By The Keystone Newspaper Plans include additional on-campus internships and online programs
By John Mahoney
On Wednesday, Oct. 15, KU Provost and now Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Lorin Basden Arnold announced plans to expand on-campus internship opportunities, strengthen connections between academic and residential life and create a more inclusive environment for non-traditional students. President Dr. Philip Cavalier will collaborate with her on these initiatives throughout the academic year.
Due to her recent promotion, Basden Arnold will also take on a more involved role with institutional research. She has claimed to have higher anticipation for positive change with her new responsibilities.
Basden Arnold first addressed common transportation challenges students face, proposing an idea to combine more on-campus work positions with internship experience.
“My goal is to garner more attention for our on-campus internships and create even more opportunities for the sake of student convenience,” Basden Arnold said. “Furthermore, we wish to open the door for more paid internships or collaborative student worker positions that count as internships.”
Photo Credit: Lorin Basden Arnold
She also mentioned a renewed focus on non-traditional students on campus who fall outside the typical 18 to 22-year-old age range or face challenging circumstances.
“Last year, we started trying to build more connections between academic and residence life on campus so that more students can succeed and feel supported. Though our attempt at providing tutoring in the residence halls didn’t do as well as we had hoped,” Basden Arnold said. “We’re taking a step back to examine the possible approaches we can take to give students the proper assistance.”
Currently, KU offers only a few fully online programs, including communication studies, general studies and sociology studies. Basden Arnold and the KU administration aim to further develop online courses for students pursuing other degrees. In addition, she noted the increasing interest in keeping certain student-help offices open later, emphasizing that more flexible hours are essential for supporting non-traditional students.
Basden Arnold also referred to difficulties in scheduling within the class registration process.
“We don’t want any students to be scrambling for a class and not know the availability of said class until it’s too late. We want to make it a bit easier to decipher when exactly a class is available, and whether you are eligible to take it,” Basden Arnold said.
Alongside a large emphasis on creating more convenient and accessible resources for students, Basden Arnold expressed that her regular operations as provost will continue accordingly.