AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications
Adelphi University Garden City, NY
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: DRU: Doctoral/Research Universities Affiliation: Independent
Enrollment Undergraduate: 5205 Masters: 2562 Doctoral: 20
Team Leader: Dr. Peter West, Associate Dean Discipline/Office: College of Arts and Sciences, Dean's Office 2) Dr. Jennifer Durham, Associate Professor: Gordon F. Derner Institute for Psychology 3) Dr. Rani Varghese, Assistant Professor: School of Social Work 4) Dr. Susan Zori, Clinical Assistant Professor: College of Nursing and Public Health 5) Mr. John Drew, Assistant Professor: Department of Communications
Summary of Goals: Adelphi has begun the work of instituting awareness of and implementing HIPs. By attending this institute, we will move into the next phase. In particular, we are focused on improving access to HIPs by all students and particularly on dramatically increasing the access to high-quality experiential learning opportunities.
What you would like to see from the institute: Building institutional support at all levels for significant change
2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success Narrative Adelphi University
In its strategic plan for 2015 – 2021, Momentum, established as one of its core goals: “be relentlessly dedicated to student success.” Adelphi is putting significant resources into student support services, such as Educational Advisory Board’s (EAB) Student Success Collaborative. At the same time, Adelphi is looking to invigorate the next generation of faculty leaders who will carry the banner of High Impact Practices (HIPs) and advocate for programming that will impact all Adelphi students.
Adelphi University is known for its commitment to preparing students for lives that are not only professional and personally successful, but also ones of leadership and community. Adelphi’s main focus has historically been, and continues to be, on serving the Long Island and New York communities. At present, 94% of the undergraduate and graduate populations come from the state of New York. Adelphi has made remarkable progress in the diversity of its undergraduate class: in Fall 2016, only 52.5% of the class identified as White. Also, 26.7% of the undergraduate class receives some form of Pell grant.
Adelphi University sent a team to the 2011 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success. That team had remarkable success following the institute in raising awareness around HIPs on campus so that, today, nearly every faculty member speaks in the “language of HIPs.” The 2011 team was successful in advocating for and raising awareness of HIPs both among the faculty and among the deans and higher levels of administration. The 2011 team also was able to establish an internal HIP grant, which faculty members were able to apply for funding to initiate new work that involved HIPs.
By attending the 2017 Institute, we are preparing for the next stage of HIP implementation at Adelphi. Specifically, we are now looking to address the support and sustainability of experiential learning experiences, access to HIPs by students from under-represented groups and lower income families, and to continue discussions on campus around first year seminar models that make a material difference in a student’s university experience.
In addition to the focus on student success, Adelphi, through Momentum and through the communications and actions of President Riordan, has a deep commitment to diversity and inclusion. President Riordan established an executive-vice president for diversity and inclusion, a position which has brought the kind of attention and focus to diversity and inclusion that matters. As we work to recruit a more diverse student and faculty, we are very concerned that we have the curricula in place to deliver a high-quality education and that we retain these students.
To that end, Momentum, challenges us to “Engage in High-Impact Teaching and Learning for All Students” and calls for High-Impact learning to be a hallmark of Adelphi University with a particular focus on expanding internship programs, mentored research and creative work, opportunities for service learning and internships with nonprofit and government organizations, and field and clinical work.
We are working to better integrate our goals relating to diversity and inclusion with our goals around High- Impact Teaching and Learning. Some of the questions we will address relate to access to certain opportunities:
how do we make study-abroad affordable for all of our students? how can we make internship and experiential learning opportunities attractive when compared with a job that provides a student financial support to attend the university? how do we support faculty in doing the work to identify and create new experiential learning opportunities that are available to all students? how can we move towards a goal of 100% of graduating students having participated in a meaningful experiential learning experience in their time at Adelphi?
We have put together a team of faculty with interests across the university to carry the work forward. Peter West will lead the team and is Associate Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences and chair of the university General Education committee. Jennifer Durham is an Associate Professor in the Gordon F. Derner Institute of Psychology. She has done significant work on interprofessional practice, bringing together colleagues from Psychology, Social Work, Communication Sciences and Disorders, and Nursing and Publich Health around more holistic education of health care professionals. In addition, she has been involved in the Emerging Scholars program, which supports students from underrepresented groups with majors in Psychology. Rani Varghese is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work whose scholarship seeks to link social justice concepts, theories and approaches to social work education. Susan Zori is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the College of Nursing and Publish Health whose past course offerings include a service learning experience in Guatemala. John Drew is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communications who has been very active in areas of new media and has shown a strong inclination towards innovation in teaching. We believe that the diverse perspectives and backgrounds represented by this team are essential to doing the kind of systemic work necessary to make genuine, long-lasting progress in HIPs at Adelphi.
Finally, we note that the timing is perfect for a revitalized HIPs initiative at Adelphi. Perry Greene, from his position in the provost’s office in 2011, organized and empowered the 2011 HIP Institute team. Today, Perry Greene is the executive vice-president for diversity and inclusion. Chris Storm was one of the members of the 2011 HIP Institute team who remained integrally involved in the HIP committee following the 2011 Institute. Today, Chris Storm is the associate provost for faculty advancement and research. Following the 2017 HIP Institute, the team will return to a campus where it has full and complete institutional support. The time to make serious progress in linking access to HIPs and educational outcomes with diversity and inclusion initiatives is now.
AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Alamo Colleges District San Antonio, TX
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: Assoc/Pub-S-MC: Associate's--Public Suburban-serving Multicampus Affiliation: Public
Enrollment Undergraduate: 60,000
Team Leader: Dr Adelina Silva, Vice Chancellor for Student Success Discipline/Office: Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Success 2) Dr Jo Carol Fabianke, Vice Chancellor for Academic Success: Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Success 3) Dr Cynthia Mendiola-Perez, Assoc. Vice Chancellor for Student and Program Development: Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Success 4) Ms Ruth Dalrymple, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Partnerships and Initiatives: Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Success 5) Ms Patricia Parma, District Director of Student Success Initiatives: Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Success
Additional Team Members(s): 6 College Vice President of Student Success at one of the Alamo Colleges College Vice President of Academic Services at one of the Alamo District Director of Institutional Research, Effectiveness and Planning Director of District-Wide Advising Director of Advising (college) College Career Services Coordinator
Summary of Goals: The Alamo Colleges District’s overarching goal at the Institute is to initiate a plan to incorporate career strategies into the Academic and Career Advising Model:.
x Defining career development at the Alamo Colleges x Addressing career development in the Strategic Plan and Strategy Map x Establishing a baseline of the current career resources and services x Researching best practices and services in career development for community college students x Assessing the MyMAP framework and AlamoADVISE, AlamoENROLL and AlamoINSTITUTES to ensure Career Development Services and Resources by: o Developing an career data plan to make informed decisions o Identifying characteristics and experiences of specifically identified groups or cohorts based on the desegregation of data that enables us to strategically intervene to assist with student success o Delineating approaches that are highly engaging to students and effective at improving the equitable achievement of outcomes o Building equity-minded Individualized career pathways, strategies and services
What you would like to see from the institute: Integrating academic and student initiatives into a unified success plan 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices
and Student Success
Ensuring “Career” in the Academic & Career Advising Model
• Need:
Since the 2015-2016 academic year, the Alamo Colleges has made significant progress in implementing the Academic & Career Advising Model, the primary student success strategy within the MyMAP framework. The Certified Advisor Case Management System is established and students are assigned, maintaining a 1 advisor: 350 student average ratio. An Advising Syllabus serves as a systemization guide. Advising touchpoints, student outcomes and assessment strategies are launched. Sister MyMAP components, AlamoINSTITUTES and AlamoENROLL, are established and implementation strategies being enacted.
During the past several years, the Alamo Colleges District focused considerable energy and resources into the academic pathways and support strategies needed by our students. Implementing the advising model required “all hands on deck” to focus on academic advising. Although Certified Advisors receive general career advising training as part of the 60+ Hour Master Advisor Certification, there exists a lack of in depth career development, career assessment and job readiness expertise. Unfortunately, building the academic strategies depleted career services and resources in some areas. The natural next step to ensure equity and inclusive excellence for all students is for the Alamo Colleges District to enhance the “career” component of the Academic & Career Advising Model.
• Goals:
The Alamo Colleges District understands the criticality for a culture that envelopes historically under-served students in a safety net of affirmative, positive experiences that promote successful matriculation and completion. We have established equity as a moral imperative in mission, vision and policy and are committed to ensuring all students participate frequently in high-impact practices from Connection through Completion.
The Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success affords the opportunity to step back and assess where we are, where we want to be, and how best to get there. Therefore, the Alamo Colleges District’s overarching goal at the Institute is to initiate a
1 High Impact Leadership & Faculty Engagement 2016 plan to incorporate high impact career strategies into the Academic and Career Advising Model composed of AlamoADVISE, AlamoENROLL and AlamoINSTITUTES.
• Defining career development at the Alamo Colleges
• Addressing career development in the Strategic Plan and Strategy Map
• Establishing a baseline of the current career resources and services
• Researching best practices and services in career development for community college students
• Assessing the MyMAP framework and AlamoADVISE, AlamoENROLL and AlamoINSTITUTES to ensure Career Development Services and Resources by:
o Developing an career data plan to make informed decisions
o Identifying characteristics and experiences of specifically identified groups or cohorts based on the desegregation of data that enables us to strategically intervene to assist with student success
o Delineating approaches that are highly engaging to students and effective at improving the equitable achievement of outcomes
o Building equity-minded Individualized career pathways, strategies and services
• Contributions:
• In spring 2015, the Alamo Colleges extended an invitation to area educational and economic leaders to join the Alamo Consortium Aligning for College Access and Completion. The response was immediate with representation from every sector in the San Antonio area. Addressing educational achievement and job readiness, the Alamo Colleges and 24 regional partners achieved tremendous success in a first of its kind conversation that transpired through the Alamo Area College Access & Completion Summit on November 5, 2015. A second Summit was conducted in Fall 2016, establishing three community-wide committees to address needs identified at the 2015 Summit: Milestones & Metrics, Aligning Technology, and K-16 Pathways. More than 500 ISD and higher education advisors, counselors and administrators, and community, civic and business leaders participated in activities establishing a theoretical and research framework for the practical application of effective academic and career advising. Planning for the 2017 Alamo Area College Access & Completion Summit is underway.
• The Alamo Colleges is actively engaged with our educational partners in building support strategies and seamless pathways designed to increase student post-
2 High Impact Leadership & Faculty Engagement 2016 secondary completion rates and promote ease of matriculation through the educational systems (ISD Endorsements through baccalaureate degrees) and into employment.
• Through discussions across various cross-college leadership groups, the colleges are sharing a clear understanding of the MyMAP framework and the alignment of the AlamoADVISE and AlamoINSTITUTES models with all employees. In addition, the discussions include a discussion of the strategies implemented within the two models to ensure all employees see their role in the student experience framework and the two models.
• As one of 30 colleges selected nationwide, the Alamo Colleges participates in the AACC Pathways Project with a goal of implementing guided academic and career pathways at scale for all students. The Alamo Colleges will be collaborating with the other 29 participants in the Pathways Project to learn from each and from the partners to align comprehensive advising with the courses and other learning around the student’s career pathway of choice.
• A joint bi-annual Advising Summit with the University of Texas at San Antonio is building alliances and understanding of information, issues and practices of mutual interest to advisors for the benefit of students at both institutions. This initiative is being expanded to include additional area 4 year institutions.
• The colleges are developing “advising guides” based on baccalaureate degree requirements at the seven local universities with a crosswalk of the courses that can be taken at the Alamo Colleges. The intent is to minimize any excess credits when students transfer to complete a baccalaureate degree. This can be accomplished by having students declare a career pathways at entry, a program by 15-hours, and a preferred university by the completion of 30 semester hours.
• Team:
Team members were strategically selected per their respective leadership roles in ensuring equity and for their commitment to inclusion, engagement, and excellence:
Vice Chancellor for Student Success – chief officer for student policy, procedure and services
Vice Chancellor for Academic Success – chief officer for academic policies, programs and services
College Vice President of Student Success at one of the Alamo Colleges – overall ownership, leadership, and accountability for student and career services
3 High Impact Leadership & Faculty Engagement 2016 College Vice President of Academic Services at one of the Alamo Colleges – overall ownership, leadership, and accountability for academic success including AlamoINSTITUTES
Associate Vice Chancellor for Student and Program Development – responsible for ensuring Student Success program quality, efficiency and integrity and manages MyMAP and AlamoADVISE advising procedures, activities, and outcomes at the operational level
Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Partnerships and Initiatives - responsible for insuring Academic program quality, efficiency and integrity and manages AlamoINSTITUTES procedures, activities, and outcomes at the operational level
District Director of Student Success Initiatives – offers specific systems and program expertise; serves as liaison with the college teams and supports initiatives implementation at the functional level
District Director of Institutional Research, Effectiveness and Planning – builds institutional capacity to collect and produce research with attention to data-driven decision making
Director of District-Wide Advising – facilitates all aspects of AlamoADVISE, ensuring a cross-college response to program strategies
Director of Advising – brings the college perspective to equity and inclusion initiatives in student services
College Career Services Coordinator – provides department oversite and direct career exploration and development services at the college
4 High Impact Leadership & Faculty Engagement 2016 AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Albertus Magnus College New Haven, CT
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: Master's M: Master's Colleges and Universities (medium programs) Affiliation: Religious
Enrollment Undergraduate: 1,658 Masters: 487
Team Leader: Dr. Ross Edwards, Assistant Professor and Associate Dean Discipline/Office: History and Political Science
2) Dr. Hilda Speicher, Professor: Psychology, Coordinator, Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence 3) Ms. June Sangapore, Director of Student Services: Division of Professional and Graduate Studies 4) Ms. Sarah Wallman, Associate Professor: English, Co-Director, MFA Program 5) Mr. William Aniskovich, Assistant Professor and Chair: Business Administration and Management, Director Healthcare Management Program
Additional Team Members(s): 1 Dr. Mark Barreuther, Professor and Chair, Math and Sciences As the chair of the science department, Dr. Barreuther is a valuable part of this team, as his scientific expertise will play a large role not only in the construction of the garden itself, but in helping us to identify what components of the science curriculum would be best to integrate into the learning communities centered around the working garden. As such, we feel it is very important to have his continual feedback and input as we prepare our action plan for presentation, and adoption, by the college community as a whole.
Summary of Goals: By the end of the institute we would like to have a clear action plan that we can present to our campus community that will encourage participation across academic disciplines, programs, and delivery systems. We hope to develop clear steps for linking our plan to create a community-based working garden on our campus with concrete HIPs, paying specific attention to service learning and the development of learning communities. Working with the LEAP program leaders, we want to establish a clear plan for how this garden initiative can be used to develop and strengthen ties between our college and the surrounding community of New Haven, Connecticut, so we can engage in collaborative efforts to address a diverse set of community issues, from public health to sustainable living.
What you would like to see from the institute: We hope to cover how best to go about linking our campus project with off-campus partners. How to build the sort of community based partnerships that can best facilitate high impact service learning for our students.
