success. Enhancing digital learning tools is just one of the ways Werth is doing that.

In 2017, Werth was among 32 chief academic officers at universities nationwide to be selected for the Association of Chief Academic Officers (ACAO) Digital Fellows Program, which is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“The Gates’ are very interested in finding ways to provide higher education access to first-generation students in rural communities. They are interested in lifting them up through innovative technology inside and outside of the classroom. Selection for the fellowship recognized the University of Pikeville as one of the most innovative and forward-thinking in higher education,” Werth says.

“The next two to three years at UPIKE hold the potential to see incredible change in how students are educated and what opportunities exist in terms of digital learning in Central Appalachia,” she says.

Werth’s participation in the Digital Fellows Program is providing critical information and resources to understand technology, enhance student learning, increase student retention and improve institutional outcomes. The university has secured a grant to bring new technology – Grammarly – into the classroom and to train faculty in implementing this technology. Grammarly integrates with Canvas, a new digital learning management system, to ultimately support students with their writing.

Faculty partners Amanda Slone, assistant professor of English, and Johnny Fleming, assistant professor of mathematics and firstyear experience director, have led faculty workshops on Grammarly and students have actively used the software for daily classwork.

Under Werth’s leadership, UPIKE launched a fully online Bachelor of Science in Nursing completion degree in 2017, which allows registered nurses who are working full-time the opportunity to complete their RN-BSN coursework at UPIKE. The program gives adult learners with full-time obligations the flexibility to pursue an advanced degree in nursing.

Online programs available at UPIKE include a Teacher Leader Master of Arts in Education and Master of Business Administration with specializations in professional MBA, health care and entrepreneurship.

Werth’s initiatives for curriculum advancement, faculty development and digital learning technologies will enhance opportunities for student success.

“We think what is key about UPIKE that positions us well for the future is that we have demonstrated innovation and an appetite to be forward-thinking in education,” Werth says. “Even if students come from first-generation families or struggling financial backgrounds, we can tell them that if they stick with us, we will empower them to finish their degrees and finish well.”