Students Give Viterbo Top Grades

Prominent in higher education news this semester was the decision by 257 colleges and universities, including Viterbo, to disclose student ratings of their undergraduate academic experiences. The National Survey on Student Engagement (NSSE) was prominently featured in USA Today on Nov. 5, 2007. The results indicated that compared with the averages of students at peer ­institutions, other Catholic institutions, and at all 1,200 campuses which administer NSSE, Viterbo’s students give their college experience the highest marks on a number of key areas. Viterbo’s seniors indicated they were impressed with Viterbo’s active and collaborative learning, level of academic challenge, and faculty/student interaction.

Viterbo also received other positive media attention in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article, which described the experiences of Viterbo students who participated in Metro Urban Studies Term, a semester-long course in Minneapolis offered by the Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs (HECUA), of which Viterbo is a member. HECUA is an organization of 17 liberal arts colleges, universities, and associations dedicated to education for social justice.

The reporter from the paper interviewed Amanda Lube, a recent Viterbo graduate. Lube participated in the HECUA course, which was cited by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as one of the 21 programs nationwide that are most effective at heightening students’ political knowledge and participation. “The things we learned…should absolutely be required for any social science program at a university,” said Lube, a sociology graduate. “It definitely helped me realize how complicated politics are.” Through HECUA, Viterbo offers students life-changing experiences comparable to programs at Duke, Brown, Harvard, and the University of Minnesota—also on the list.