Albertus Magnus College Community Garden Initiative
We propose the construction of a community based, collectively managed working garden on campus that will serve as a physical learning hub from which we can expand several HIPs. The first HIP we will target is the construction of additional learning communities. Our project will include cross-disciplinary classes incorporating components from disciplines such as biology, chemistry, business management, finance, and social services. This community will allow students to engage with several significant themes: how collective management works, how an entrepreneurial organization sets and reaches goals, and how to apply scientific methods and techniques to garden maintenance. This will enable students to apply academic knowledge from a variety of disciplines to real-world tasks, projects, and challenges. Our location in New Haven, Connecticut opens up a wide array of additional exciting possibilities. Through integration of components such as urban studies, sociology, political science, and public health, our learning community will allow students to explore the complex and important relationships between urbanism, food production/consumption, poverty, health, and political policy. This learning community will not only integrate critical themes and issues that lie at the heart of many contemporary debates over urban life and economic and public policies, but also take students out of the classroom to apply their learning within the New Haven community. One of the four pillars that forms the backbone of an Albertus education is service: both to the College and to the greater community. As such, a goal of the project is to expand the ability of the College to incorporate service learning into the curriculum. By using this garden to bring students into contact with some of the urban gardening proponents that are active in the greater New Haven area and to develop working relationships with local food banks, the College will be well positioned to cultivate a diverse and ready supply of community partners committed to working with the College to give back to, and strengthen, the greater New Haven community. Through this service learning initiative, these communities will provide Albertus students the opportunity to apply what they are learning in the classroom, and enrich their learning by empowering them to work toward solutions to pressing problems faced by New Haven more generally. At its best, the community garden project will cultivate in students a greater understanding of their shared responsibility for the well-being of the world and people around them. Lastly, the garden will provide a unique and interesting point of focus for the College community. It will stimulate spontaneous learning and social engagements (outdoor classes, harvesting parties, etc.). By connecting students more immediately to the campus, it will give them a fuller sense of place and belonging, which can help enrich their college experience and foster a greater sense of community. Albertus Magnus College has a long history of supporting students from diverse backgrounds including first generation, low income, and minority populations. We support students by offering tutoring, individual advisement and mental health counseling. Our traditional undergraduate program (TUP) offers close advisement for at-risk students within learning communities in linked courses. Our evening adult programs have built capacity for educators to respond to questions about equity and inclusive excellence. Through the work of retention and at-risk committees we provide an opportunity for members in the college community to address the changing needs of students. To support the whole person, we provide counseling services, close advisement, and career services as well as support students’ interests through student organizations such as The Social Justice League. To meet changing demands for learning in the 21st century, the College has received multiple grants to support faculty development and student learning employing various technologies. Additionally, we have implemented flex programs, where students can choose between fully online and blended (hybrid) coursework. We have redesigned courses following Quality Matters (QM) guidelines developed by the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium, as supported by a three-year Davis Educational Institution grant. In each year of the grant 30 faculty redesign courses to increase digital literacy, critical thinking, and best practices. Additionally, QM experts review courses annually to provide feedback. More broadly, our general education program includes a focus on dialog with ‘the other’ and cultural differences to help students better understand global issues. Albertus also has a history of implementing high-impact practices (HIPs). Over a decade ago, the College implemented the use of ePortfolio in the TUP. It is now integrated in the general education program, including freshman and transfer classes, and is supported by a full-time staff person and tech tutors. In 2011, the College expanded opportunities for students by use of HIPs such as collaborative research and experiential learning through the establishment of the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence (CTLE). Among its many services, the Center hosts an annual experiential learning day (ELD) in which students present their research and what they have gained through their experiential learning. Another broadly embraced HIP is internship. Approximately 80% of undergraduates and 30% of graduate students are engaged in site placements related to their major field. Additionally, the College is in the process of increasing participation in study abroad and service learning, both of which are highlighted at ELD. The College has developed several MOU’s with study abroad programs at other universities and has expanded Career Services to include support for students seeking to study abroad. Finally, the College expanded service learning opportunities for students, typically one to three courses a year have this component. The College has developed a strong culture of assessment. All academic programs are on a five year assessment cycle and use a minimum of two internal and two external assessment instruments. There also are a number of institution-wide assessments that the College uses including the ETS Proficiency Profile, Noel Levitz and NSSE surveys, and the Nelson-Denny Reading Test. The Office of Institutional Research tracks retention and graduation rates and provides other significant data to support retention and graduation efforts.
Our team will consist of the following:
Ross Edwards, Ph.D. (Team Leader) Assistant Professor, History and Political Science Associate Dean of Academic Affairs
Hilda Speicher, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology Coordinator of the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence (CTLE) Coordinator of the Psychology Accelerated Degree Program (ADP) in the Division of Professional and Graduate Studies (PGS)
June M. Sangapore, M.A. Director of Student Services Division of Professional and Graduate Studies
Sarah Harris Wallman, M.F.A. Associate Professor, English Co-Director MFA Program
William A. Aniskovich, JD Assistant Professor and Chair, Business Administration & Management Director, Healthcare Management Program
Mark Barreuther, Ph.D. Professor and Chair, Math and Sciences
Our team reflects a cross section of academic disciplines and a variety of administrative and institutional perspectives. We represent large and smaller departments and traditional day and evening adult programs. Members will have an essential role in the development, implementation, and extension of the action plan.
The individuals selected for participation are committed to a vibrant curriculum that is both scholarly and humanistically enlarging. As a college that serves a diverse student body, we share an interest in assuring a close and positive faculty/student interaction that provides students with broad opportunities for challenges and growth. More specifically, Dr. Barreuther’s involvement is relevant to the science needed to support gardening activities and Professor Aniskovich can support marketing, public health, and management efforts. Dr. Edwards is the faculty sponsor of the Student Social Justice Club, and his position as Academic Dean will promote collaboration between administration and faculty. Professor Wallman can support communication efforts, Ms. Sangapore’s role would be to engage the evening students, and Dr. Speicher can promote the activities through the CTLE staff and services. Additionally, a number of team members are organic gardeners and will bring personal enthusiasm for gardening, social justice, and mentorship to the program.
AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Berea College Berea, KY
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: Bac/A and S: Baccalaureate Colleges--Arts and Sciences Affiliation: Independent
Enrollment Undergraduate: 1600
Team Leader: Dr. Curtis Sandberg, Director of Academic Services Discipline/Office: Academic Services
2) Dr. Sarah Jones, Assistant Professor: Psychology 3) Dr. Dee Hill-Zuganilli, Assistant Professor: Child and Family Studies 4) Ms. Amanda Peach, Instructional Servcies Librarian & Assistant Professor of Library Science: Hutchins Library 5) Dr. Channell Barbour, Assoicate Dean of Student Life: Labor and Student Life
Summary of Goals: Our team seeks to leverage the universal Berea College experience of Student Labor (in itself a HIP) to broaden participation all HIPs, while maximizing the labor experience by bridging the gap between labor and the classroom. Our model is not focused on top-down institutional change, but to concentrate on our individual team member’s spheres of influence, that is, their classroom and/or their labor supervision. Through an effort to forge a stronger connection between students’ labor positions and their coursework, we hope to enhance the growth potential of both experiences. By making available to professors and labor supervisor a selection of empirically supported teaching and learning practices, we hope to engage all students in high impact activities, with the goal of improving both graduation rates and student learning outcomes for all. The team will offer campus workshops directed to instructors and labor supervisors on using the toolbox and other lessons learned.
What you would like to see from the institute: More precisely defining what an HIP is so that it is not a catch-all word that looses all meaning. Aligning classroom experiences with HIPs so that both are enriched. Developing buy in among instructors and staff. Berea College AAC&U 2017 Summer Institute Proposal High Impact Practices and Student Success
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Introduction Berea College’s history as the first coeducational and interracial college in the south is well known; founded by abolitionists in 1855, Berea has championed social justice for more than 162 years. Lesser known is Berea’s status as a labor college. As such, every student at Berea receives a 100% free tuition scholarship in exchange for working 10‐15 hours a week on campus. Our student body is as unique as our heritage; only students of limited financial means but high academic promise are accepted for admission. Over 96% of our students qualify for Pell Grants, 50% have an EFC (expected family contribution) of $0, and 72% hail from the Appalachian region. Through the labor program, Berea strives to give students deep and meaningful work experience that complements their liberal arts education, making them uniquely suited for life after college. Student Workers are employed in every enterprise on campus, from the President’s Office to our organic farm. We believe that our Labor Program provides every student with a high impact experience. To enhance this experience we hope to provide a stronger connection between labor and the classroom. First‐year students are centrally assigned their labor positions from those not taken by continuing students. Therefore, many first‐year positions are among the least desirable on campus, such as cleaning and food service. While these positions support a student’s development and the labor program’s central tenet that there is “dignity in all labor,” students sometime have a hard time seeing connections between their experience, their goals, and their learning. We seek to leverage the universal Berea College experience of Student Labor (itself a HIP) to broaden participation all HIPs, while maximizing the labor experience by bridging the gap between labor and the classroom. Our model is not focused on top‐down institutional change, but to concentrate first on the individual spheres of influence of team members, that is, their classroom and/or their labor supervision. The team will then model and apply the toolbox of activities that it develops to help students deepen their experience in both environments. The team will also offer workshops directed to instructors and labor supervisors on using the toolbox and other lessons learned. Needs Our most recent data shows that around 85% of our students retained to the second year participated in a wide range of HIP activities. We are proud of this success, and yet unsatisfied with the knowledge that nearly 15% of our students did not engage in such activities. The graduation rate for non‐participants in high impact activities is less than half of the graduation rate recorded for their participating peers. Berea College AAC&U 2017 Summer Institute Proposal High Impact Practices and Student Success
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Thus, we are dedicated to serving the needs of the 15% of Berea College students for whom the current high impact activities are either inaccessible or unappealing. The existing data do not provide a method to identify students likely to fail to engage in high impact opportunities. All of the high impact activities listed above are ones for which students must voluntarily apply or enroll. We are concerned that a self‐selection bias or funneling may result in unequal participation among some currently unidentified demographic. The data reveals that some of the HIP have unequal participation of men and women and of racial composition, which limits the HIPs ability to be a transformative experience for all students. Although this connection is valued, it can be difficult for individual professors to integrate a reflection on labor into their various courses. All too often the classroom and the labor program operate separately with little processing of each within the other in an intentional way. While students report that both experiences are important in their learning and development, we have not yet leveraged these experiences in combination or to intentionally lead students in making these connections. Goals Our primary objective is to build formative alignment around work and career opportunity between the academic and labor sectors of Berea College. We are generally concerned with the ways in which students compartmentalize the role of classroom instruction from their labor experience. We are further concerned if this framing of labor sets in during the first‐year experience. If students feel demoralized about their lack of choice in entry‐level labor positions, or associate labor with grin‐and‐bearing or reluctance without understanding its broader purposes, then the chance to find meaning and purpose in labor is already lost. Through an effort to forge a stronger connection between students’ labor positions and their coursework, we hope to enhance the growth potential of both experiences. By making available to professors and labor supervisor a selection of empirically supported teaching and learning practices, we hope to engage all students in high impact activities, with the goal of improving both graduation rates and student learning outcomes for all. The goals for participation in this Institute are to increase the overall percentage of students who participate in HIPs and to increase the diversity of students who are involved in each individual HIP. We want to deepen and enrich the overall learning experience for students in labor and classroom environments by blurring the lines between labor and classroom learning. Activities While at the AACU 2017 Summer Institute, we anticipate producing a toolkit of activities which could be shared with labor supervisors and teaching faculty upon our return. All labor supervisors are guaranteed one hour with their entire staff of student workers per week for staff meetings; that hour is sacred and no classes or other work are scheduled during that time. Labor supervisors use that time as they see fit and an ideal use of it may be to undertake activities that elevate any kind of labor to the level of high impact practice and to engage and Berea College AAC&U 2017 Summer Institute Proposal High Impact Practices and Student Success
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apply what they are learning in the classroom to their labor activities. Teaching faculty could incorporate companion activities in their classrooms that challenge students to reflect on and apply their labor experiences into the classroom. Having a toolkit at their disposal would allow labor supervisors and instructors to transform their workspace into a high impact learning community. The toolkit and related experiences will also form the basis for workshops for instructors and labor supervisors. A session for faculty will be offered the week prior to the beginning of the term with other classroom related topics. We feel that one ideal opportunity for this connection can be found through the General Studies department with its required course for all incoming students. However, we will also explore models for incorporating tools designed to deepen the connection between labor and the classroom in any discipline. Evaluation The effectiveness of our project, including its implementation in our areas of influence and the related toolkit and workshops, will be measured by an overall increase in participation in HIPs by students from those subgroups that are under‐participate in them. We will monitor the number of labor supervisors and instructors who attend the workshops and follow‐up to determine the number who incorporates the tools in their classroom or labor environment. We expect that this will also result in an increase in the satisfaction that students have with their labor experience because they see the value of labor and learning in combination. We would also like to see an increase in the ability of students, labor supervisors, and instructors to articulate the connections of the labor, classroom, and other HIP learning environments. Team The Berea College team for this Summer Symposium is composed of two teaching faculty members, a librarian, a Student Life administrator, and Academic Affairs administrator. This cross section of the campus can appropriately develop a toolkit that will be responsive to different campus environments and therefore widely applied. Our work will focus on how each team member, in our specific roles, can create opportunities to lead students to engage and consider the connections and applications of their varying experiences. AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Bergen Community College Paramus, NJ
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: Assoc/Pub-S-SC: Associate's--Public Suburban-serving Single Campus Affiliation: Public
Enrollment Undergraduate: 10,458
Team Leader: Dr. William Mullaney, Vice President Discipline/Office: Academic Affairs 2) Dr. Susan Barnard, Dean: Health Professions 3) Dr. Mi Ahn, Associate Professor: Psychology 4) Dr. Carol Miele, Professor: English 5) Dr. Amarjit Kaur, Director: Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning
Summary of Goals: Our team would like to explore different models for expanding high impact practices for student success and select the one that best suit the need of our student body. At the institute we would like to learn how to design, implement and promote leaning communities and experiential learning programs to increase retention, transfer and graduation rates of underserved ethnic groups. We would like to learn best practices to recruit students from diverse background and build interdisciplinary collaboration and communication sensitive to equity issues among faculty teaching high impact courses. We would also, like to expand our training program for faculty to revise syllabus, create integrated assignments and develop culturally responsive teaching practices. As a result of participation at the institute our team would like to learn, how to assess courses with learning communities and experiential learning component to scale evidence-based high impact practices program for underserved students.
What you would like to see from the institute: • Expand campus wide HIPs initiative to include underserved students • Design culturally responsive course activities • Measure deep learning and practical competence in HIPs courses Institute for High Impact Practices and Student Success (narrative)
Introduction
Bergen Community College’s commitment to student success is reflected in the institution’s No. 1 ranking in New Jersey for associate degree graduates, its dedicated faculty, its award winning services, and its region-leading health professions program. The college’s new mission statement “To inspire our community to realize a better future” reflects the positive ethos in many of the grant-funded programs that help students in need to see a better future for themselves.
Bergen’s acceptance into the Achieving the Dream (ATD) national forum network further supports our deep commitment to student success. Achieving the Dream is an evidenced based, student-centered non-profit network that is dedicated to helping more community college students, particularly low- income students and student of color, stay in school and earn a college degree or certificate. A three- person leadership team was appointed to lead a college-wide effort to identify promising ways to enhance student success. A cross-college core team, supported by Data and Communication teams has helped to lead the institution’s efforts, which officially began on the college-wide Day of Development in October 2015. The leaders and team engaged the college community including faculty, students, staff, administrators, and external stakeholders in conversations, forums and workshops, as well as analyzed institutional data, to determine the strategic priorities for the initial ATD cycle. These conversations have led to the creation of our Bergen ATD Student Success Implementation Plan. The Plan serves as our roadmap for the next three years and highlights the following two campus priorities:
Priority 1: Develop a Comprehensive Roadmap for Student Success
Priority 2: Enhance Academic Programs and Pedagogy for Student Success
The submission of our plan marked the culmination of eight months of intensive self-study and reflection, which included engaging in a campus-wide Appreciative Inquiry Summit, collecting and analyzing a wide range of quantitative and qualitative campus data, and many hours of dialogue about how to help our BCC students succeed in their program of study.
In addition, the 1-2-3 Connect program funded by the Title V grant helped to introduce first-year students to the college experience with the support of mentoring communities, tutoring services and special opportunities in developmental math and English. As a result of the project, students enroll in Success 101, a course that helps students develop ways to make positive and informed choices that lead to successful life, academic and career goals. Because many Hispanic students struggle with getting through their courses in developmental math and English, much of the focus has remained on these two subject areas with development of self-paced developmental math courses and Accelerated English Basic Skills program integrated into the department overall curriculum. The accelerated model of self- paced options has led to curricular redesign to improve the speed and completion of developmental mathematics for students.
Another grant-funded program is the Hispanic-Serving Institution Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Graduation Pathways for Success (STEM GPS) to increase recruitment, persistence, graduation and transfer rates of STEM students at BCC as well as students who are preparing to become science and math teachers. The synergy of these programs has been monumental in helping the College pursue innovative strategies for student success.
