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Wicked Initiatives

Find Solutions to Wicked Problems

Wicked Initiatives focus on addressing complex, persistent social issues known as "wicked problems" such as climate change, world hunger and inequality.

Be part of the change and find innovative solutions!

student presenting research during Wicked Festival

Wicked Problems Courses

The Wicked Problems class was first developed on campus by the Department of Philosophy. It engages students across a semester on the solution of a particular wicked problem. The class participates in the Wicked Festival and is a starting point for the Wicked Minor.

The Wicked Problems minor is an interdisciplinary collaboration between the Departments of Political Science and Philosophy & Religious Studies that focuses on problems that are persistent and complex, or “wicked,” and of a public nature.

Wicked Problems class catalog description

Wicked Problems minor catalog description

Paige  Tan, Ph.D. is director of the Wicked Problems minor. Please contact her at etan3@radford.edu with questions about the minor.

Wicked Festival

The Wicked Festival is an exposition for students to share their work and becoming "authorities" on public problems. 

Wicked Student Resources

Wicked Problems Toolkit
Tay Keong Tan, Ph.D., and a team of Radford students are curating a collection of online resources to teach and solve wicked problems. These resources are being developed for the United Nations Principles of Responsible Management Education (UN PRME) faculty working group and will benefit faculty and students all over the world. 

Wicked Student Society
Students interested in wicked problems have formed a Wicked Student Society, a student club focused on wicked problems.   The academic club allows students to further their research in wicked problems and connect with leaders and scholars at Radford, in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and beyond. With advisor, Dr. Tay Keong Tan, in 2024, students traveled to Berlin, Germany to present their Wicked Problems research. In 2023, they traveled to Lisbon, Portugal. They have also represented the Wicked Initiative at high-profile events like the visit of representatives from the State Council on Higher Education of Virginia to Radford. 

For more information, please contact  Tay Keong Tan, Ph.D., Wicked Advisor and Professor of Political Science. 

Faculty Research

Radford faculty are studying wicked problems in their own research and learning about how teaching wicked problems impacts student learning!

  • Heather Keith, Ph.D.; Paige Tan, Ph.D.; Steven Fesmire, Ph.D.; Guy Axtell, Ph.D.; and Tay Keong Tan, Ph.D. “Cultivating Character and Leadership for Solving Wicked Problems and Beyond,” Educating Character Initiative, Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University, institutional impact grant funded for $604,396, July 2025.

  • Heather Keith, Ph.D.; Paige Tan, Ph.D.; Guy Axtell, Ph.D.; and Steven Fesmire, Ph.D. “Cultivating Virtues for Solving Wicked Problems,” Educating Character Initiative, Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University, capacity-building grant funded for $49,844, May 2024.

  • Paige Tan, Ph.D.; Heather Keith, Ph.D.; and Tay Keong  Tan, Ph.D. “Reflections: Developing Wicked Problem Solvers,” Political Science Educator, Volume 28, Number 1, Summer/Fall 2024.

  • Heather Keith, Ph.D.; Meg Konkel, Ph.D.; and Paige Tan, Ph.D.; presented, "Students to Solutions: Wicked Problems and Beyond in Interdisciplinary Classrooms" at the Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, in 2024.

  • In September 2023, Tay Keong Tan, Ph.D., was recognized with an "Innovator's Award" at the United Nations Principles of Responsible Management Education Conference in Lisbon, Portugal for his leading a session on wicked problems teaching with Paul Hanstedt, Ph.D., author of Creating Wicked Students, along with students assisting with wicked problems research.

Impacts

  • Paige Tan, Ph.D. was recognized with the 2024 Anna Lee Stewart Award for Faculty Development at Radford University for her work supporting the Wicked Initiatives.
  • Fall 2023 analysis by the Office of Institutional Research at Radford showed students participating in the Wicked Festival from 2021 to 2023 were retained at Radford 5.7% more than other Radford University students.
  • Observing the Wicked Festival in Fall 2022, distinguished speaker Paul Hanstedt, Ph.D., author of Creating Wicked Students, observed: “It is so impressive . . . I've never seen anything like it . . .. The way these students have engaged their ideas is truly an educational experience. The light in their eyes changes. They’re not just learning about themselves; they’re learning about what they are capable of accomplishing.”
  • We have found wicked teaching empowers students in problem definition, research, critical thinking, oral communication, teamwork, toleration of ambiguity, reflection, and problem solving, in addition to understanding failure as part of the path to success.  Critical thinking, including problem solving; communication; and teamwork are three of the eight NACE Career Readiness Competencies.  A graduating student in political science commented: "I have now done four [Wicked Festivals] and will be doing a fifth this semester. Every time you do it you build on the skills and knowledge of the previous one. So, by the time I graduate, I can feel confident in these skills.”
  • In addition, feedback from students shows they are also increasing their confidence, empowerment to face problems, and hopefulness that problems can be solved.  A student in PHIL 115: Wicked Problems remarked “From a young age [I] saw the flaws that wracked the world like climate change, hunger, homelessness, addition, and many more things. But it wasn't until I went to college that [I] started to think [I] could help be a part of the solution to these issues.”

Media Mentions

In September 2024, Meg Konkel, Ph.D. (Design) and Paige Tan, Ph.D. (Political Science) were interviewed on With Good Reason, a public radio program highlighting innovations in teaching the Humanities in the state of Virginia.

In November 2023, the Wicked Festival was highlighted in the Roanoke Times.

The Spring 2024 Wicked Festival from Marketing and Communication

The Fall 2023 Wicked Festival from Marketing and Communication

Fall 2023 Marketing and Communication story on Wicked Society trip to Lisbon, Portugal

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