Membership Appreciation Month honors the impact CAEL members make year round. Throughout June, CAEL is celebrating our members through various activities at our Member Hub and beyond, including highlighting individual members. Below is a Q&A with Dr. Catherine Wehlburg, president of Athens State University, where her leadership highlights the resilience, determination, and sacrifice that adult learners demonstrate every day. Recognizing that many students balance careers, families, financial responsibilities, and coursework, she focuses on creating flexible pathways and strong support systems to ensure students feel seen, valued, and supported. Earning CAEL’s Adult Learner Advocate Badge has been a meaningful milestone for her, and she is excited about the opportunity to share her journey and connect with fellow members doing this important work.
How has your own journey shaped the “blueprint” you use to support adult learners today?
Although I was not an adult learner when I started college, my years in higher education leadership have shown me the resilience, determination, and sacrifice that adult learners demonstrate every day. Many of our students at Athens State University are balancing careers, families, financial responsibilities, and coursework all at the same time. That reality has shaped the blueprint I use today: finding ways to create flexible pathways, provide strong support systems, and ensure that our students feel seen, valued, and supported. Adult learners bring extraordinary life experience and commitment to the classroom, and our responsibility as institutions is to meet them where they are while helping them move confidently toward where they want to go.
What does it mean to be an adult learner advocate?
Being an advocate for adult learners means recognizing both the strengths they bring and the barriers they often face. It means designing institutions, policies, and support systems that acknowledge the realities of balancing work, family, finances, and education. Advocacy is not simply about access. It is also about creating pathways for success through flexibility, respect, academic quality, and meaningful support. It also means believing deeply that adult learners deserve the same opportunities for growth, transformation, and achievement as any other student, and ensuring that higher education is responsive to their goals and aspirations. Learning more about andragogy and finding new ways to support our adult learners’ learning is also an important part of being an adult learner advocate.
What’s your favorite “power tool” among CAEL’s member resources?
One of my favorite CAEL “power tools” is credit for prior learning (CPL). Adult learners come to higher education with significant professional, military, and life experiences, and CPL recognizes that learning does not only happen inside a traditional classroom. Thoughtful CPL processes respect students’ expertise, reduce unnecessary repetition, shorten time to degree completion, and lower overall costs. More importantly, it sends a powerful message to adult learners that their experiences matter and have real academic value. For institutions focused on workforce development and economic mobility, CPL can be transformational.
It takes a village. Who are the most essential partners, both inside your own organization and outside, that you are building alongside right now?
It truly does take a village to support adult learners well. Inside the university, our faculty are essential partners because they create meaningful learning experiences, mentor students, and help connect academic learning to professional goals. Our Success Coaches also play a critical role by helping students navigate challenges, stay connected, and maintain momentum toward graduation. Beyond campus, we work closely with employers, community colleges, workforce partners, and community organizations to ensure that our programs remain relevant, flexible, and responsive to student and workforce needs. The strongest support systems are built when all of these partners work together with a shared commitment to student success.
What is one thing you are building today with CAEL that you believe will still be standing 20 years from now?
One thing I believe will still be standing 20 years from now is the intentional infrastructure we are building to support adult learners as whole individuals, not just as students in courses. Through our work alongside CAEL, we created ALSO (the Adult Learner Services Office) which brings together support, guidance, and advocacy specifically designed for adult learners. I believe the long-term impact of efforts like ALSO is not just in the services themselves, but in the institutional mindset they create: one that recognizes adult learners as central to the future of higher education and builds systems intentionally around their success.
If you could recruit anyone, fictional or real, to be a part of your work crew, who would you invite?
If I could recruit anyone fictional to join this work, I would choose Hermione Granger. She represents curiosity, persistence, preparation, and a deep belief that knowledge can change lives. She also understands that systems can and should evolve to become more fair and accessible. Those qualities align closely with the work of supporting adult learners and focus on finding creative solutions, advocating for others, and helping people recognize strengths they may not yet see in themselves.
Tag a member you enjoy “building” with!
I am fortunate to work alongside many dedicated colleagues, but one person I especially enjoy “building” with is Felicia Mucci at Athens State University. She brings creativity, energy, and a deep commitment to adult learner success to every conversation and initiative. The best ideas often come from collaborative work, and Felicia has been an outstanding partner in helping us think differently about how we support and serve our students.