Need
As part of priority#2 of the ATD plan, the implementation team members are exploring ways to scale up high impact practices (HIPs) and campus-wide professional development. Current academic programs and program options will be examined for their viability and relevance to student success. Pathways will be created to ensure that students gain a meaningful academic experience in a timely manner that prepares them to transfer to 4-year institution or enter the workforce.
As a result of the team’s work, logic models for scaling up our learning communities and service learning program were created to project what can be achieved in near and distance term by enhancing these HIPs already underway on our campus, including improved retention, completion, transferability and employability. Long term and short term action plans are being created to identify priorities, learning outcome, activities, timeframes, potential issues and concerns. Some of the questions to be addressed include:
1. How do we gear up student services to promote learning communities and service learning? 2. How can leverage our existing resources for scaling up learning communities and service learning? 3. What are the successful models for scaling up learning communities and service learning at 2- year public institutions? 4. How can we scale up learning communities and service learning for inclusion and diversity?
Goal
The Bergen Community College mission identifies the institution as “[a] leading community college in the nation [that] creates a stimulating, rigorous, and inclusive learning environment.” This idea is re- enforced and expanded upon in “Framework for the Future, 2013-2018,” the college’s strategic plan whose first strategic theme is Student Success and Excellence. In explaining this theme, the plan notes that “cultivating student success and assuring the quality of learning remain bedrocks of the college.” One of the goal identified in this theme is to reduce the achievement gap between majority and under- represented minority population. The graduation/transfer rate report for fall 2012 lists graduation rate for Black (11%) and Hispanic (17%) students below White (26% and Asian (25%) students. We hope to increase the graduation rate by 25% for all students at the end of this strategic planning cycle.
At the institute we would like to learn how to design, implement and promote leaning communities and experiential learning programs to increase retention, transfer and graduation rates of underserved ethnic groups. In the near future we would like to work on the web presence to promote and recruit students from diverse background in high impact program courses. We would also, like to expand a training program for faculty to create syllabi, integrated assignments, develop culturally responsive teaching practices, and identify co-requisites for paired courses. In the long term we would like to see increased interdisciplinary collaboration and communication among faculty teaching these courses. We hope that this will lead to improved enrollment and course completion and enhance students’ academic skills. Our team would like to explore different models for expanding high impact practices for students’ success and select the one that best suit the need of our student body. As a result of participation at the institute our team would like to learn:
1. How to implement learning communities and experiential learning based on equity agenda? 2. How to implement learning communities and experiential learning for inclusion and diversity? 3. How to assess learning communities and experiential learning programs? 4. What impact participation has on identified learning outcomes?
Team
Our campus team will consist of Vice President of Academic affairs (VPAA), Dean of Health Profession, Associate Professor of Psychology, Professor, English and Director of Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning. The team represents different areas of the college and share understanding on implementing high impact practices at the college. They will be leading various committees to help with rolling out the project at the divisional, departmental and course level. Team members have the background and expertise in cross-discipline course offerings, and are ambassadors to the college community on this project. As a result of participation at this institute, our team would like to learn how to identify structural barriers and build equity-minded policies, practices and behaviors to weave high impact practices in the overall framework of intentional curriculum design and course offerings.
List of Team members:
Vice President, Academic affairs (Team Leader) Dean, Health Profession (Service Learning) Associate Professor, Psychology (Coordinator of Learning Communities) Professor, English (Special assistant to VPAA for Faculty Development) Director, Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning (Professional Development)
AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Berklee College of Music Boston, MA
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: Spec/Arts: Special Focus Institutions--Schools of art, music, and design Affiliation: Independent
Enrollment Undergraduate: 5073 Masters: 408
Team Leader: Dr. Simone Pilon, Chair of Liberal Arts Discipline/Office: Liberal Arts 2) Dr. Christopher Kandus-Fisher, Vice President for Student Affairs, Diversity and Inclusion: Division of Student Affairs, Diversity and Inclusion 3) Ms Lori Johnson, Dean of Student Advising and Success: Retention and Student Success 4) Ms. Beth Platow, Associate Professor of English: Liberal Arts Department, Berklee College of Music 5) Mr. Mischa Salkind-Pearl, Instructor of ESL and Music Theory: Composition Department, Boston Conservatory at Berklee
Additional Team Members(s): 1 Dr. Michael C. Mason Assistant Chair of Liberal Arts
The Team Leader, Dr. Simone Pilon, Chair of Liberal Arts, is charged with managing the LENS classes, which will be the focus of our work at the Institute. She works closely with Dr. Michael C. Mason, Assistant Chair of Liberal Arts. Dr. Mason will be teaching the LENS classes and helping oversee their development and implementation. His participation in the Institute would therefore be beneficial.
Summary of Goals: Our participation in the Institute will help us frame both short-term goals for our new first-year seminar courses, founded on the principles of High-Impact Practices, and long-terms goals to integrate High-Impact Practices into the greater curriculum. We anticipate that following the Institute, the team will return ready to work with various constituencies on the development of these courses and the training of the faculty, staff, and students charged with teaching the curricular and co-curricular components. The resources we gain through the Institute will allow us to meet our goals of improved student success and build a stronger and more inclusive climate. In addition, our participation in the Institute will help us develop assessment tools for these new programs so that we can reach higher levels of student success.
What you would like to see from the institute: Determining appropriate, manageable, and effective assessment tools is a high priority for us so sessions focused on assessment would be of particular interest. In addition, due to the scope of our project, faculty and staff development would be topics we would be specifically interested in. Berklee College of Music has excelled in teaching jazz and popular music since its founding in 1945. However, our community experienced a significant change in June 2016, when we merged with the Boston Conservatory. We were transformed from a music school to a school of performing arts. Our student body increased by 17% and our faculty body by 33%. The joint institution is unified under one umbrella: Berklee. Goals for the merged institution include the creation of a single liberal arts curriculum, programs in dance for Berklee College of Music (BCM) students, and programs in music business for Boston Conservatory at Berklee (BCB) students.
Creating a new, shared identity while maintaining the distinctive ones of both institutions has raised challenges and opportunities. These negotiations are being done within larger discussions on student success and career readiness. One of the first initiatives is to create a new first-year seminar for all Berklee students. An external assessment conducted of the current first-year seminar at BCM indicated high degrees of dissatisfaction among both students and faculty. BCB recently adopted a first-year seminar and qualitative feedback from both students and faculty is that it is not meeting the desired goals of the program.
With the merger, we see the opportunity to develop a new menu of first-year seminar courses, named the Engaging Seminars (LENS classes for short), which will combine students from both institutions and be required of all students. In order to increase the impact of these first-year seminars, particularly in the areas of student satisfaction and improved retention and graduation rates, we would like to create these programs based on the principles of High-Impact Practices (HIPs). Specifically, we are looking to create service learning LENS courses as well as residential learning communities, thereby mixing the BCM and BCB students in the classroom, in the community, and in the residence halls. It is the development of these classes and their co-curricular activities that will be the focus of our work at the Institute.
Many of the programs that exist at performing arts schools connect with HIPs, although without being labeled as such or without deliberately focusing on this aspect. Berklee is no different. Students work one-on-one with faculty through private lessons beginning in their first semester. They engage with faculty outside the classroom in recitals and concerts and are mentored in their compositions, recordings, and productions. However, when BCM administered the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) in the spring of 2015, the conclusions from the report were that BCM students are “considerably lower than others in terms of their involvement in High-Impact Practices.” The study showed that nearly all BCM seniors participated in one HIPs. But NSSE believes that students should take part in at least two of these practices during their undergraduate experience. Fewer Berklee seniors, 55%, participated in two or more HIPs, compared with 73% in our peer group and 62% overall.
While BCB is a small, intimate school, BCM is a large urban institution, boasting a diverse student body. Approximately 57% of students are international or come from minority communities in the United States. BCM students have varied academic and musical backgrounds and a large number of students are English Language Learners who struggle to function in English at an academic level. Students who come from aural music traditions, a practice that is particularly common in the African American community, have little or no exposure to written music.
Our goal is for the LENS classes to expose our students to the resources available to them and to create a supportive community focused on success. The LENS classes will complement recently-created student success programs including Project ELLA (Entering Linked Liberal Arts), learning communities designed for incoming students that are academically at risk, as well as PW-110, Writing Skills, a music course for students who are unfamiliar with music notation. To meet the needs of our large English Language Learners population, English as a Second Language LENS classes will also be developed.
By developing academically challenging first-year seminars and formally integrating other HIPs, specifically service learning and residential learning communities, into the courses, we expect that the outcomes associated with first-year seminars that involve engaging pedagogies – greater student satisfaction and time management skills, and improved first to second year retention and graduation rates – will have an important impact on our community. In addition, we hope to help members of our community better understand the principles of HIPs and investigate the possibility of formally integrating these practices into more of the Berklee curriculum. The focus on assessment at the Institute will help us develop resources to evaluate the success of these classes, the quality of the HIPs, the impact on student success, and the possibilities of integrating HIPs into the larger curriculum. By assessing what we are doing, we hope to improve student-learning outcomes and create a stronger academic community.
The LENS courses are housed in the Liberal Arts Department, which is working collaboratively with various campus sectors to develop programming to promote student success. As we create the LENS classes, we need to provide initial and ongoing development opportunities for a variety of people: the faculty who will teach the courses; the upper-level students who will serve as peer mentors within the program; the student affairs staff that will develop the curricular and co- curricular components; and the residence life staff working on the living-learning community.
The team we propose to bring to the institute, led by Dr. Simone Pilon, Chair of the Liberal Arts Department, addresses these various interests and areas of the college. The Liberal Arts Department provides 31% of all students’ degree requirements. Dr. Pilon is charged with developing and overseeing the LENS courses, leading faculty development efforts, and working with constituencies across campus to manage both the co-curricular and residential components. She will be accompanied by the Vice President for Students Affairs, Diversity, and Inclusion, who oversees residence life, and the Dean of Student Advising and Success. In addition to these administrative leaders, in order to have faculty support for these programs, we propose bringing two faculty members who will be teaching LENS classes: one from BCM, who also oversees English and foreign language tutoring programs, and one from BCB, who teaches in the English as a Second Language program. We believe that involving faculty in the process from the ground up is paramount.
Since the LENS classes will connect the liberal arts with student success initiatives and programming in the residence halls, this team is positioned to have an impact on the development of the program as well as on the training of faculty and staff involved in the curricular, co-curricular, and residential components. The inclusion of faculty will help build support for the courses and co-curricular requirements.
Creating an integrated campus has been at the forefront of Berklee’s work the past two years. We seek to transform the new Berklee into a more unified and inclusive student experience through the creation of strong first-year seminars options, founded on the principles of HIPs. Participation in the Institute will help us with this institutional and curricular integration and will provide us with the opportunity to bring HIPs to the forefront. Our participation will also help us to frame both short- term goals for the LENS courses and long-terms goals to integrate HIPs into the greater curriculum. The team will return ready to work with various constituencies on the development of these courses and the training of the faculty, staff, and students charged with teaching the curricular and co-curricular components. The resources we gain through the Institute will allow us to meet these goals and build a stronger and more inclusive climate. In addition, our participation in the Institute will help us develop assessment tools for these new programs so that we can reach higher levels of student success. AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Boston University Boston, MA
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: RU/VH: Research Universities (very high research activity) Affiliation: Independent
Enrollment Undergraduate: 17932 Masters: 10437 Doctoral: 2888
Team Leader: Dr, Nick Wilson, Sr. Associate for Research & Evaluation Discipline/Office: Center for Teaching & Learning 2) Dr. Joe Bizup, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Academic Programs and Policies, College of Arts and Sciences: Dean's Office, Academic Programs 3) Dr. Ken Liss, Head of Liaison & Instruction Services, BU Libraries: University Libraries 4) Dr. Jean Otsuki, Learning Experience Designer: Center for Teaching & Learning 5) Dr. Gillian Pierce, Director of Learning Assessment, Office of the Provost: Associate Provost of Undergrad. Affairs
Additional Team Members(s): 2 We would like to request space for two additional colleagues at the Institute. The first is for a core partner and important member of our team, Chris Walsh, Interim Director of the Writing Program ([email protected]). Chris Walsh oversees the CAS Writing Program, which serves students from all eight of BU’s degree-granting undergraduate schools and colleges through a two-course sequence of small, theme-based writing seminars, as well as additional seminars for the 20% of BU students who have acquired English as a second language. Each year, the program delivers around 400 sections with around 6,500 total enrollments, and it conducts over 3,500 one-on-one writing center consultations. The second additional position will be for another Learning Experience Designer yet to be named. Both Dr. Otsuki and this second Learning Experience Designer will be key partners in the development and integration of high impact practices at BU.
Summary of Goals: This AAC&U institute comes at a time when BU is seeking ways to coordinate the supports necessary to sustainably implement our first General Education initiative, of which we see High Impact Practices playing a key part in the design of new learning experiences for our undergraduate population. A focus on collaborative teaching and interdisciplinary course design, the BU team believes, will not only help faculty meet the requirements of a new paradigm of undergraduate instruction at BU, but generate new approaches to teaching and learning that encourage undergraduates to forge new pathways to success. As such, our goals for the Institute are to learn from our peer institutions what sorts of resources and supports will be critical to this process. Ultimately, our team seeks to begin the development key inputs that can promote and sustain the formation of "teaching networks" centering on High Impact Practices.
What you would like to see from the institute: As a local institution, we are hoping that these two spaces can be accommodated, as our team will not require lodging for the entirety of the institute. Additionally, our team is wondering that, if accepted for the institute, it might be possible to waive a portion of the institute fee? Boston University Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success Application
Need In 2014, BU President Robert Brown announced his vision for a university-wide General Education Initiative. Set to launch in the fall of 2018, this program provides a common intellectual experience for all undergraduates at BU. Through participation in the High Impact Practices and Student Success Institute, our team hopes to gain critical insights into the kinds of supports that will allow us to integrate high impact practices into the curricular and co-curricular experiences through which BU students can develop the knowledge, skills, and habits of mind necessary to thrive in today’s world.
The General Education Initiative, known as “the Hub,” is BU’s first “all-university” academic program in the sense not only that it will be required of all undergraduate students, but also that its successful enactment is predicated on enlisting the full range of BU’s scholarly expertise, curricular creativity, and contextual advantages (e.g., Boston) in the education of individual undergraduates. The Hub’s integrated vision of general education offers opportunities for faculty to develop new courses and co-curricular learning experiences across disciplines, across schools/colleges, between the liberal arts and the professions, between the Charles River and Medical campuses, between academic affairs and student affairs, between BU and Boston communities, and between sites abroad and at home. As such, implementation of the Hub provides members of the BU community with an opportunity to design new academic, residential, and co-curricular experiences that can impact student success beyond the undergraduate timeframe. Coordinating the widespread supports necessary for integrating high impact practices across the university presents the next challenge in this ambitious endeavor.
According to the Hub Task Force, “both realizing the intellectual vision of the BU Hub and ensuring students’ timely completion of its ambitious requirements will depend on there being a substantial and varied roster of courses that bridge areas and count as two or three BU Hub units...the contemporary ubiquity of quantitative reasoning, for example, makes it a good candidate for pairing with other areas. Another priority is to increase the number and range of courses that bridge to an area within Diversity, Civic Engagement, and Global Citizenship.” Our team sees the development of “teaching networks” - systems of instructional resources and activities that bridge areas of potential curricular and co-curricular collaborations - as a powerful mechanism with which to ensure a successful Hub implementation. More critically, we seek to leverage the formation of such teaching networks to broaden the adoption of High Impact Practices across the university.
Teaching networks, consisting of faculty, administrators and staff, can help instructors reconceive their courses to explicitly address more than one skill set. The collaboration enabled by teaching networks might take a variety of forms: for example, several faculty members working together to develop an interdisciplinary course, a writing instructor helping a biology professor to make her class more writing-intensive, a librarian partnering with a sociology Boston University professor to teach research skills, or a community partner working with the arts department on an outreach project instilling the value of civic engagement.
