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UNIVERSITY GOVERNANCE

Chief Academic Officer

Expanding Access to Quality Education


 

Western Governors University’s mission is to ensure everyone has access to a higher education. This means we are continually innovating for the benefit of students and developing educational pathways that provide opportunity, promote lifelong skill development and lead to long-term economic value. WGU’s academic organization places students at the center of everything we do.

"WGU has made a bold commitment to empower every student with a personalized, affordable, and career-advancing postsecondary education. WGU is uniquely poised to equip students to thrive in today’s rapidly evolving workforce.”

—Courtney Hills McBeth 
Chief Academic Officer and Provost

Graduation Is The Goal


 

Access without attainment does not deliver on the promise of higher education. To measure whether we're expanding access, we must measure growth in credentials earned.

Source: 2023 Annual Report

Making College Work—For Everyone


 

Providing access to higher education for populations from aspirational communities is the first step toward closing the opportunity gap and ensuring our collective well-being. These populations include students from communities of color, low-income families, rural locations, and/or families in which they are the first to attend college. According to self-reporting at the time of enrollment, 74% of WGU’s students come from at least one of these communities.*

*Source: 2023 Annual Report

Recognized for Innovating


 

WGU is recognized year after year as a leader in higher education. Our employees take pride in making a difference by providing value to our students and offering high-quality programs and courses at scale. Working with industry partners, developing a robust competency-based education program, and delivering strategic innovations to bring educational access and economic mobility to more students are just some of the ways we are focused on making a difference. This work earned WGU recognition in 2025 as an Opportunity College and University from the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation.

WGU Councils


 

Assessment Council

As a competency-based education institution, the core of our practice is to prove competency through assessments, not time spent in a class. To maintain WGU’s credential value, we partner with our Assessment Council to advance innovation and integrity in our assessment and evaluation processes.

Current Assessment Council members:

Randy Bennett
Norman O. Frederiksen Chair in Assessment Innovation
ETS
Ph.D., Columbia University

Peter Ewell
Vice President
National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS)
Ph.D., Yale University

Brian Gong
Executive Director
Center for Assessment
Ph.D., Stanford University

Neal Kingston
Distinguished Professor in Educational Psychology,
Director Achievement and Assessment Institute
University of Kansas
Ph.D., Columbia University

Sue Lottridge
Chief Scientist
Natural Applications at Cambium Assessment
Ph.D., James Madison University

Ric Luecht
Professor of Education Research Methodology
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee

Liberty Munson
Director of Psychometrics
Microsoft
Ph.D., University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign

Maria Elena Oliveri
Research Associate Professor
Purdue University College of Engineering
Ph.D., University of British Columbia

One University, Four Schools