91��Ƭ��

As I reflect on the 67th Annual Western Academy of Management (WAM) Conference recently held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, I'm struck by how deeply the experience resonated with my work at Western Governors University. Serving as WAM president-elect and the 2026 conference program chair for this prestigious academic gathering—while simultaneously advancing competency-based education at WGU—revealed profound connections between these separate worlds. 

A Conference Built on Competencies 

Planning the WAM 2026 Annual Conference was a year-long exercise in competency-based thinking and execution. With 206 attendees from five countries and 37 U.S. states, experts presented 184 academic papers across 25 sessions, 13 workshops and two panel discussions. The event also included the Doctoral and New Faculty Consortia and a Teaching and Learning Symposium over four intensive days. 

But numbers only tell part of the story. 

The conference theme, “Leveraging the Past to Forge a New Frontier of Work,” became more than rhetoric. It embodied exactly what we're doing at WGU: honoring proven pedagogical foundations while boldly reimagining how education prepares students for workplace success. In addition to planning and organizing the conference, I had the opportunity to present in multiple sessions.

From Theory to Practice: The Panel Experience 

The CPL Accelerator Model: Validating Experience 

One framework from our panel that generated significant interest was the CPL (Credit for Prior Learning) Accelerator Model. This approach radically improves completion rates, reduces time-to-degree, and explicitly validates workforce readiness for non-traditional students—exactly the population WGU was founded to serve.

The model works by: (1) identifying course modules aligned to specific competencies, (2) assessing existing competency through rigorous rubrics and specialist evaluators, and (3) either verifying mastery for accelerated completion or identifying gaps for targeted learning. This isn't about shortcuts; it's about respecting and recognizing the learning that happens outside traditional classrooms. 

Several attendees asked detailed questions about implementation, assessment validity, and potential faculty resistance. These conversations highlighted both the promise and the practical challenges of transforming educational structures that have remained largely unchanged at traditional institutions for centuries.

Connecting to WGU's Mission 

Throughout the conference, I found myself repeatedly connecting presentations to WGU's core strengths. A paper on adaptive AI training for air traffic controllers? That's competency-based assessment in action. A workshop on supporting psychological safety for faculty? That's creating the conditions where people can demonstrate authentic competence without fear. A study on how alumni relationships create career opportunities? That's recognizing learning as lifelong and relationships as resources.

91��Ƭ��'s approach increasingly looks like the future these scholars are describing: personalized pacing, rigorous assessment of actual competence, recognition of prior learning, direct alignment with industry needs, and support structures that honor students' full lives.

Takeaways for Attendees

Based on conversations during coffee breaks, the evening reception and follow-up emails, attendees valued several key elements: 

• Practical frameworks they could immediately implement. Multiple pedagogical pathways to competency—such as simulations, case studies, service-learning, and CPL—provided actionable blueprints rather than abstract theorizing.
• Permission to challenge traditional structures. Hearing from multiple institutions experimenting with competency-based approaches normalized what many faculty felt but hesitated to articulate: time-based education often fails to develop the capabilities students actually need. 
• Evidence that quality and access aren't opposing values. Our examples demonstrated how properly designed competency-based programs can simultaneously accelerate completion for prepared students while ensuring rigorous mastery verification.
• Recognition of the political challenges. My research on DEI program restrictions named dynamics many institutions are experiencing but rarely discuss openly. This acknowledgment created space for strategic thinking about maintaining academic integrity under pressure.

Looking Forward

None of the event’s success would have been possible without tremendous partnership: our sponsors, institutional partners, and the hotel staff. Most importantly, the 206 scholars who traveled to Santa Fe trusted us with their research, their questions and their professional development. Their engagement, curiosity and willingness to wrestle with difficult questions about education's future made the conference intellectually electric. 

As I transition from president-elect to president of the Western Academy of Management, I'm energized by the possibilities for deepening connections between scholarship and practice. The 2027 conference will continue building on these themes, creating spaces where researchers, educators and practitioners learn from each other.

At WGU, we're positioned to be leaders in the competency-based education movement precisely because we've never been constrained by traditional structures. We were built from the ground up to answer the question: What should students actually be able to do? Not: How long should they sit in classes? 

The enthusiasm I encountered at WAM suggests the broader academic community is increasingly ready to ask this same question. When employers rate diverse team skills as essential, when technological change demands rapid adaptability, when ethical judgment increasingly determines organizational success—traditional education models built around credit hours and seat time reveal their limitations.