Bill Vanderburgh doesn’t teach as many classes as he used to as a professor, but he’s shaping the lives of young students through his role as executive director of Wichita State’s Office for Faculty Development and Student Success.

Vanderburgh, 41, is an associate professor of philosophy and has been at WSU since 2001. Shortly after earning tenure in 2007, Vanderburgh was named interim director of Wichita State’s Center for Teaching and Research Excellence. A few months later he officially took over the role.

Vanderburgh said he’s always been interested in working in administration.

“I was wondering if there was a way to have a wider impact,” he said. 

Striving for student success

Vanderburgh has been with the Office for Faculty Development and Student Success for two years.

He’s been instrumental in helping establish a new academic early alert system called GradesFirst. The idea behind early alert is to address as quickly as possible any issues a student might be encountering and increase the chances that the student can save her or his semester.

Many universities lose a lot of students after their freshman year, and often waiting until those students receive their mid-term grades is too late. Once they have trouble saving their first semester, many students drop out.

The early alert program aims to identify students having problems and get help for them by the fifth or sixth week of classes.

“The earlier you intervene, the easier it is to make a change,” Vanderburgh said. “If we can help them early, they have a better chance. We know we can’t save everyone, but we need to try to save some.”

For the past two academic years, Vanderburgh also has been instrumental in developing www.MyCollegeMoneyPlan.org, a free online course that teaches personal financial management topics for students who are new to college or are considering college.

The course helps students and families make wise decisions about which college to attend and how to pay for it, while teaching students how to wisely manage money while in college and beyond.

The project was funded by a federal College Access Challenge Grant.

One of the courses Vanderburgh teaches is WSU 101: Introduction to the University. The course helps the transition for incoming freshmen, giving them tools to adjust to college life, make decisions about their futures and acquire the skills needed to be successful at Wichita State.

“Research shows that kind of course can impact retention rates,” he said.

In his time as executive director, Vanderburgh has been able to make a real difference for students and the university as a whole.

“I’m really intrigued by the field of student success,” he said. “The more I dive into it, the more I like it.” 

Family life

A native of Montreal and raised in a uranium mining town in northern Ontario, Canada, Vanderburgh is the first person in his family to earn a college degree. His bachelor’s, master’s in philosophy and Ph.D. are from the University of Western Ontario.

Vanderburgh arrived in America six weeks before the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

“It was a weird time to be initiated to the United States,” he said.

Vanderburgh, who didn’t own a car until he moved here, still sometimes rides his bike to work. One of his interests is the environment, and he even teaches an honors environmental philosophy class.

Vanderburgh has a wife, Emily, and a 7-year-old stepdaughter named Natalie.