Institutional efforts to support the Hub implementation are already underway. A new Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL) and a recently established Provostial office for Program Learning Outcomes Assessment (PLOA) represent two such areas of support, each with a primary mission to support effective teaching and learning practices across the university.
The CTL, which gained its first full-time Director and dedicated staff in 2016, will play a central role in supporting faculty in the adoption of new course designs and instructional strategies, as well as in the formation of teaching networks. The BU Hub Task Force has charged the CTL with providing a variety of workshops and multi-day institutes that center on research-informed teaching practices, innovative pedagogical approaches, and effective assessment techniques. These offerings will help instructors across BU integrate high impact educational practices such as first-year research experiences, writing-intensive courses, collaborative projects, and community-based learning.
The Provost’s office of PLOA is similarly positioned to support the integration of high impact practices through its direct contact with each of the university’s academic and co-curricular programs. As stated by the Office of the Provost, the PLOA asks,
“by completing a given set of courses and other requirements, do students actually acquire, in the end, the particular knowledge, skills, habits of mind, and attitudes faculty intend? If not—or if not fully enough—what pedagogical and curricular reforms can be undertaken to improve student learning?”
Courses will be approved for the Hub based on their ability to demonstrate that they meet the learning outcomes identified by faculty committees, and the extent to which they incorporate proven pedagogies. Hub courses will be assessed regularly using multiple measures once the first cohort of students begins in 2018.
Goal This AAC&U institute comes at a time when BU is seeking ways to coordinate the supports necessary to sustainably implement the Hub initiative and bolster High Impact Practices. A focus on collaborative teaching and interdisciplinary course design, the BU team believes, will not only help faculty meet the requirements of a new paradigm of undergraduate instruction at BU, but generate new approaches to teaching and learning that encourage undergraduates to forge new pathways to success.
2 Boston University
Team Recognizing that this undertaking will require resources across the breadth of BU’s academic and administrative offices, our team is composed of individuals that represent a number of “high touch” areas of campus, and are thus well positioned to support widespread implementation High Impact Practices.
Joe Bizup, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Academic Programs and Policies, College of Arts and Sciences With over 7000 students, the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) is the largest undergraduate college at BU and will be offering the largest number of new and revised courses to be included in the Hub. As Associate Dean for Undergraduate Academic Programs and Policies, Joe Bizup oversees curriculum development and revision in all CAS programs, including general education offerings.
Ken Liss, Head of Liaison & Instruction Services, BU Libraries The BU Libraries partner with schools and colleges across the university to incorporate knowledge, skills, and ways of thinking about research and information as essential components of students’ development at the university and in their future personal, professional, and civic endeavors. Ongoing collaborative initiatives, led by Ken Liss as Head of Instruction, aim to apply the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Framework for Information Literacy to programs spanning diverse disciplines and the BU Hub.
Jean Otsuki, Learning Experience Designer, Center for Teaching & Learning Jean Otsuki will help to develop and facilitate workshops on course design, as well as offer one- on-one consultations, for faculty interested in teaching Hub courses.
Gillian Pierce, Director of Learning Assessment, Office of the Provost Gillian Pierce coordinates learning outcomes assessment for all of the schools and colleges at Boston University and works closely with the Center for Teaching and Learning to recommend and implement pedagogical changes in programs, when needed. As a member of the Implementation Task Force for the BU Hub, Gillian helped develop student learning outcomes for the Hub and designed its assessment plan.
Chris Walsh, Interim Director of the Writing Program Chris Walsh oversees the CAS Writing Program, which serves students from all eight of BU’s degree-granting undergraduate schools and colleges through a two-course sequence of small, theme-based writing seminars, as well as additional seminars for the 20% of BU students who have acquired English as a second language. Each year, the program delivers around 400 sections with around 6,500 total enrollments, and it conducts over 3,500 one-on-one writing center consultations.
3 Boston University
Nick Wilson, Sr. Associate for Research & Evaluation, Center for Teaching & Learning Nick Wilson brings over ten years of education research and evaluation experience to the CTL. As part of the BU Hub implementation, he will help coordinate teaching networks and facilitate professional development that focuses on instructional improvement through the scholarship on teaching and learning.
4 AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Bowling Green State University Bowling Green, OH
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: RU/H: Research Universities (high research activity) Affiliation: Public
Enrollment Undergraduate: 17,019 Masters: 1865 Doctoral: 562
Team Leader: Mr. Paul Valdez, Associate Director Discipline/Office: Center for Community & Civic Engagement 2) Ms. Danielle Dimoff, Associate Director: Career Center 3) Ms. Michelle Ploeger, Coordinator: Education Abroad 4) Dr. Cordula Mora, Director: Center for Undergraduate Research & Scholarship 5) Dr. Brett Holden, Coordinator/Director: Learning Communities & Chapman Learning Community
Additional Team Members(s): 1 Dr. Jessica Turos, Associate Director, Office of Academic Assessment 419 372 5530 [email protected] Dr. Turos has a background in Experiential Learning at BGSU having previously worked as an Associate Director in the Career Center with a focus on programmatic effectiveness and outcomes assessment. Dr. Turos is now engaged with University wide assessment initiatives specifically connected to NSSE processes and outcomes and integration of student learning outcomes, as well assisting in building new assessment systems for various forms of high impact practices. She will assist the team in grounding our planning in what we already know about our students’ experiences and achievement of University Learning Outcomes, ensuring assessment strategies are built into the core structure of our campus plans.
Summary of Goals: Overall Goal: Develop a three-year Action Plan with specific strategies and outcomes to grow a campus culture in which Experiential Learning (EL) is pervasive, effective, and inclusive. Pre Institute/Institute Goals:
x Convene a cross-campus group prior to the institute to review past activities and explore the questions posed in our goals narrative to frame work at the institute. x Complete a Year 1 plan with at least three identified priorities and strategies for 2017-2018, including metrics for progress, alignment with scheduled activities, and specificity about structures required to coordinate our efforts with academic program colleagues. x Define a process for years 2-3, which will be used to further develop the year 1 plan to ensure we are creating joint goals collaboratively with academic units and colleges. x Ensure we include student voices and experiences in our processes to keep a clear focus on ensuring meaningful access for all students to EL opportunities.
What you would like to see from the institute: - How to develop coalitions of faculty to advance high impact practices. - Review of best practices/successful models for inclusive, sustainable engagement in HIPs. - Examples of institutions who are doing this work well that are similar to us. 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green State University (BGSU) has a long commitment to high impact practices (HIPs) starting with our founding as a normal college in 1910. As a medium sized public research university in northwest Ohio, we have a deep commitment to liberal education with an emphasis on experiential learning (EL) and (HIPs) in the curriculum and co-curriculum. Our work is informed by engagement with the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U), and participation in regional, state, and national initiatives focused on student success, lifelong personal and career growth and engaged learning. Our commitment is to grow a campus culture where EL is pervasive, effective, and inclusive, and a signature of a BGSU education. This goal frames our application for the Summer Institute on High Impact Practices and Student Success. With the arrival of our President, Dr. Mary Ellen Mazey, in 2011, and our Provost, Dr. Rodney Rogers, in 2012, there has been a focus on transforming institutional infrastructures, physical plant, and fiscal management, and a re-commitment and investment in EL in the curriculum. Institutionally, significant work is underway in assessment and curricular and co- curricular program development. BGSU has collaboratively established clear outcomes for student learning and developed ongoing and effective processes for the assessment and achievement of those learning goals to ensure student success in academic and co-curricular programs. In addition to internal mechanisms, the use of the CLA/CLA+ (starting 2011), the NSSE, and the revision and use of AAC&U VALUE rubrics (starting 2012) are initiatives that illustrate student learning outcome results. Investment in active learning classrooms to facilitate high impact learning match new emphases on first year seminars, a common read, linked courses in core areas, and a revision of our general education program. This parallels expansion of programmatic initiatives such as learning communities, undergraduate research, education abroad, community based learning, internships and field experiences. It also aligns with strategies to diversify our student profile to attract and retain a more diverse set of students coupled with ensuring that all students have access to forms of EL and ideally more than one experience. We note that this work is taking place in a time of financial constraints and increasing competition, with concerns about student access, time to degree and debt, faculty retirements and program relevance, emphasis on online learning and pre-college programs, and growing awareness of the increasingly complex needs of students. We are challenged to think more interdependently both within and across our institutional spaces and have reorganized internally to better align programs with our University goals and mission related to student access and success.
Need Over the last 18 months, our Vice Provost for Academic Affairs has convened core EL leaders to think critically about how to expand and deepen our work to impact student learning and achievement. This group, International Programs and Partnerships/Education Abroad, the Career Center, the Center for Undergraduate Research (CURS), the Center for Community & Civic Engagement (CCCE), Learning Communities, and their faculty collaborators, represent
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three different areas with the Office of the Provost, signaling a commitment to cross campus collaboration and program integration. Our mission is the full integration of HIPs at BGSU, expansion of access to HIPs, clear pathways for student achievement of the University Learning Outcomes (ULO), and sustainable partnerships with colleges, departments, faculty peers, and the professionals who support academic success. This collaboration has resulted in new programming and partnerships, academic infrastructures, and faculty and student engagement. For example, BGSU recently implemented a campus wide event promoting EL to students, with companion programming for faculty around best practices and professional development opportunities, and piloted a new first year seminar using an Echoing Green curriculum with course sections taught by faculty from civic engagement, multicultural affairs, and learning communities. In spring 2016, the Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE) required all Ohio public colleges and universities to define, identify and track forms of EL. Internally that included an announcement indicating that outcomes would tie to performance based budgeting. This directive focused our group on the process of confirming and submitting definitions, working with the registrar and data systems to refine, and/or develop effective tracking mechanisms. Extensive outreach to faculty members, Chairs, and Deans is currently underway to review activity for each college and program ahead of the new requirement going live. This work has connected us in much deeper ways with our faculty colleagues and has significantly increased the interest in all forms of EL. It also opens a new landscape that we believe will create new impetus for faculty members and academic departments to invest in EL.
Goals Our goal for the work at the institute is to develop strategies to coordinate the efforts of our units to support growth in EL at BGSU. Curricular innovation depends on more faculty engaging with EL pedagogies and academic programs developing more EL pathways for students. How we can create joint goals with academic units and colleges to support the adoption of best practices in their EL requirements? How can we engage faculty peers in creating an action plan with relevant and achievable set of objectives for their areas that will guide us in effectively supporting their work? We believe this campus engagement and professional development approach is the key to shifting the culture of EL practice to the center of our academic mission. Our subsequent work would require metrics and assessment methods for the work of our units in supporting departments and colleges to meet goals for student participation and achievement of ULOs, excellence and access, and, ideally, a mechanism for evaluating our success in shifting our adoption of EL pedagogies to the next level.
Some key questions will frame our work: • What strategies will be most effective to promote investment in EL at the program and department level? • How can we collaborate with academic programs to track student participation to plan pathways that help achieve ULO’s? • How can we shift from episodic to intentional pathways for students thru support for faculty and curriculum development?
Last Updated 3/8/17 am 2 | BGSU
• How can we address the ‘dosage’ effect in terms of increasing access for all and ensuring equity of access? • Is there a sequencing of classes, or programs that works better for some students than others and can we be proactive in focusing our programs to support these pathways? • What programming for students’ best aligns with diverse populations to engage them in EL? These kinds of approaches will be necessary to be able to scale up our existing work to meet our institutional goals and commitments for inclusion and for student achievement. Our time at the institute will be focused on thinking about strategies to address these questions and framing a draft action plan. Working with faculty experts from across the country will help us to identify a clear path forward to make EL at our institution more pervasive, effective, inclusive, and cohesive.
Team Our team’s composition reflects the core EL units that have worked together for the past 18 months. Each member plays a leadership role in their area, works effectively together, and have demonstrated their ability to translate good ideas into practice. An Academic Assessment colleague will strengthen the team to connect research and assessment into our planning. Our team does not include senior leadership; this is a deliberate choice. We are committed to grow new leadership, honoring the expertise of the professional staff who are engaged in the direct work with faculty colleagues and program development. Each unit head and VP has affirmed this team as the best equipped to develop a strategy for innovation on our campus and to provide leadership for the cultural change work required to meet our commitment to grow a campus culture where EL is pervasive, effective, and inclusive, and a signature of a BGSU education.
Last Updated 3/8/17 am 3 | BGSU
AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Bradley University Peoria, IL
AAC&U Member: no Carnegie Classification: Master's M: Master's Colleges and Universities (medium programs) Affiliation: Independent
Enrollment Undergraduate: 4473 Masters: 1053 Doctoral: 72
Team Leader: Dr. Molly Cluskey, Interim Associate Provost Discipline/Office: Nursing / Academic Affairs 2) Dr. Kelly McConnaughay, Associate Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Professor of Biology: Biology / College of Liberal Arts and Sciences 3) Mr. Daniel Smith, Lecturer of Communication: Communication / College of Communication & Fine Arts 4) Mr. Jon Neidy, Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs: Career Center/Student Affairs 5) Mr. Gregory Haines, Director, Academic Exploration Program: Academic Exploration Program Student Affairs
Summary of Goals:
We propose developing a coordinated action plan that will articulate specific goals and deliverables supported by diverse leadership structure that will engage representatives from across campus in both academic and student affairs. Like each of the three initiatives outlined in this application, the focus of this action plan must remain on student success in the context of their intersecting identities and will require careful consideration of current and aspirational engagement, advising and pedagogical practices that are considerate of and intentional about those assets students bring with them to our campus.
What you would like to see from the institute:
- Strategic alignment of multiple related initiatives - Distributed leadership networks - Communication with broad campus constituencies - Technology and data collection Bradley University Goal Statement
We propose developing a coordinated action plan that will articulate specific goals and deliverables supported by diverse leadership structure that will engage representatives from across campus in both academic and student affairs. Like each of the three initiatives outlined in this application, the focus of this action plan must remain on student success in the context of their intersecting identities and will require careful consideration of current and aspirational engagement, advising and pedagogical practices that are considerate of and intentional about those assets students bring with them to our campus.
Background
Bradley University is exploring methods of engaging all students with High-Impact Practices that are accessible, integrative, and equitable in both availability and outcome. As we embark on the final stages of developing our next Strategic Plan, we have identified three major initiatives that center on the nexus of student engagement and inclusive student success emerging as a theme in the 2018-2022 Strategic Plan. We consider equity to be one major lens through which each initiative must be developed and delivered:
● the implementation of the newly developed Bradley Core Curriculum (BCC), which promotes student active pedagogies and High-Impact Practices within and beyond the core curriculum; ● our new partnership with the Student Success Collaborative (SSC), which promotes the use of institutional data to inform programmatic change and enhanced, proactive advising to students based on their own academic background and predictive analytics to positively inflect student success; and ● our Higher Learning Commission Quality Initiative Project (QIP) with its goal of increasing Experiential Learning opportunities to further student engagement beyond the classroom.
Implementation of the Bradley Core Curriculum
Bradley University recently revised its 30-year old general education curriculum. The revision process was conceived of as a campus-wide initiative, with several key guiding principles that provide precedence for future large-scale curricular revision efforts, notably backwards design thinking, data-informed curricular design, and a transparent, inclusive design process.
The design of the BCC was achieved within a two-year time frame, and engaged over 140 faculty and staff from all academic and academic support units on campus. A Steering Committee appointed by campus leadership oversaw the process and ensured communication and inclusion of all subcommittees and constituencies. One committee identified assessment and programmatic data from current general education programs that informed our collective work. Another committee researched current literature on effective practice and shared their findings, as well as their recommendations, as explicit deliverables.
Bradley University AACU Institute narrative 1
During this process, the campus became better acquainted with evidence-based pedagogical approaches, outcomes assessment, and experiences that engage diverse groups of students. The revision involved the development of articulated Core Learning Outcomes, operationalized learning outcomes for each element in the Bradley Core Curriculum, and ensured alignment of curricular elements to Core Outcomes. The BCC committee developed an assessment plan that includes direct and indirect measures of student learning aligned with Core Outcomes, faculty- driven course-embedded assessment, ongoing review of courses, faculty-led review of Core Curriculum elements, and periodic programmatic review of the BCC through our institutional Academic Program Review process.
