The leadership team of the College of Education and Health Professions announced the ‘WE CARE’ initiative

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Interim Dean Kate Mamiseishvili and the College of Education and Health Professions leadership team announced the new initiative for the academic year during welcome events Friday. WE CARE is an acronym for Arkansas’ commitment to excellence in safety and education.

Interim Dean Kate Mamiseishvili and the College of Education and Health Professions College Leadership Team faculty and staff announced a new initiative centered on practical ways to address complex challenges in education and health at the college and across the state.

WE CARE, an acronym for A commitment to excellence in health and education for ArkansasIt includes three priorities for the 2022-23 school year. Mamiseishvili has set goals with her. College of Education and Health ProfessionsLeading team in the summer. She shared her vision with faculty and staff at welcome events on Friday, encouraging them to create proposals and apply for WE CARE funding.

Mamisheshvili said, “We are in a perfect position to expand the national reputation of our college by gathering the knowledge we have gained from both education and health.” Strategies prioritized here include developing interdisciplinary teams to develop research that informs and addresses health and education disparities, collaborating with leading scholars to design new research directions, or developing new unique and high-impact programs and student learning experiences.

This priority supports “Dean’s Seminars” for students in the health and education fields. The first seminar will begin in the spring of 2023. We believe that providing our students with meaningful, unique and transformative learning experiences will strengthen the preparation of educators and healthcare professionals and ultimately improve the care they provide to their patients and communities in the future. Ganio, associate dean for academic and student affairs.

A second WE CARE priority is to advance the university’s land grant mission by caring for Arkansans. Strategies include developing and funding opportunities for students to complete their internships, internships, or clinical experiences in the region. “Encouraging field experiences in Arkansas open up many opportunities for students to gain a better understanding of local community needs and to consider careers in the state,” said Michael Heuvel, interim associate dean for research, strategy and service.

The college plans to fund educators and health professionals from across Arkansas to spend up to a semester at the college to collaborate with students, faculty and staff. It also supports field trips from teachers and health professionals in the region to learn about their community’s needs and priorities. “Hearing from constituents representing diverse communities improves our ability to serve Arkansas,” said Associate Dean for Governance and Diversity Lewatis McNeil. “Listening and learning tours support faculty and staff travel to learn more about the successes, challenges and opportunities faced by communities and organizations across the state.”

A third priority is the culture of the college. “Our ability to achieve our priorities depends in large part on our ability to reflect deeply on our own practices, processes and decisions, and to consider new and innovative ways,” Mamisheshvili said. But she and her team want to invest in the people of the college through “We Care” events for faculty and staff. “We strongly believe that in order to care for our students and the communities we serve, we need to care for each other and create a community where people are valued,” she said. “These events help us learn about and celebrate diverse identities, promote inclusivity, highlight the diverse talent and expertise at our college, and increase our overall ’empathy capacity’.”

Mamiseishvili She is excited about the opportunities that will come in the fall of 2022. “The pandemic was disruptive, but in many ways, it was a catalyst for change and change,” she told the college’s faculty and staff at an event Friday. “This is our opportunity to take advantage of the transformational changes that are happening in health and education and on every higher education campus today. We hope that the WE CARE initiative will accelerate that change.”