WSU hired the first chancellor for its Global Campus in an effort to represent online students the same as their campus counterparts.

Dave Cillay, vice president for Academic Outreach and Innovation, will also carry out duties as the Global Campus’s chancellor.

Cillay said his appointment shows the effort in providing educational support for all students across WSU’s campuses.

“It’s a powerful statement from the university that says we have equal footing as our physical campuses,” he said.

He said his goal is to ensure the infrastructure of Global Campus supports its students and faculty and the WSU community understands the value of campus education equality.

Cillay started working for WSU in 2003 and was appointed to vice president in 2012.

WSU Global Campus is one of the only online campuses nationwide that has a student government to represent its students, Cillay said.

ASWSU Global Campus (ASWSUG) President Morgan Atwood said Cillay’s appointment ensures online students get the same quality of life and experience that a student at a physical campus would.

“It looks different, but it’s the same experience,” Atwood said.

She said that while an online campus cannot offer physical locations for student services, it can offer service reimbursement.

ASWSUG can reimburse students for test proctoring, childcare, technology, and mental and physical health services, Atwood said.

“A lot of our students don’t fit the traditional definition of a student,” Atwood said. “We have lots of parents taking classes.”

She said she is excited for Cillay’s chancellor position because he works hard to advocate for the Global Campus.

“It’s been so rewarding to watch the evolution of online programs,” Cillay said. “This is exactly in line with a land-grant university mission in the 21st century.”

That mission includes increasing access to higher education for students in the state, no matter the location, he said.

“We want to make sure the experience in a physical classroom is very similar to a virtual one,” he said.

Atwood said the biggest demographic of students attending the Global Campus is students from major cities such as Seattle, Pullman and Vancouver.

She said those locations make it easier for ASWSUG to host events for its students all over the state. Its most recent event was buying tickets to send students to Pullman for the homecoming football game against Colorado.