Inside the classroom, our BCC courses emphasize exploration of various models of inquiry and the application of these inquiry-based skills in socially and ethically explicit contexts versus our previous program that emphasized exposure to discrete areas of knowledge. In addition, Bradley has identified several specific High-Impact Practices that will extend through BCC courses and major and minor courses that will be key defining elements of the Bradley Academic Experience. These Bradley Core Practices serve to engage students in deep learning experiences, like Writing Intensive courses and Experiential Learning opportunities that provide guided opportunities for the practical application of these inquiry-based skills to complex, real- life, and professionally-relevant problems.
Partnership with Student Success Collaborative
One example of a cross-cutting initiative will be our use of the Student Success Collaborative analytics function to evaluate historical patterns of student enrollment and completion of selectively identified experiential learning opportunities. This will provide baseline data on the relationship between engagement in these High-Impact Practices and student completion and other success metrics before implementation of the BCC and Core Practice requirements. Such data could provide insights into the types of experiential learning preferences of various student groups, and of the links between experiential learning engagement and student success outcomes for those groups. This analysis would inform the Quality Initiative project, as well as later development of Core Practice requirements.
This partnership includes access to an advising dashboard that will, for the first time, provide advisors with real-time analytics that have powerful potential for conversations about student success between advisors and students. With this new capability, advisors are empowered to engage students in conversations that move away from prescriptive advising and into a more advanced dialog around goals and aspirations, identity and strengths, and consideration of relevant and personalized High-Impact opportunities.
This tool will also streamline communication between academic and student support units that will have a direct impact on student success. By employing the mechanisms for early alerting, progress reporting, and case management, Bradley University faculty and staff will be able to step into a realm of proactive advising and full-circle student support.
Bradley University AACU Institute narrative 2
Increasing Experiential Learning Opportunities
We are currently exploring student involvement in Experiential Learning as our Higher Learning Commission Quality Initiative project. This links directly to our Integrative Learning Core Practice within the BCC. We expect that engaging all students in high impact practices, particularly those linked to active learning pedagogies and experiential learning opportunities, will result in increased student success in their academic coursework, increased student retention, increased graduation rates, increased placement outcomes, and increased student satisfaction with their Bradley experience. In addition, we expect that these increases will be seen across diverse student demographics.
Through the next 1-3 years, Bradley University must capitalize on the strong connections that already exist between Academic and Student Affairs to maximize the impact and success of these and other initiatives. Academic Affairs and Student Affairs have both played prominent roles in the continuing education and development of faculty advisors and in the delivery of experiential learning opportunities for students. These new initiatives provide a unique opportunity to bridge gaps in service, communication, and impact by more closely aligning the efforts and outreach conducted in each unit.
These three projects all represent vital campus-wide initiatives, each of which could warrant significant faculty and staff attention/workload and institutional resources. We need to ensure that these efforts are coordinated, are sharing tools and knowledge across platforms, and are working synergistically - rather than redundantly or disparately - to optimize outcomes. We recognize that the most successful implementation of all three initiatives will require close collaboration, development of appropriate faculty and staff, and ongoing assessment of the quality and impact of this work.
Team
Our five proposed members represent a number of existing campus committees which are composed of representative cross-samples of the university community. This group can effectively lead the change required to achieve this goal on campus. The table below indicates the myriad roles that these members play and their spheres of influence on our campus.
Leader Member 2 Member 3 Member 4 Member 5
Campus Role Interim Associate Faculty Assistant Director of Associate Dean Vice Academic Provost President of Exploration Student Program Affairs
Bradley University AACU Institute narrative 3 Academic OR Academic Academic Academic Student Student Student Affairs Affairs Affairs Affairs Affairs Affairs
College or Education and Liberal Arts Communica Smith Academic Department Health and Sciences tions and Career Exploration Sciences Fine Arts Center Program
Position Administrator Administrator Faculty Professional Professional / Faculty / Faculty Staff Staff
Bradley Core X X X Curriculum
Bradley Core X X Practices
Higher X Learning Commission Quality Initiative Committee
Student X X Success Collaborative
University X X X X Wide Assessment Committee
Bradley University AACU Institute narrative 4 AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Bridgewater State University Bridgewater, MA
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: Master's L: Master's Colleges and Universities (larger programs) Affiliation: Public
Enrollment Undergraduate: 9562 Masters: 1436
Team Leader: Dr. Jenny Shanahan, Director of Undergraduate Research Discipline/Office: Office of Undergraduate Research 2) Dr. Pam Russell, Interim Associate Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs: Academic Affairs 3) Dr. Ruth Slotnick, Director of Assessment: Office of Assessment 4) Dr. Lee Torda, Associate Professor: English Department 5) Dr. Maura Rosenthal, Professor: Movement Arts, Health Promotion, and Leisure Studies
Summary of Goals: At Bridgewater State University (BSU) in Massachusetts, two-thirds of our 9,000 undergraduates identify as students of color, low-income, and/or first-generation students, and over half have transferred from community colleges. As a vital part of the university’s commitment to social justice, BSU has invested greatly in HIPs and equitable access to them, with promising results but a need for more integration and clarity about why and how to participate. Our goals are to (a) create a more vigorous and cohesive HIPs platform that connects efforts currently dispersed across various programs, (b) make the pathways to HIPs clear and open to all current and prospective students, not just those with the social and cultural capital to seek them out, and (c) embed HIPs more consistently in the Core Curriculum while it is now undergoing a major revision, to ensure equitable access to transformative learning opportunities for our diverse student body.
What you would like to see from the institute:
- Integration of HIPS at larger public institutions - scaling up - Assessment of HIPS - Most effective HIPS for retention Proposal for HIPS Summer Institute
Bridgewater State University (BSU), a regional, comprehensive, public institution located in southeastern Massachusetts, prioritizes student success as part of the University’s commitment to advancing social justice and diversity. Two-thirds of BSU’s 9,000 undergraduates identify as students of color, low-income, and/or first-generation students, and over half are transfer students. Our mission, driven by the themes of opportunity and excellence, includes a campus- wide focus on ensuring that all students, especially those from traditionally underserved groups, have access to exceptional teaching and learning environments that promote intellectual, creative, and professional growth.
Those opportunities include several high-impact practices (HIPs), such as first- and second-year seminars, writing-intensive courses, residential learning communities, undergraduate research, global learning (including travel study), internships, and service learning. While our HIPs are informed by current practices and coordinated by faculty and program directors, there is not enough intentional integration of the opportunities, nor is there equity in the ways students access them. Our goals are to advance greater coherence among our HIPs, improve their visibility, and increase their availability to all students. Accomplishment of the goals could provide all BSU students, not just those with social and cultural capital, equitable access to transformative learning opportunities.
With engaged and passionate faculty and staff, BSU is intentional and focused in its commitment to the success of all of our students. Participation in the AAC&U HIPS Summer Institute will help us connect our HIPs and make them more visible, improving our efforts to serve and prepare our current students and attract prospective students, especially since BSU is now updating its Core Curriculum.
Many of our current HIPs were established following the revised Core Curriculum in 2006 and have been supported by extraordinary faculty development. Of particular note, BSU’s undergraduate research, internship, and study abroad offices are each distinct programs led by full-time administrators and accorded exceptional funding, allowing the dedication of nearly a million dollars a year to student grants that offset the costs for thousands of students to participate in faculty-mentored scholarly work, otherwise-unpaid internships, and a full complement of reduced-cost travel courses and semesters abroad. Our current First-Year Seminar (FYS), a writing-intensive course, goes well beyond “orientation to college” by offering disciplinary content and highly valued skills. First-year students who have presented at the Mid- Year Symposium have persisted to their second year at higher rates than their peers who did not. However, not all of our HIPs are this successful or accessible for our students. BSU’s HIPs are dispersed across divisions, rarely coordinated with one another, and indiscernible to too many of our current and prospective students. Another example of BSU’s commitment to HIPs is seen in our Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) initiative, which was started, in part, to guide the emphasis on writing in First-Year Seminars and across the Core Curriculum. WAC’s professional development offerings have helped faculty infuse more writing throughout the curriculum, and a WAC network of faculty has consistently shared successful approaches and assignments. Office of Assessment data indicate steady improvement in written communication over the last five years.
Core Curriculum Steering Committee members have attended several AAC&U General Education Network Renewal Conferences and are eager to integrate HIPs into a new model of the Core Curriculum. As active participants in AAC&U, the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR), the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC), and the Professional and Organizational Developers Network for Higher Education (POD), we fully understand the potential for our students with a HIPs-rich Core Curriculum. We know that engagement in HIPs improves persistence and retention, especially for underserved students, but that access to HIPs still disproportionately favors economically advantaged students with family legacies of higher education. BSU stands out as an institution with an authentic commitment to and record of success in developing the talents and capacities of our diverse student body, and has made HIPs available to underrepresented groups through undergraduate research grants, study abroad scholarships, alternative spring break, and the internship grant program.
BSU’s newly formed Division of Student Success and Diversity utilizes the Common Data Set and Campus Climate survey data to target interventions that help students persist, especially students of color, first-generation, and low-income students. Our average first-to-second-year retention rate was an impressive 79.7% in 2015, but data analysis indicated that male students of color, low-income male students, and commuters persisted at less than 75%. Consequently, programs now support the success of these male groups, and a committee is forming to determine how to improve success for commuters.
BSU’s Social Justice Implementation Committee includes a cross-divisional group working on HIPs from two complementary approaches: as part of the curriculum across academic and co- curricular programs and as a means of social justice. This group has identified BSU-specific and emerging HIPs based on data from Institutional Research and the Office of Assessment. The Office of Assessment’s recent review of 83 academic programs showed a wide range of programs offering HIPs outside of the core requirements. However, preliminary findings indicated that HIPs (a) were not fully described or well-narrated, (b) were underreported in program review and assessment reports, (c) had limited visibility on webpages, and (d) were not highlighted in course catalog descriptions. Despite campus-wide support for HIPs and a record of closing achievement gaps related to student success, BSU needs guidance in structuring coherent pathways for students. BSU has a well-supported foundation in HIPs and a growing consensus across the university that access to such opportunities is essential to our mission. We also have ready capacity for growth—namely, a valued tradition of faculty development, effective leadership in assessment and institutional research, and resources allocated to HIPs development. We need strategic direction for university-wide student engagement in HIPs to ensure that all students can participate equitably in a clear array of these transformative, high-impact opportunities, and to draw greater numbers of potential students to BSU as their first-choice university. As a matter of social justice, we want all students, no matter their circumstances, to know that opportunity and excellence are welcoming them here.
Our team of participants includes faculty and administrators both experienced in successful HIPs at BSU and invested in and passionate about providing students with an experience that equips them for success.
Jenny Shanahan, PhD (Director of Undergraduate Research, a scholar and sought-out speaker in Undergraduate Research, long-time CUR Councilor, recent member of the CUR Executive Board, AAC&U member) Pam Russell, PhD (Interim Associate Provost of Academic and Faculty Affairs, 20-year faculty member with experience in WAC, Honors, Internships, Capstones, and Undergraduate Research, AAC&U member) Ruth Slotnick, PhD (Director of Assessment, previous member of the AAC&U Quality Collaborative, AAC&U institutional member, NILOA Degree Qualifications Profile/Tuning Coach, and Core Curriculum Steering Committee Member) Lee Torda, PhD (Associate Professor of English, Writing Program Administrator, previous FYS Coordinator, previous Director of Undergraduate Research, Internship Coordinator for the Department of English) Maura Rosenthal, PhD (Professor of Movement Arts, previous FYS Coordinator, Core Curriculum Steering Committee Member) AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Chaminade University of Honolulu Honolulu, HI
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: Master's L: Master's Colleges and Universities (larger programs) Affiliation: Religious
Enrollment Undergraduate: 1184 Masters: 597
Team Leader: Ms. Cari Ryan, Assessment Specialist Discipline/Office: Center for Teaching and Learning 2) Ms. Allison Jerome, Dean of Students: Student Affairs 3) Ms. Jessica Pratapas, Academic Advisor-Natural and Forensic Sciences: Office of Retention, Advising, and Career Preparation 4) Mr. Darren Iwamoto, Assistant Professor: Psychology 5) Mr. Hans Chun, Assistant Professor and Director of Educational Leadership Program: Education
Summary of Goals: If selected, a CUH team would benefit from learning how to think about the student as one impacted not by autonomous university departments, but via an entire system that recognizes the student as a person with individual strengths. We hope to increase student retention to 80% over the next three years and implement a career development plan that closely aligns with academic majors. As part of increasing student retention, we would like to design a learning assistant program to support student learning in the classroom. We would also like to find ways to coordinate both our curricular and co-curricular high-impact practices to maintain a continuity of focus on the student’s holistic development, while also enhancing long-term learning. This opportunity will allow our team to broaden the discussion and work with colleagues to create a seamless model between support services, academics, and career development for student success.
What you would like to see from the institute: Recommended topics: Student retention, advising, and career preparation. AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success Chaminade University of Honolulu Application Narrative Statement
In 2015, Chaminade University of Honolulu (CUH) received a Title III grant from the Department of Education to specifically help expand the capacity to serve our students. Chaminade University is a Catholic, comprehensive, master’s level university serving the people of Hawaii and the US-affiliated Pacific Islands since 1955. Regionally accredited since 1960, CUH fulfills a commitment to underrepresented student populations with a campus-based undergraduate program and four off-campus locations complemented by a distance education program. Situated at the crossroads of east-meets-west, CUH is dedicated to expanding access to higher education. We are ever mindful of our commitment to students of Hawaii and the Pacific - groups disproportionately suffering from the effects of marginalization.
Chaminade is a meeting place, a gathering of many cultural traditions under one academic roof. Chaminade University is one of the most diverse colleges in the U.S., and provides a model of multi-cultural interaction and understanding. CUH’s greatest strength, the characteristic identified repeatedly by stakeholders, is our proven commitment to the people of Hawaii. We believe Native Hawaiian students are attracted to CUH because 1) We offer courses of study that appeal to and recognize the needs of persons of Hawaiian descent; 2) We are a small, caring community (an extension of 'Ohana, i.e., family spirit); 3) We engender and promote spiritual well-being (values inherent in Hawaiian culture); 4) We value the Hawaiian community through community partnerships and service.
While our campus has not made campus-wide curriculum changes to meet the demands of the st 21 century, we have nonetheless made great strides toward cultivating faculty that teach for the st 21 century. Our Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL) opened in 2015. Our focus is always on supporting student learning through offering professional development opportunities that help our faculty adopt teaching practices that will impact student learning for long term change. The CTL offers a myriad of workshops on high impact teaching practices that truly serve to engage students, encourage students to make interdisciplinary connections, and enforce their status as lifelong learners. The CTL has a full-time instructional design specialist (IDS) to work with our faculty.
On a similar note, the CTL also has a full-time assessment specialist (AS). The AS also works directly with departments and individual faculty on a range of assessment activities. The AS is involved, often in concert with the IDS, to ensure that learning practices align with intended outcomes and that faculty are educated on the best ways to assess whether learning is, in fact, occurring. The link between high-impact practices, including environment, learning outcomes, and assessment is a main focus in the course redesign courses, and will be in the higher educational teaching and learning certificate course as well.
The AS is also in the process of helping non-academic programs assess how they impact their students and how to use assessment to drive improvement. For example, the AS is working with
1 the campus ministry program on assessment and a form of program review to determine how well students are identifying with the Catholic Marianist values and mission of the university. The same is true in her work with the Dean of Students and the Office of Student Activities and Leadership to develop a program review.
It is worth mentioning that the University has begun to deeply engage in faculty-driven program reviews. The extent to which this is currently being accomplished is relatively new for the university, but also has implications for the creation of high impact practices, learning outcomes, and assessment. The more that programs look inwards through their own self-studies, the more they will be able to use their program assessments to determine which high impact practices, including those on the non-academic side, will best help improve their individual programs or perhaps diagnose the need for curriculum change.
