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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

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. 
  • Pathfinders, Undergraduate Journal on Wicked Problems
    Students are establishing a journal to publish undergraduate research on wicked problems and solutions. 

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 Keither, 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 2023 and 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.
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