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College Background
Founded in 1905, Oklahoma Wesleyan University (OKWU) has expanded from its origins as a Bible training school into a vibrant liberal arts community. In just over one semester, OKWU was able to launch a variety of new majors and minors in 5 academic fields including Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Business Analytics, Data Science, and Game Development.
Founded in 1905, Oklahoma Wesleyan University (OKWU) has expanded from its origins as a Bible training school into a vibrant liberal arts community. However, the mission of OKWU has remained steadfast, prioritizing the transformation of the whole person for the whole world while developing and sending servant leaders to advance the Kingdom of God. Dr. Wendel Weaver, Dean and Professor of Business, has been a part of the OKWU community for over 20 years and believes deeply in this mission:
"The mission is what really attracted me to OKWU. It's a Christian organization that is surrounded by people that try to live out their faith in an authentic way"
The cornerstone to OKWU’s authenticity is the intimate, relational environment. Dr. Stacey Duke, AssistantDean of Graduate Business Programs and Professor of Business, shares, “I love serving as the Assistant Dean and I love teaching at OKWU because I get to build relationships with our students. At OKWU, our distinctive is relational community. That's really who we are. I know my students on a first name basis. I've met some of their parents. I go to their games. Our faculty and staff are very engaged and very involved.”
This level of involvement doesn’t go unnoticed by the students. Trace, a current junior and student athlete, describes why he chose to go to OKWU: “Playing golf is a big part of why I chose OKWU, but also the professors. You get to know your professors. You're not just a number. They know you by name. You can go talk to them anytime you want. It's just so easy, and they care about you.”
Keegan, an adult learner, echoes Trace when explaining how he chose to attend OKWU, “I went to a community college back in 2017 to get my associate degree. It was a bigger campus that felt very cold. But when you go to OKWU, you feel like everybody cares about you. Everybody there isn't just there to teach you, they're there to make sure you succeed.”
While OKWU’s commitment to a personalized, supportive community has been steadfast, the needs of students continue to change. OKWU serves a wide variety of learner audiences from adults, working professionals, student athletes and first generation students. All of these students are drawn to OKWU’s campus, but increasingly require the flexibility to study and learn online alongside competing priorities. Further, students are increasingly attracted to industries and majors not historically available in the OKWU academic portfolio. As Dr.Duke shares, “we're located an hour north of Tulsa. It's very rural and not necessarily going to be a tech driven industry. And yet, so many of the students here want to have that opportunity. So if they do want to go after graduation to Silicon Valley or a bigger tech area, they want to acquire those skills.” Other students began to express interest in specialized fields like Esports or Game Development.
The challenge for an intimate campus like OKWU is maintaining their environment of support while also giving students the access to the academic programs they want, in the formats and modalities that allow them to succeed. Small colleges in particular encounter significant challenges when adding highly technical programs due to the substantial costs and resources required. These programs often necessitate large investments that can be prohibitively expensive. How can a small campus offer both depth of relationship and breadth of opportunity without the resources to develop everything themselves?
Yet, with student success as their primary motivation, OKWU faculty and staff were not afraid to try something new and seek out unique and innovative answers. Dr. Weaver shares this entrepreneurial spirit: “We have less than 1,000 students, but OKWU is a very entrepreneurial, innovative organization. We’re not afraid to try things.” He loves to challenge his students with the question: “Is there a better way?” He often asks them, “Is there a better way to take care of ourselves physically? Is there a better way to take care of ourselves financially, professionally, spiritually? … I love challenging the students to learn how to ask meaningful questions that ultimately lead to a much better outcome.”
Dr. Weaver describes the process of selecting the eventual solution they identified: “Our program development team went on the hunt for the latest, greatest thing, and Rize was at the top of the list. From the very beginning I was super excited about Rize because it allows us to offer programs that we wouldn't otherwise have the capacity to offer, specifically because they're highly technical programs. We started out as a Bible school and are now considered a liberal arts university. We’ve been able to expand our reach to more technical programs through Rize.”
In just over one semester, OKWU was able to launch a variety of new majors and minors in 5 academic fields including Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Business Analytics, Data Science, and Game Development.
Each of these programs was selected alongside Rize’s partnership development team who supplied regional student and labor market analytics using data from Gray Decision Intelligence and Lightcast. The Rize team also collaborated with OKWU on needs assessments, pro forma budgeting, and enrollment targets. The programs all blended roughly 80% of courses at OKWU with courses offered through the consortium, such that students would take about one course online each semester.
The impact of the Rize partnership on a small campus was felt immediately. Nearly 10% of the undergraduate student population registered for courses powered by Rize in the first academic year of the partnership. More impressively, 100% of students who responded said they would recommend their Rize classes to other students. Dr. Duke shares
"It has been really rewarding to see our students have a very positive experience. Rize has done a really good job making this feel like a true partnership every step of the way, not just for our faculty and our staff, but also for our students because there is around the clock support. Students know who they can contact and Rize provides all of the information I need to be the best coach and advocate for our students."
OKWU’s partnership with Rize has modernized its educational offerings by introducing a hybrid learning model and adding technical programs that cater to a diverse student body. This collaboration has allowed OKWU to offer flexible scheduling options, accommodating the needs of first-generation students, student-athletes, and adult learners. By integrating rigorous academics with the flexibility of online learning, all learner types receive a high-quality education regardless of their circumstances.