The major need that exists is to ensure that all parties are working together for the common good of the student, to develop the student as a person who will not only excel academically, but civically as well (an important part of the CUH mission). If selected, a CUH team would benefit from learning how to think about the student as one impacted not by autonomous university departments, but via an entire system that recognizes the student as a person with individual strengths. CUH has a very diverse body of students, and we are a federally recognized Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander serving institution. Our diverse set of learners, stemming from culturally diverse backgrounds demands that we take quality seriously, and that the quality that we offer is equitable to the various learning styles. It is our belief that participation in the Institute will aid our team in the development of those equitable, integrative, and learning-centered pathways to deeply connect the assets students do bring to CUH. Our CTL is relatively new, and while many faculty have been engaged in practices from the center, we still need to develop a culture that is wedded to the idea of these high impact practices, and how a menu of teaching options can be developed so that all learning styles are acknowledged and, ideally, all facets of our diverse student body are successful in all facets of the academe, curricular or otherwise. Aside from the diverse student body, many of our students are first generation college students, and their success may be even harder to come by. Better integration of high impact practices will be invaluable to CUH, and our important commitment to our diverse student body.
The Office of Retention, Advising, and Career Preparation which is comprised of division-specific, academic advisors, a Career Specialist, Graduate Assistant, and tutoring Coordinator works together to bridge the connection between student support services and faculty. Our goal is to improve the high-impact practice of increasing career plan discussions between first-year students and faculty through collaboration between our Career Specialist and faculty by visits to classrooms and collaborating with the various divisions to increase career-major-related events and guest speakers. We believe that having a team from CUH with representation from our office of Retention Career Advising Preparation, Dean of Students, and faculty members will help us better understand how to ask the right questions to enable us to be more effective in the totality of our student-driven efforts. Chaminade University has a long-standing, deep commitment to student success. Participation in this effort will help us continue to move towards evidence-based practices concerning advising, career preparation,
2 academic learning, and co-curricular success.
The team selected to represent Chaminade University at the 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success includes:
● Allison Jerome, Dean of Students ● Cari Ryan, Assessment Specialist ● Jessica Pratapas, Academic Advisor-Natural and Forensic Sciences ● Darren Iwamoto, Assistant Professor, Psychology ● Hans Chun, Assistant Professor of Education & Director of Educational Leadership Program
Team members were selected based on their dedication to assessment and student learning outcomes. All team members have worked within their own departments and fostered cross-campus partnerships to improve student learning and increase retention rates. To achieve this goal, our advising team has partnered with faculty advisors from each division to provide seamless advising services to all students. As an institution, we’ve created a department to serve students at both the advising and career stages of their academic career called, the Office of Retention, Advising, and Career Preparation. We strive to assist the faculty with identifying at-risk students, intervening early with support services like tutoring to help increase course completion rates. Additionally, we have implemented proactive advising with all first-year students in an effort to increase first-year student retention. The proactive model includes a developmental approach to advising to address the whole student which is consistent with our Marianist values.
In closing, we are grateful for this opportunity to enhance student success at our institution through collaboration with other academic professionals in an effort to improve high-impact practices. In accordance with our Title III objectives, we hope to increase student retention to 80% over the next three years and implement a career development plan that closely aligns with academic majors. As part of increasing student retention, we would like to design a learning assistant program to support student learning in the classroom. We would also like to find ways to coordinate both our curricular and co-curricular high-impact practices to maintain a continuity of focus on the student’s holistic development, while also enhancing long-term learning. This opportunity will allow our team to broaden the discussion and work with colleagues to create a seamless model between support services, academics, and career development for student success.
3
AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Colorado State University Fort Collins, CO
AAC&U Member: no Carnegie Classification: DRU: Doctoral/Research Universities Affiliation: Public
Enrollment Undergraduate: 21904 Masters: 3744 Doctoral: 565
Team Leader: Dr. Kelly Long, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs Discipline/Office: Office of the Provost 2) Dr. Benjamin Withers, Dean: College of Liberal Arts 3) Dr. Louann Reid, Chair & Professor: English 4) Dr. Gwendolen Gorzelsky, Executive Director: The Institute for Learning and Teaching (TILT) 5) Dr. TBD TBD, Assistant Vice President for Student Success: Vice President for Student Affairs
Summary of Goals: Please see attached document.
What you would like to see from the institute: Please see attached document.
AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications County College of Morris Randolph, NJ
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: Assoc/Pub-S-SC: Associate's--Public Suburban-serving Single Campus Affiliation: Public
Enrollment Undergraduate: 8067
Team Leader: Mr. Patrick Enright, Dean Discipline/Office: School of Professional Studies and Applied Sciences 2) Dr. Teresa Birrer, Assistant Professor: Biology 3) Mr. Mark Cosgrove, Professor/Chairperson: Hospitality Management and Culinary Arts and Sciences 4) Ms. Laura Parker, Associate Professor: Nursing 5) Dr. William Solomons, Assistant Professor/Assistant Chairperson: Criminal Justice
Additional Team Members(s): 2 Ms. Diana Aria Assistant Professor Psychology and Education
Dr. Marcia Picallo Associate Professor/Assistant Chairperson Languages and ESL
Summary of Goals: The team would develop a plan whereby high impact practices would be expanded throughout CCM’s curriculum and co-curricular activities through faculty and staff professional development programs. Team members would present sessions about high impact practices to other CCM faculty and staff upon their return and to use high impact practices in their courses.
The faculty would also be supported by Institutional Research staff to monitor student success as high impact practices are implemented in their courses, programs and co-curricular activities. Participation in the Institute would provide professional development for a dean, tenure-track, newly tenured, and senior faculty in the use of high impact practices to improve student success.
What you would like to see from the institute: Implementation of high impact practices in courses, professional development of faculty in teaching high impact practices County College of Morris Application 2017 Institute on High Impact Practices and Student Success
Need
County College of Morris (CCM) uses AAC&U’s Essential Learning Outcomes, High Impact Practices, and VALUE Rubrics to guide teaching and student learning. The 2015 – 2018 Strategic Plan emphasizes strengthening students’ intellectual and applied learning through civic learning and diversity, ethical reasoning and action, internships, and interdisciplinary courses. The 2018 – 2021 Strategic Plan continues these practices through emphasis on the integration of HIPs in first semester, gateway, and capstone courses. There are two demographic changes occurring at CCM that make the expansion in the use of high impact practices a critical element of the new strategic plan. First, recent faculty retirements (22% of full-time faculty are tenure-track) and pending retirements of approximately 53% of full-time faculty in the next 3-5 years provide an opportunity for the new full-time faculty to learn and apply high impact practices in their teaching and expand the use of these practices throughout the curriculum. During the tenure-track and promotion processes faculty are asked to provide evidence of teaching effectiveness and professional growth. Attendance at the Institute will provide the faculty a professional development opportunity that helps them identify teaching practices that they can apply in their teaching to benefit student learning. Faculty attending the Institute are expected to share with other faculty the pedagogical insights they gained and provide professional development workshops for other CCM faculty.
The other change is the increase in the number of Hispanic students at CCM, who now make up 21% of CCM’s student population. This upward trend will likely result in CCM being designated as a Hispanic serving institution in the next 5 years. An analysis of student success rates disaggregated by race/ethnicity and gender indicates a gap between underrepresented students and other student groups. This student success gap is an equity concern which if not addressed will keep CCM from accomplishing the 2018- 2021 Strategic Plan goals. High impact practices successfully implemented should contribute to the decrease in this success gap.
Goals The team would develop a plan whereby high impact practices would be expanded throughout CCM’s curriculum and co-curricular activities through faculty and staff professional development programs. Team members would present sessions about high impact practices to other CCM faculty and staff upon their return and to use high impact practices in their courses. The faculty would also be supported by Institutional Research staff to monitor student success as high impact practices are implemented in their courses, programs and co-curricular activities.
Participation in the Institute would provide professional development for a dean, tenure-track, newly tenured, and senior faculty in the use of high impact practices to improve student success. The use of the high impact practices would be reflected in the faculty’s self-appraisal which is a requirement of the tenure-track and promotion processes. High impact practices exemplars would be made available to other CCM faculty through the Center for Teaching and Learning. Faculty attending the Institute would also be asked to serve as coaches to tenure-track faculty, faculty seeking promotion, and staff. CCM plans to send other teams to the Institute in future years in order to develop a critical mass of faculty and staff who effectively utilize high impact practices in their teaching and co-curricular activities so that there is equitable success for CCM students.
Team The CCM team consists of seven members and is a mix of tenure-track and senior faculty from each academic school at CCM. As a seven member team, CCM asks that two additional faculty be allowed to attend beyond the recommended five member team. The team is led by a dean who has been at CCM for ten years and who leads the School of Professional and Applied Sciences which includes business, mathematics, and engineering. Dean Enright is leading CCM’s Women in STEM Initiative with a goal of increasing the number of female students majoring the STEM disciplines. Each of the other faculty members contribute to a variety of actions in their department, school and college to improve student success for all students.
Dean Patrick Enright, School of Professional Studies and Applied Sciences Professor Diana Aria, Psychology and Education Professor Teresa Birrer, Biology/Chemistry Professor Mark Cosgrove, Chair Culinary Arts and Sciences Professor Laura Parker, Nursing Professor Marcia Picallo, Languages and ESL Professor Bill Solomons, Assistant Chair Criminal Justice
AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications California State University Bakersfield Bakersfield, CA
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: Master's M: Master's Colleges and Universities (medium programs) Affiliation: Public
Enrollment Undergraduate: 8100 Masters: 1230 Doctoral: 18
Team Leader: Dr. Jacqueline Mimms, Associate Vice President Discipline/Office: Division of Enrollment Management 2) Dr. James Drnek, Associate Vice President: Student Affairs 3) Mr. Kris Krishnan, Assistant Vice President: Institutional Research, Planning and Assessment 4) Mr. Vikash Lakhani, Assistant Vice President: Student Success, Retention and Graduation 5) CSUB Dean or Faculty Member (TBA) CSUB Dean or Faculty Member (TBA) CSUB Dean or Faculty Member (TBA), CSUB Dean or Faculty Member (TBA): School Dean or Faculty Member (TBA)
Summary of Goals: The institutional goals include the following:
* Institutionalizing Graduation Acceleration/Progress Review * Improving Early Start * Involving Faculty Leadership in Student Success Effort * Implementing Block Course Scheduling * Ensuring Degree Roadmaps for all degree-granting programs are current and in place * Create Graduation Initiative 2025 website * Complete California State University Chancellor's Office Project Plan * Implement CSUB Four-Year and Two-Year Pledge Program
What you would like to see from the institute: High impact practices related to remediation (e.g.. developmental math and English); best practices for professional academic advising; block scheduling strategies Through the California State University 2025 Graduation Initiative, California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB) is committed to examining the systemic, long-term changes that must occur to improve graduation rates. The Initiative seeks to improve awareness of student issues and to increase the speed with which the university can intervene to support student success. As part of this effort, CSUB has established a Graduation Initiative Taskforce to examine and design strategies to clarify degree requirements, promote early intervention programs, reduce barriers to student progression, and aid students to successfully navigate their curriculum. The Initiative uses data to identify areas for change and works with faculty and staff to build capacity within schools to create this change. This initiative was conceived and implemented after three major strategic changes that occurred at the university. The university successfully completed its Quarter to Semester conversion, redesigned its General Education curriculum in 2016 and revised and transformed the curriculum in more than 70% of the majors. The semester conversion will provide a more in-depth learning experience as well as a seamless credit transfer process for students. The new General-Education curriculum will provide students across disciplines a shared intellectual experience. It is designed to promote student success by structuring educational activities that purposefully contextualize, reinforce and integrate knowledge. Below is a summary of a few key findings from the work of the Graduation Initiative Taskforce in monitoring the success some of the short-term strategies outlined in the campus’ student success plan.
GRADUATION ACCELERATION With the hiring of additional staff, CSUB was able to perform a degree progress analysis for each of the students who have accumulated the number of units that would possibly place them on track for a 2- or 4-year graduation rate. This was an intensive process that required meetings with students and follow-up calls. Through this process, we were able to provide students with a plan to complete their degree requirements within the required time frame, priority registration, and assignment of dedicated advisor/s. As a result, the 2- and 4-year graduation rates of transfer and freshmen cohorts have shown an average increase of 1.5% to 2.0%. The details of graduation application checks are as follows: 23 additional freshmen applied for graduation in spring or summer 2017, resulting in a 1- 2% increase in our 4-year graduation rate 12 additional transfers applied for graduation in spring or summer 2017, resulting in an approximately 1% increase in our 2-year graduation rate 29 additional freshmen applied for graduation in fall 2017, resulting in a 2% increase in our 4.5-year graduation rate 12 additional transfers applied for graduation in fall 2017, resulting in a 1.5% increase in the 2.5-year graduation rate
To sustain this process, the Taskforce is developing a plan to institutionalize the grad check procedures. The professional advising staff in Enrollment Management and at the Schools will collaborate and devise individualize graduation plans for the students in a timely manner.
MID-TERM EARLY ALERT A Mid-Term Early Alert program was piloted in fall 2016. The program was designed to detect, service, and sustain at-risk students through early alert monitoring of the mid-term grade reporting. A total of 443 student grades were evaluated during the pilot. Of the 443 students, 136 (31%) were determined to be at risk by faculty. The Grades First application was used to communicate with students who needed some type of intervention including concerns with academic performance, excessive absences, low engagement or needed academic assistance. An assessment of the early alert program provided valuable lessons in developing a communication and intervention strategy. The positive reviews from participating faculty have paved the way for a campus-wide roll-out in Spring 2017.
WINTER SESSION COURSES TO REDUCE ROAD BLOCKS In January 2017, the CSUB’s Extended University piloted a winter intersession. Nineteen courses were offered in this inaugural session. 203 students took advantage of the winter intersession to lighten their spring schedule or meet graduation requirements. A winter intersession course will allow a student to satisfy requirements for a degree and will help him/her move forward to graduation. Work is underway to broaden the course offerings for the next winter intersession.
The first-year and second-year retention rates of the First-Time Full-Time cohorts have steadily improved over the last couple of years. The first- and second-year retention rates of the most recent cohorts are 76% and 65% respectively. These rates have grown 5%-6% over the last five years. An analysis of the graduation patterns of program majors with large enrollment of freshmen and transfer students is underway. We hope this will help uncover road blocks at the program level.
TACTICAL FLOW The Graduation Initiative has helped CSUB sharpen its focus on the 2 and 4-year graduation rates. The assembled team of faculty and staff have focused on tactics (like those above) to drive retention and graduation rates. The taskforce has also developed a conceptual flow-chart of the incoming freshman cohort with designed intervention points. The intervention projects were developed and vetted by the Taskforce. Each intervention has an assigned project owner, priority and timeline associated with it. These interventions will be measurable and have direct impact on student graduation. A similar flow chart will be developed for the transfer students.
SUPPLEMENTAL INSTRUCTION The university conducted an experiment on supplemental instruction for students enrolled in the Math Early Start program. Preliminary results showed almost 83% in students with supplemental instruction successfully exiting the course. An improvement of almost 40% over courses that did not provide supplemental instruction. As a result, funds are being allocated for supplemental instruction for the summer 2017 and fall 2017 semesters.
SURVEY OF STUDENT PERSPECTIVES In Spring 2017, CSUB is planning to conduct a survey in partnership with EdInsights. The survey would help uncover specific supports and challenges that students would encounter in their path to graduation at CSUB. Information on student experiences and perspectives can help inform formulation of new policies and procedures that support timely progression and completion.
CONCLUSION While we are still in our first year experience under the semester system, we can share some interesting preliminary observations of our student unit load and enrollment trends. In comparison to the fall 2015 quarter term, we experienced a slight increase (1.2%) in enrollment headcount for fall 2016. However, the resident FTES number was down by about 11%. Things took a dramatic turn in spring 2017. Spring 2017 headcount is currently about 4.6% higher than that of fall 2016. The annualized Resident FTES for CY2016-2017 is projected to exceed the CY2015-2016’s FTES by 3%. The data suggest that the messaging about student academic load was not well understood or implemented in fall 2016. Our emphasis on academic load as part of the Graduation Initiative may have helped turn the situation around. We will continue to push for the 15-unit load.
