WICHE’s Pacific Islands membership includes the CNMI, Guam, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Republic of Palau, and American Samoa.

WICHE brings together senior academic leaders to foster dialogue about issues facing individual institutions through its leadership and professional development networks.

WESTERN ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP FORUM The Forum is a consortium of academic officers at four-year institutions, including those awarding bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, as well as chief executives and chief academic officers for systems and state governing boards.

WESTERN ALLIANCE OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE ACADEMIC LEADERS The Alliance is a consortium of leaders at community colleges, technical schools, and systems and state governing and coordinating boards associated with two-year institutions.

The WESTERN ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP ACADEMY is a yearlong professional development program for academic leaders aspiring to become chief academic officers in the WICHE region’s postsecondary sector.

Through a COST-SAVINGS PARTNERSHIP with the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC), WICHE provides select opportunities for joint purchasing of hardware and software technology. Last year, entities that used these contracts saved 9% over what they otherwise would have outside this joint purchasing agreement.

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH WORKFORCE The University of New Mexico (UNM) Health Sciences Center and Department of Psychiatry leadership, along with WICHE Commissioner Barbara Damron (NM), a tenured professor and senior advisor to the dean at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences College of Nursing, collaborated with WICHE to establish a psychiatry residency rotation in Guam to help address psychiatric workforce needs.

GUAM PSYCHOLOGY INTERNSHIP CONSORTIUM
The WICHE Guam Psychology Internship Consortium (Guam-PIC) aims to prepare, train, and retain psychologists to provide culturally competent collaborative health care for the underserved and diverse people of Guam. This 12-month, in-person, full-time internship program offers two positions with a generous stipend. Accreditated by the American Psychology Association (APA) in 2025, the Guam-PIC is a collaborative effort of two agencies — Guam Behavioral Health and Wellness Center (GBHWC) and Guam’s Department of Corrections (DOC).

TOGETHER WITH VETERANS (TWV) – RURAL VETERAN SUICIDE PREVENTION PROGRAM enlists rural Veterans and local partners to reduce Veteran suicide in their own community. Funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and administered by the WICHE BHP, TWV provides individualized coaching, tools, training, technical assistance, and resources. In Guam, where one in eight adults is enlisted in the U.S. military, TWV provides support to 2,600 Veterans.

For the past several years, WICHE’s Behavioral Health program has provided substantial benefits and TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE across the region. This includes the development of undergraduate and graduate opportunities and articulation agreements with other institutions and other innovative efforts that can help to meet critical workforce needs of the region.

WICHE is supporting the development of a partnership between the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) and the Pacific Behavioral Health Collaborating Council (PBHCC). Through this partnership, PBHCC will become the certifying body for BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AIDES, a training program that will prepare Indigenous, community-based behavioral health workers. WICHE will continue to support the development of this program, which is expected to provide strong benefits to Pacific communities through increased availability of behavioral health care.

WICHE staff continue to work with federal partners to ensure federal policy recognizes and accounts for the unique nature of the Pacific region.

DATA RESOURCES AND POLICY EXPERTS

Knocking at the College Door is the leading U.S. resource for projections of high school graduates. Released in December 2024, the newest edition is essential for postsecondary policymakers, planning and workforce efforts, and economic development.

WICHE offers curated data and policy resources to support better-informed decision-making. WICHE’s research projects and collaborations cover postsecondary completion, health workforce development, behavioral health in postsecondary education, open educational resources (OER), state finance, prior learning assessment, and more:

•  Tuition and Fees in the West includes tuition, fees, and enrollment data about 350+ public institutions in the West.
• Benchmarks: WICHE Region presents information on the West’s progress in improving access to, success in, and financing of higher education.
•   Data on over 35 indicators in WICHE’s Regional Fact Book for Higher Education in the West.

Additionally, WICHE continues to advocate for more complete data collections that will help inform and guide policy in the Pacific and work with local institutions and agencies to incorporate Pacific data into WICHE’s reports.

Created by the WICHE Commission in 1995, the LEGISLATIVE ADVISORY COMMITTEE (LAC) works to strengthen state-level postsecondary policymaking across the West. Members are legislators appointed by each state, territory, or freely associated state in the WICHE region; they meet annually to explore emerging policy issues and develop strategies for interstate collaboration. Each U.S. Pacific Territory and Freely Associated State appoints one member to the LAC.

CHIEF ACADEMIC OFFICERS NETWORK WICHE has convened staff from across the West in a collaborative network to identify challenges and promising practices to help address workforce shortages in the health sector. Through this effort, WICHE members are able to share innovative approaches and collaborate to solve the complex challenges in this sector. Recognizing the unique challenges and policy and practice issues in the Pacific, WICHE is offering an additional forum for key staff from the region’s institutions to discuss common challenges and policy issues.

WICHE has convened the OERWEST NETWORK, which is part of a nationwide collaborative to scale the development and adoption of free course materials. Open educational resources (OER) have shown promise in improving student outcomes, particularly for students whom the high cost of textbooks can be a barrier to postsecondary success.