The First Generation Student Experience - Jorge: A rising senior and first generation student, Jorge is majoring in Computer Science. Jorge specifically appreciates having access to a major that supports his career goals.
The Student Athlete Experience - Trace: Trace is a member of the Golf team double majoring in Business Analytics and Sports Management. Trace benefits from the flexible online courses through Rize which allow him to balance his academic and athletic commitments.
The Adult Student Experience - Keegan: Keegan is enrolling as an adult student and will be taking his first OKWU classes in Fall of 2024 as a prospective Business major with an emphasis inComputer Science while also working full time.
Graduating in 2025 as a Computer Science major at OKWU, Jorge will be the first member of his family to graduate from college. He explains,
"What's really important to me is my family. At the end of the day, I always had a plan to provide for my family. So to me, it's very exciting. I felt like Computer Science would really push forward my career."
When describing his Rize powered major and courses, Jorge highlights the organization and flexibility: “I like how Rize courses are very structured. They have everything in place. Rize classes helped make my college experience more sustainable for me. I felt like I was in class, not just an online class.” He shares that at first the project-based learning was “a little difficult because I was new to the degree, but the professors were always available and the resources that were provided really helped me.”
Jorge emphasizes that the combination of OKWU and Rize is really what makes the partnership so special. “Rize makes OKWU much better because you have your technical major and you can also enjoy this close community and fun college life.” When thinking about graduating, he is beyond grateful for his experience at OKWU: “It really helps me out and I don’t feel as nervous about the future. I really like having a plan. And because of this, I feel like I have a plan.”
Trace, a rising junior at OKWU, is a member of the golf team and is double majoring in Business Analytics and Sports Management. When determining his majors, he explains,
"I knew that the business analytics field was rising in terms of job growth, and I knew that it would be a good way to position myself because there is a lot of analytics within sports. That's my main goal – to get a job with a professional sports team"
Trace continues, “I enjoy the Rize Business Analytics major because I'm learning stuff that I never thought that I'd be learning. The content that I’m learning is going to really help me in the future. Rize gives you opportunities to pursue majors that your college or university might not have in person, but you're still getting the in person experience.”
Trace was very familiar with the online modality through his COVID experience in high school, but the Rize experience is much smoother: “Rize is set up better than the ones that I took in high school. Rize is easier to navigate.” Online courses also give Trace more flexibility as a student athlete: “I enjoy the online classes because I can do it on my own time. With golf, if we have qualifying, that's 18 holes each day or five to six hours out of my day on the golf course that I can't do any work. Rize and my other online classes at OKWU help me manage my time better.”
Dr. Duke emphasizes this point regarding student athletes at OKWU: “Being able to take Rize courses, it offers them a flexibility that they're not missing practice or they can play on the road and they can take their coursework with them. I think it is really important for our student athletes to feel supported and to feel like they're not being left behind. They don’t have to make a choice between playing their sport and taking a class.”
When discussing his motivation for furthering his education, Keegan shares, “One of my managers told me that most people probably wouldn't consider me with an associate degree for a management position. I think that may be a hard truth, but that was a really good encouragement to go ahead and pursue this degree.” When considering which school to enroll in, Keegan shares that if OKWU didn’t have a Computer Science option,
"Frankly, I just don't know that I would have pursued it at all. If there wasn't the opportunity to take the classes that I have that interest in, I don't know that I would have even gotten this far in the process."
Similarly to the other students, Keegan is looking forward to the flexibility of online classes while also working his full time job. Afterwards, he’s hoping to land a career in cybersecurity or computer networking.
Keegan’s story is another example of a student that may not have been able to select the relational environment they were prioritizing if OKWU was not able to offer the subject Keegan wanted to pursue.
The Rize partnership has been instrumental in providing a flexible hybrid education model, supporting individual students like Trace who balances academics with athletics, and adult learners like Keegan who can pursue their degrees while working full-time. This partnership has enriched the student experience, offering highly technical programs to supplement the core Christian mission of OKWU, preparing students for diverse career paths.
Dr. Duke concludes with one last story of an OKWU graduate: “We had one of our Rize Game Development students graduate in May. At OKWU, he was able to join an Esports group on campus as well as take classes where he can build games. He was able to compete on a national level with some of the bigger schools. Through all of these opportunities, he just became a different kid. He got so excited about what he was able to do.”
“At first he really kind of vacillated with what we had to offer him as a business degree, but he really wanted togo into gaming. When we started offering Game Development, he was able to really hone those skills and see what a career in this industry would look like. And he began to flourish. His coach saw it. His parents saw it. His teachers saw it. And so you have this kid who's kind of really nervous, really shy, very much kind of unsure of next steps. And then you give him a tool like Rize. He blossomed into a student who's more outgoing and more engaged with what he wants to do in the future. When I met his parents at graduation, they said to me, ‘thank you for helping our son pursue his passion because he is now ready for a career in this industry.’ And so, he is leaving OKWU prepared. And that to me is why I come to work every day.”
Download OKWU's story here. If you’re interested in learning more about Oklahoma Wesleyan University's story or how you can partner with Rize, request a call with our Academic Partnerships Team.