In support of the 2025 graduation initiative the Institutional Research, Planning and Assessment Office is developing dashboards and visuals that will allow staff and advisors the employ the power of analytics to determine which students may face academic difficulty, allowing interventions to help them succeed. The dashboards extract student grades, enrolled units, past academic history, and other student parameters from various academic systems. AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications California State University, Northridge Northridge, CA
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: Master's L: Master's Colleges and Universities (larger programs) Affiliation: Public
Enrollment Undergraduate: 35552 Masters: 3175 Doctoral: 134
Team Leader: Dr. Deborah Cours, Director Discipline/Office: Office of Community Engagement 2) Mr. Patrick Bailey, Director: Student Involvement and Development 3) Dr. Tami Abourezk, Assistant Vice President: Undergraduate Programs 4) Dr. Cheryl Spector, Director: Academic First Year Experiences 5) Dr. Claire White, Associate Professor: Religious Studies
Summary of Goals: Using campus data about the availability, participation in and assessment of HIPS at CSUN, our team will take advantage of the expertise and dedicated time provided by the Institute to develop a plan for better support and implementation of HIPs across the student experience at CSUN. Our specific outcomes will be to create a shared understanding of our team, that can be shared with the broad campus community, of the breadth of HIPs at CSUN, the mechanisms by which HIPs are currently implemented and assessed. We will develop a communication plan, identifying the key stakeholders and decision makers (including faculty governance committees). We will seek guidance in reducing barriers for students to participate in HIPs, and to consider institutional policies, recommendations, advisement and support to students about curricular and co- curricular engagement
What you would like to see from the institute: We would benefit greatly from those with experience coordinating and assessing HIPs, particularly those that are outside the classroom. How do others track these experiences, and combine them in assessment models? We will benefit from time to reflect on how HIPs are managed, implemented and shared at CSUN. Need: Founded in 1958, California State University, Northridge (CSUN) is a comprehensive university, one of the 23 campuses in the California State University system. CSUN enrolls more than 40,000 students, making us one of the largest single-campus universities in the nation. CSUN offers a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate programs across 70 different degree fields.
CSUN welcomes a diverse student body mirroring our community. It is one of the few campuses in the nation that simultaneously holds designations as an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander (AANAPISI), Hispanic (HSI) and Minority (MSI) serving institution. CSUN is serving an increasing number of traditionally underserved and low-income students. In 2006, 39.4% of our undergraduates were from traditionally underserved communities. This includes students identifying as Latina/o, African American, Pacific Islander, Native Hawaiian, American Indian, or Alaskan Native. In the past 10 years, the proportion of undergraduates from underserved communities has increased by 36%. As of Fall 2016, more than half of our undergraduate student population come from traditionally underserved communities. The increase in students from underserved backgrounds is largely a result of our growing Latina/o student population. Today, nearly half of our undergraduates—49%--are Latina/o, compared to 30% in 2006 (source: CSUN Offices of Student Success Innovations and Institutional Research). We also welcome students with disabilities (particularly students who are Deaf or hard of hearing -- we serve the largest population of DHH students in the Western U.S. and house the National Center on Deafness) and we have a large international student population.
CSUN has a deep and long history with High Impact Practices. For 20 years, the Office of Community Engagement has supported, promoted and assessed service-learning courses. The undergraduate General Education program includes integrated pathways and requires writing intensive courses across the curriculum. University 100, our three- unit college success class, now serves more than 1800 new freshmen annually; about half of those students take a second GE class linked to University 100 as part of a learning community. Since 2007, the course has also incorporated the Freshman Common Reading—a shared intellectual experience—into its curriculum. Many majors have capstone requirements. Several thousand students across majors complete internships each year. Student Affairs supports student engagement and volunteerism through clubs, organizations and other aspects of student life, including an annual Day of Service and cultural study opportunities. International Study Abroad programs have received greater emphasis recently with reorganization under the Tseng College of Extended Learning and new partners. While some majors and programs have successful undergraduate research programs, new campus-wide initiatives are promoting growth and institutional support for student opportunities to partner with faculty in research.
Assessment of HIPs is largely decentralized and occurs within majors or departments. UNIV 100 is a key exception; as a course housed within Undergraduate Studies, it has conducted assessment of the course learning outcomes as well as its role in GE.
When HIPs are tied and flagged with specific courses (such as service-learning courses, internships, and intensive-writing courses), Institutional Research can explore relationships with student success. Current efforts, including those by this team, involve ways of better and more consistently identifying HIPs within the student data record to improve opportunities for measurement and assessment.
Currently, CSUN is focused on a CSU system-wide initiative to improve graduation and persistence rates, particularly among underserved populations such as Pell-eligible, ethnic minority, and first generation students (the initiative calls for the elimination of the opportunity/achievement gap). This greater emphasis on student success -- demonstrated through administrative and faculty reassignments, allocation of resources, and strategic planning – requires data-driven decision making. As part of this initiative, faculty data champions, graduation and retention specialists, and college- specific plans are being united around best practices With unprecedented access to data through new “digital dashboards,” faculty, staff, student affairs professionals and administrators can better understand our students and their successes and challenges, and assess what works.
This initiative is supported by the newly created Office of Student Success Innovations, which has coordinated the Provost’s Professional Development program and campus Town Hall events throughout the academic year. Partnering with the Office of Faculty Development, recent programming has included a series of workshops focused on culturally relevant pedagogy.
CSUN has also begun to prepare its application for designation as a Carnegie Engaged Campus. As we prepared our resource assessment, it quickly became clear how much data and practices are decentralized or remain untracked. Identifying, tracking, assessing, celebrating and supporting engagement and HIPs are related, overlapping processes that will enhance our ability to scale best practices and better understand what works (and what does not work and why). Bringing together a group of staff, faculty and administrators to imagine, design and implement ways to uniformly identify and assess student engagement and HIPs across the campus will serve both of these initiatives and support the effectiveness of our work with all students.
Our campus is especially proud of its progress in the assessment of student learning. Student Affairs led the way in developing learning outcomes and full program reviews of each department. Academic Affairs followed suit soon after, gradually devoting the equivalent of one and a half full-time faculty positions to the Office of Academic Assessment. Assessment is now integrated into course proposals, program and department self-studies, and the upper-division writing proficiency exam required of all students as part of the undergraduate degree.
Goals: Prior to attending the Institute, we will gather data from Institutional Research and from a campus survey about the use of and success with HIPs on the campus. Our President, Dr. Dianne Harrison, has asked of us “which high impact practices (and how much duration and of what quality) produce what results for which students and at what cost?” Our team will utilize the expertise and dedicated time provided by the Institute to develop a plan for identifying, assessing, supporting, and expanding HIPs across the student experience at CSUN. Our specific outcomes will include developing an understanding of the breadth of HIPs at CSUN, the mechanisms by which HIPs are currently and can be implemented and assessed, and a plan detailing ways to scale up the use of HIPs across campus. This effort will entail the further building of campus collaborations and expansion of professional development opportunities
We will therefore develop a communication plan, identifying the key stakeholders and decision makers (including faculty governance committees and the Offices of Student Success Innovations and Faculty Development). We will seek guidance in reducing barriers for students to participate in HIPs, and will review institutional policies, recommendations, advisement and support to students about curricular and co- curricular engagement.
Team: Our team consists of faculty members and senior staff members who are leading HIPs initiatives, including Tami Abourezk (Assistant Vice President for Undergraduate Programs), Patrick Bailey (Director of Student Involvement and Development in Student Affairs), Deborah Cours, (Professor of Marketing, Director of Community Engagement, Undergraduate Studies), Cheryl Spector (Professor of English, Director of Academic First Year Experiences, Undergraduate Studies), and Claire White (Associate Professor of Religious Studies). We bring diverse backgrounds, fields of emphasis, and experience, and holistically represent knowledge of many of the university’s operations and student experiences. Each team member is an advocate for diversity and is deeply engaged with one or more high impact practices. We also represent communication channels back into administration, faculty structures, and student experiences that will allow quick and broad dissemination of ideas and plans. We are all committed to working together toward scaling HIPs and assessing their availability, their reach, and their impact, as we work toward CSUN’s shared goal of improved student success.
AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Borough of Manhattan Community College New York, NY
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: Assoc/Pub-U-SC: Associate's--Public Urban-serving Single Campus Affiliation: Public
Enrollment Undergraduate: 25000
Team Leader: Dr. James Berg, Associate Dean of Faculty Discipline/Office: Academic Affairs 2) Dr. Gina Cherry, Director: Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship 3) Dr. Jason Schneiderman, Assistant Professor: English 4) Dr. Amy Sodaro, Associate Professor: Social Sciences 5) Ms Kristin Bennett, Senior Advisor: BMCC Learning Academy
Additional Team Members(s): 1 Katherine Figueroa, Lecturer Academic Literacy and Linguistics
Summary of Goals: The purpose of this team’s attendance at the Summer Institute is to develop a professional development plan that will use High Impact Practices to address equity gaps in student achievement at a large urban community college.
What you would like to see from the institute: 1. Ways to engage faculty in addressing achievement gaps. 2. Connections between faculty and advisers. Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) is one of twenty-four units comprising the City University of New York (CUNY). Located in lower Manhattan, BMCC serves 25,000 student in its credit programs, making it the largest undergraduate campus in New York City. The college awards three degrees: the Associate in Arts, the Associate in Science, and the Associate in Applied Science. Business related programs are the most popular with Liberal Arts and health-related programs being the other areas of significant enrollment. The purpose of this team’s attendance at the Summer Institute is to develop a professional development plan that will use High Impact Practices to address equity gaps in student achievement.
Need
BMCC is committed to creating a learning environment in which all students can succeed. As is the case with many community colleges serving urban populations, BMCC has historically had low graduation rates (see table). Provost Karrin E. Wilks recently addressed the faculty on the topic of student success, stressing the need for “strong, visible and pervasive faculty leadership, such that the most effective success practices are recognized and scaled.”
Graduation Rate Fall 2011: 16% Fall 2012: 18.5% Fall 2013: 19.2%
ASAP Grad Rate Fall 2011: 54.9% Fall 2012: 61.3%
In her address to the faculty, the Provost also identified achievement gaps at the college that need to be addressed. While the college has had increasing graduation rates (above) and degrees completed, the gains are not equally felt across student groups.
One Year Retention
Fall 2014 cohort 59% Black 61% Hispanic 65% White 74% Asian
Three Year Graduation
Fall 2012 cohort 15% Black 15% Hispanic 18% White 24% Asian
Recent gains in the BMCC rates can be partially ascribed to the CUNY-wide program, known as ASAP, that offers support services and financial assistance to fulltime students. ASAP has been shown to significantly improve retention, progress through developmental coursework, and graduation rates. (Sixty-four to sixty-eight percent of BMCC students enroll fulltime.) ASAP does not serve all students, and so BMCC has created the BMCC Learning Academy.
The BMCC Learning Academy was developed to foster student success in and out of the classroom. The program offers a holistic approach to student support, one that complements the intellectual, personal, and emotional growth of each student. BLA started out in 2012 serving entering freshmen majoring in Liberal Arts (the largest major at the college) by providing courses using high impact teaching practices.. Dedicated advisors serve as mentors and coaches to provide students ongoing support for their academic success. Retention rates have been high in the Learning Academy, in the low ninety percent range, compared to the BMCC retention rates which are consistently in the low sixties. The BMCC Learning Academy expanded to a three-year cohort model in the fall of 2016, with support from a Title V grant. The BMCC Learning Academy has served 1600 students in cohort of 330-500 students each fall from 2012 to 2016.
In addition to student supports, the BLA has focused on guaranteeing that students experience accepted High Impact Teaching Practices as defined by AAC&U’s LEAP project. Faculty are recruited to teach BLA and commit to using high impact practices, specifically including but not limited to a First Year seminar, learning communities, cooperative learning, common intellectual experiences outside the classroom, service learning, undergraduate research, and electronic portfolios.
Students participate in a first-year seminar taught by a BLA program advisor. This seminar covers topics related to navigating the college process, time management, transferring, and career exploration. After a student’s first year of study, students meet with second-year advisors who work closely with students on applying to senior level colleges and choosing appropriate career paths.
Faculty support is key to developing BMCC as high impact college. Under the leadership of Provost Karrin E. Wilks and Associate Dean of Faculty James J. Berg, the college has identified various achievement gaps (as noted above) and has a stated goal of improving student outcomes in Gateway courses. To address success rates and equity gaps, the college has revised the developmental course sequences in English and mathematics. The college has used faculty inquiry groups to address student success in Gateway courses, as well as individual training in using blended learning models and open educational resources. These inquiry groups have been focused on small changes to teaching and interventions for student support; promising practices have been piloted in one or two sections of high enrollment courses. With the support of faculty and department chairs, in Spring 2017, the college is embarking on a course-level approach to addressing success in two courses, Public Speaking and Introduction to Business.
The Summer Institute Team will develop a four-year plan (supported by Title V funding) for using faculty professional development to address both the college’s equity agenda and improved student learning outcomes in the BLA. The Title V grant has allowed the college this spring to offer faculty professional development around service learning and electronic portfolios. The college made an investment in 2015 to establish an office of experiential education and internships, which is involved in designing and organizing professional development in this area.
Goal
In Fall 2016, BMCC was awarded a Title V grant to expand the BLA to include more entering students and to extend its model to the second and third year of study. The funded project is “intended to improve the rate of retention among Hispanic and low-income students by implementing a series of high impact practices beyond the first year of study. These activities include: the creation of extended learning communities, peer mentoring, blocked scheduling, faculty mentored research, student leadership training, and professional development.” Several goals are spelled out in the grant application, including the goal of increasing BMCC graduation rate to 19.5%. As the rate has improved considerably since the grant was written, a new goal will be established. Additionally, the grant project aims to train 92 faculty in high impact practices. This goal will likely be reached by AY2018; more significantly for the BLA, those 92 faculty will be available to teach specific BLA sections, nearly doubling the available faculty (currently 40). A further goal is to engage up to 60 faculty to use electronic portfolios in their BLA courses by the end of the grant period.
The team’s goal for attending the Institute is to craft a professional development plan for the four years remaining of the grant term (to 2021), to expand the faculty’s understanding and use of high impact teaching strategies. The BLA professional development plan will serve, first, faculty committed to teaching in the BLA, and second, other fulltime and part-time faculty at BMCC. BLA will recruit additional faculty to teach in the BLA from faculty who engage in professional development about and commit to high impact teaching practices.
The AACU Team Leader is James Berg, Associate Dean of Faculty, who leads faculty development at the college, as well as Kristin Bennett, Senior Advisor for the BMCC Learning Academy. The rest of the team comprises Gina Cherry, Director of the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship, and two BLA faculty, Jason Schneiderman, Assistant Professor of English, and Amy Sodaro, Associate Professor of Sociology. (If space allows, a third faculty member, Katherine Figueroa, will be included.) These faculty have been involved with the BLA since its inception in 2012, and regularly teach BLA sections. They are highly regarded by their peers for their teaching and will help design the faculty development activities in the plan. Ms Fusco will help design the professional development of advisors in the BLA, which will include increased use by students and advisors of electronic portfolios. The overall professional development activities will be coordinated by Dr. Cherry with guidance from Dean Berg. AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Florida International University Miami, FL
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: RU/VH: Research Universities (very high research activity) Affiliation: Public
Enrollment Undergraduate: 41,111 Masters: 6,211 Doctoral: 2,559
Team Leader: Dr. Elizabeth Bejar, Vice President, Academic Affairs Discipline/Office: Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President 2) Mrs. Bridgette Cram, Student Success Manager: Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President 3) Dr. Isis Artze-Vega, Asst. VP for Teaching & Learning: Teaching and Learning 4) Dr. Sonja Montas-Hunter, Assistant Vice Provost for Student Access and Success: Student Access and Success 5) Mrs. Moira Chacon, Assistant Director: Student Affairs, Multicultural Programs
Summary of Goals: Our overall goal for the institute is to identify how to improve and leverage student learning opportunities to enhance retention and completion. The overall project, ‘Think 30: Finish in 4’, seeks to establish pathways to ensure that students are supported to complete their degree in four years and are career-ready. However, we also need to focus on student learning to ensure that this is possible. The institute will provide us with an opportunity to evaluate our current HIPs and establish where the gaps are regarding student learning related to curriculum and co-curricular opportunities, while also focusing on equity and inclusiveness. In addition to identifying these gaps, we will establish how new HIPs can be created to increase student learning, especially related to degree completion; including cultivating self-awareness, resilience, and building an understanding of how their diverse learning experiences will prepare them for life after graduation.
