Clifton Franklund has been appointed as Ferris State University’s general education
coordinator. The announcement was made by Fritz Erickson, provost and vice president
for Academic Affairs.
Franklund has served Ferris since 2006 and is presently an associate professor in
the department of Biological Sciences. In 2012, Franklund was named Ferris’ Distinguished
Teacher Award recipient and received many accolades from students and the awards committee
who attested to his teaching effectiveness and ability to engage students in the classroom.
In 2013, Franklund was named to the prestigious list of extraordinary professors who
comprised the Top 25 STEM Professors in Michigan as reported by StateStats.org and
OnlineSchoolsMichigan.com.
“We look forward to his capable leadership in this role,” Erickson said. “We are facing
an exciting transition with our General Education program, and we appreciate the great
work that has been done and will continue to be done toward the holistic development
of our graduates. We look forward to supporting Clifton and our General Education
Program.”
For the past two years, Franklund has served as the Academic Affairs assessment coordinator.
He has brought much enthusiasm to identifying improved ways to assess and report students’
learning across our varied academic programs. He has worked diligently to optimize
the use of our assessment technology FerrisConnect and TracDat in these efforts.
Franklund has served on numerous committees, including the General Education Scientific
Understanding Committee, Human Subjects Review Committee and various search committees.
He is presently chair of the University Assessment Committee. He has served as a trainer
for Quality Matters, Online Instruction and Blackboard Learn 9.1, assisting faculty
in best practices and user-efficiency methods. He has also directed a number of student
research projects at Ferris for students in pre-medicine, biology, pre-dentistry,
biotechnology, MSTS, MSTC and optometry programs.
“Dr. Franklund has shared with me his eagerness to continue the work of the General
Education Task Force and work collaboratively across the university toward the implementation
and assessment of the eighteen Ferris Learning Outcomes,” Erickson said.
Franklund’s appointment will begin in Summer 2014.