What you would like to see from the institute: Specific topics that would be helpful include how HIPs can cut across academics, career-preparedness, and engagement; and guidelines for how to create an efficient assessment process to track and assess these HIPs. 2017 Institute on High Impact Practices and Student Success
Think 30: Finish in 4
Florida International University is committed to building capacity to support student success. Guided by 20 Critical Performance Indicators and best practices, the FIUBeyondPossible2020 Strategic Plan proposes great advances and innovations for FIU in the next five years. In the last decade, FIU has aggressively participated in national assessments, developed University-wide programming and created academic support divisions, consistent with the national trends in higher education, to support access and success of its students.
The project we are proposing for the summer institute, ’Think 30: Finish in 4’, builds on our commitment to the access and success of our students. While the premise of this campaign is centered on retention and completion, we are cognizant that to increase progression and success, a commitment to student learning is imperative. In terms of our current capacity, FIU has a strong culture of learning outcomes assessment. The Office of Academic Planning and Accountability works closely with each academic and administrative unit to design assessment plans that reflect desired student learning with a specific focus on assessing high impact practices like capstone courses and projects. While each unit is responsible for their own assessment processes, there is central oversight for the purposes of university accreditation. Furthermore, curricular transformation is also imperative. Through funding from the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities and the Gates Foundation, FIU has transformed critical gateway courses, which have historically hindered student progression. In addition, FIU was awarded a $1.45 million grant from the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) to replicate a UTeach program in Miami. UTeach is a secondary STEM teacher preparation initiative that is helping to produce qualified math and science teachers across the country.
With a focus on both completion and student learning, this project leverages our capacity in assessment and curriculum innovation with our current commitment to HIPs in the areas of redesigning our First-Year Experience course, exploring how capstone courses can be transformed to integrate learning experiences that prepare students to enter their career, and high-tech high-touch practices to increase student retention and graduation. Additionally, it builds on the work conducted as part of our participation in AACU’s Committing to Equity and Inclusive Excellence project, which surveyed students’ engagement in and knowledge of High Impact Practices, as well as examined our teaching and engagement practices in regards to equity and alignment with HIPs. The summer institute will assist us in further developing a plan to evaluate the current HIPs we have in place, examine how they work together to help students complete their degrees in four years, implement HIPs to address deficiencies where degree completion and student learning may be impacted, and create an assessment plan for quality assurance and improvement. FIU approaches the development of student success initiatives from a strength- based approach. That is, we focus on our institutional assets—rather than needs, deficits, or problems, as they relate to student success, and we feel strongly that this approach can catalyze campus change, particularly when addressing issues of equity and inclusive excellence. As with all of our projects, FIU must consider the community we serve and in that launching a campaign such as ‘Think 30: Finish in 4,’ we are committed to quality improvement, equity, and diversity. Engaging in collaborative assessment strategies and encouraging units to design high quality curricula that incorporate aspects of cultural competence and equity mindedness would be central to achieving success and would be a key component of our campaign in affecting improved retention and graduation for all students. Another component of our project will require us to examine the programs that have excelled at promoting increased success among our most at-risk populations, and examining how they can be applied across the university where appropriate. Furthermore, the campaign will champion a streamlined process where student success projects are examined through this approach, ensuring that we are using our resources not only efficiently and effectively, but also equitably.
The proposed project has four tenets: academics, support, career, and engagement. Attendance at the institute will help us to align and develop practices that increase student learning in each of these areas. In terms of academics, we can leverage the current re-design of our gateway courses, First Year Experience course, and our pilot course for freshman students placed on warning or probation. For support, all students, including underrepresented students, begin their undergraduate experience with the expectation that they will succeed. It is our responsibility to identify and leverage resources to engage students in the learning process and help them fulfill their potential. Thus, institutional commitment to talent development should align resources and provide learning conditions to maximize student potential. The third tenet, career, requires us to infuse career preparation across the curriculum, thereby elevating student learning in this area. The last tenet, engagement, is of importance; because many of our students commute to campus, it is critical that we examine how to increase engagement and student learning outside of the curriculum in new and diverse ways. We believe that the institute can help us address learning related to each of these four tenets.
In the next year, the ‘Think 30: Finish in 4’ campaign will be established on the FIU campus. Freshman entering in summer 2018 will be exposed to this campaign at orientation and asked to sign a pledge to take 30 credits per year and graduate within four years. They will be provided with a road map to achieve this, as well as information on career and engagement milestones that they should reach each year, and support structures in place to help them meet these goals. The institute will provide us with the learning strategies and high impact practices that will guide this roadmap. Within three years, an incentive structure will be put into place to increase the number of freshman taking this pledge. In addition, a streamlined process for student success programs, and an inventory of existing programs will be put into place, to ensure quality improvement and alignment with student learning outcomes specific to this campaign and overall student success.
The project requires the collaboration of Academic Affairs, Undergraduate Education, Student Access and Success, and External Relations. Current projects under each of these respective offices are geared toward student success, but the ‘Think 30: Finish in 4’ campaign unites these projects and focuses on how to pair academics with co-curricular experiences to increase student learning and success. These efforts are tied not only to FIU strategic plan goals, but also to the state of Florida’s Performance Based Funding metrics.
The Campus Team will include a representative from the Office of the Provost, Teaching and Learning, Student Affairs and Student Access and Success. The team represents critical areas that will impact the success of launching the ‘Think 30: Finish in 4’ campaign. The offices that we represent share values, goals, and a mission that is committed to building the capacity of our students and cultivating inclusive learning environments which support student success.
AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Franklin & Marshall College Lancaster, PA
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: Bac/A and S: Baccalaureate Colleges--Arts and Sciences Affiliation: Independent
Enrollment Undergraduate: 2400
Team Leader: Professor John Krebs, Associate Professor and Associate Dean of the Faculty Discipline/Office: Physics AND Office of the Provost 2) Professor Robert Walter, Associate Professor: Geosciences 3) Professor Susan Dicklitch-Nelson, Professor: Government 4) Professor Meredith Bashaw, Associate Professor: Psychology 5) Dr. Donnell Butler, Senior Associate Dean for Planning and Analysis of Student Outcomes: Office of the Dean of the College
Additional Team Members(s): 3 Dr Amy Mulnix Director of the Faculty Center
Professor Jennifer Conley Assistant Professor of Dance
Ms. Meghan Kelly Research & Emerging Technologies Librarian
Our team is large, but the scope of our project will involve both curricular and co-curricular areas of the college. Our team of faculty, administrators, and professional staff will allow us to think about how we can incorporate high impact practices across academic departments and institutional offices. We are enthusiastic to be partnering with the different constituencies on campus with the goal of creating an action plan that will allow for more pathways to meaningful learning experiences.
Summary of Goals: Franklin & Marshall has long embraced high-impact practices and offers a variety of experience that enhance students' learning. However, changes in our student body demand that we become more intentional and transparent about pathways through the curriculum that ensure that each student participates in multiple transformative experiences. Our overarching institutional goal is to design and implement a plan to provide opportunity and access to high-impact practices for all students at F&M, and not just the top third of every class. Our goals for the institute are to better understand the essential features of high-impact practices; expand the knowledge base of faculty and staff to better position them as leaders on campus; contextualize high impact practices for our campus so as to clearly define student success and better align and prioritize resources for existing and new programs; and learn best practices in assessment of high- impact practices
What you would like to see from the institute:
- Broadening the scope of HIPs - Assessment of their effectiveness Franklin & Marshall, a residential college dedicated to excellence in undergraduate liberal education, strives to inspire in young people of high promise and diverse backgrounds a genuine and enduring love for learning. As expressed in its 2011 strategic plan, the College is committed to identifying, educating, and launching talent from all backgrounds and to sustaining the most rich and catalyzing student and alumni communities possible. As a result, the last three classes to join our community have been the most diverse in the history of the College.
F&M has long embraced high-impact practices that span a student’s career. Our first-year seminars, a program that is more than two decades old, was re- envisioned in 2013, and now includes a sequential two-part residential seminar experience that emphasizes intellectual skill development and small classrooms. In most cases the instructor also advises the students. In 2012, F&M became the first liberal arts college in the country to offer a STEM Posse for students in the science, technology, engineering and math fields. We have a strong reputation of student-faculty research collaborations. Indeed, in 2017 there will be 87 students working with faculty mentors on projects ranging from archaeological digs in Bolivia to the chemical synthesis of nanoparticles in our campus labs. Study abroad is also embedded in our curriculum with 55% of our students studying abroad each year. Recent investments have allowed us to better coordinate and expand internship experiences, many of which connect students with alumni; approximately 40% of sophomores and 43% of juniors participate in internship experiences. Numerous majors include capstone experiences such as writing portfolios, creative projects and performances, independent research or senior seminars.
While we have been and continue to be successful in offering high-impact practices, changes in our student body demand that we become more intentional and transparent about pathways through the undergraduate curriculum that ensure that each student participates in multiple transformative experiences throughout their college careers. For many students elective high-impact practices can be part of a ‘hidden’ curriculum that largely serves those with families and mentors familiar with higher education, those that are highly self- motivated and academically confident, and/or those that have the resources to participate. One of our institutional goals is to lower these barriers. Our overarching project is to design and implement a plan to provide access to and engagement in high-impact practices for all students, not just those that are in the top third of their class.
While F&M clearly has many opportunities available, recent analysis and reflection on student experiences in high-impact practices indicate that they need to be adapted to better serve our increasingly diverse student body. For instance, community-based projects, study-abroad destinations, and service-learning opportunities can be examined in light of the interests of our current students. Additionally, NSSE data, student fora, preliminary reviews of our first year curriculum, and review of our housing system indicate the need for the existing high-impact practices, already embedded in our curriculum, to also better prepare students for living and working in the 21st century. Two areas needing attention are teamwork skills and information literacy. Additionally we are committed to expanding and making more impactful opportunities for engagement with diverse persons, ideas, perspectives and cultures, an area that was cited by a 2015 AAC&U report as a priority for employers.
These campus needs are being addressed at various institutional levels including task forces, on-going professional development workshops and symposia, faculty-sponsored speaker series, and residential programs for students. For example, we have begun to examine data for student-faculty collaborations and a faculty project is studying the state of student research in the sciences. Nearly $60,000 has been awarded in the last three years for course and curriculum revision grants with special attention to developing 21st century skills (e.g., group work in history courses and introducing data analytics in the business curriculum) and to increasing the diversity of perspective in the curriculum (e.g., gender and Islam, Caribbean literature). Faculty actively developing intercultural competencies through bias training and learning communities are taking on leadership roles in workshops, including in F&M’s annual Symposium on the Curriculum that engages all faculty prior to the start of the fall semester in a topic devoted to curricular needs. In 2016, the theme was inclusive pedagogies. We have already decided to devote the symposium in 2017 to high impact practices.
Another illustration of the readiness of our campus to address issues related to diversity is the tremendously successful Day of Dialogue. On a Wednesday in October, 2016, classes were canceled, and students, staff and faculty from across the college began the day with a plenary session with Dr. Beverly Tatum and President Dan Porterfield. Throughout the rest of the day there were break- out sessions led by students, faculty, and staff on topics ranging from new meanings of Latinidad to strategies for racial justice. Importantly, numerous faculty embedded assignments related to the day into their courses. The faculty have committed to a similar event in fall, 2018.
Our team’s overarching outcome as a result of the institute is to ensure access and opportunity for all of our students to multiple pathways to high-impact experiences. We want practices incorporated across all programs, including general education, the major, and in co-curricular and community based programs. Our immediate goals for the institute are to: 1) Better understand the essential features of high-impact practices so as to ensure successful implementation for equity and inclusive excellence for all students. 2) Expand the knowledge base of faculty and staff, so as to better position them as leaders on campus. 3) Contextualize high impact practices for our campus so as to clearly define student success and better align and prioritize resources for existing and new programs. 4) Learn best practices in assessment of high impact practices. Once the team returns to campus our plan is immediately raise faculty awareness of the benefit of these practices via our annual Symposium on the Curriculum. This will allow us to focus as a community on additional ways to transform educational experiences for our students.
Our team composition is one piece of evidence of our systemic approach to provide high-quality learning and improve student success. Campus sectors relating to curriculum, faculty development, and student success are participating, along with faculty that are emerging as leaders for inclusive excellence. The team is larger than originally anticipated, but if we are to ensure that all students engage in high impact practices throughout their tenure at F&M, then we need to think broadly about how we engage them in the classroom, community and residence halls. The team will be led by the Associate Dean of the Faculty. Four faculty have enthusiastically volunteered to participate in the institute and represent the sciences, arts, and social sciences. All are using HIPs within their programs and are interested in learning more. The Senior Associate Dean for Planning and Analysis of Student Outcomes will be also be joining the team. He is experienced with high-impact practices and will share his expertise with the team, but will also help forge partnerships with our colleagues in the student-life side of the administration. In addition, the Director of the F&M Faculty Center will be able to help disseminate the information through workshops and information sessions. Lastly, one of our college librarians will join us. The team thus represents the areas of campus that are best poised to ensure long-term success in achieving our goals. The team members can also contribute to our faculty-wide symposium in late August as we implement the next steps to expand our outreach, development, and impact of high-impact practices.
AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications
Hampshire College Washington, PA
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: Bac/A and S: Baccalaureate Colleges--Arts and Sciences Affiliation: Independent
Enrollment Undergraduate: 1376
Team Leader: Pam Tino, Associate Dean of Students Discipline/Office: Student Life 2) Ms. Kristen Luschen, Dean of Multicultural Education and Inclusion 3) Ms. Diana Sutton-Fernandez, Chief Diversity Officer 4) Ms. Jessica Ortiz, Director of New Student Programs 5) Dr. Judith Atzler, Associate Professor of Theatre
Summary of Goals: We will use this opportunity to develop a thoughtful plan for expanding and enriching our efforts to help students acquire the skills and knowledge to enact social change at Hampshire and beyond. We will take advantage of the institute to: reflect on existing efforts and use the Institute sessions to help consider how these efforts might be leveraged further to advance learning and civic engagement; consider additional efforts that can be integrated into our work; map areas for deeper connection and collaboration; develop shared goals and outcomes, and consider how we might assess these outcomes; and develop logic model for future programming and collaboration on these topics.
What you would like to see from the institute: Examine ways to review and enhance the first year experience and our new teaching & learning communities Need. Issues of campus climate, civic engagement and learning have been prioritized at Hampshire College, and we seek to build on this momentum by aligning our efforts and encouraging collaboration between faculty and staff doing important work. For example, Prof. Kristen Luschen, dean of multicultural education and inclusion, and Javiera Benavente, director of the ethics and the common good project, are leading a series of dialogues that will articulate a set of advocacy and change-making strategies that will help enable students to talk across differences, build alliances, and contribute meaningfully to social change efforts. The project, Developing a Student Changemaker “Toolkit” to Enact Social Change at Hampshire College and Beyond, is funded by an AACU grant and even though the project was just launched it has already generated considerable interest from campus partners who recognize its need and are eager to integrate both the approach and the anticipated product into various trainings, programming initiatives and even curricula.
This project can likely be linked to other efforts, such as an academic affairs/student life partnership to review and enhance the first year experience; our new teaching & learning communities, which we piloted just last year; and existing programming, such as our fall and winter orientations as well as first year and transfer workshops that are organized throughout the fall and spring. The Institute on High Impact Practices will enable us to develop an appreciation for these efforts on their own and also help draw connections between these efforts and the Student Changemaker “Toolkit” project.
Goals. We will use this opportunity to develop a thoughtful plan for expanding and enriching our efforts to help students acquire the skills and knowledge to enact social change at Hampshire and beyond. We will take advantage of the institute to: • reflect on existing efforts and use the Institute sessions to help consider how these efforts might be leveraged further to advance learning and civic engagement; • consider additional efforts that can be integrated into our work; • map areas for deeper connection and collaboration; • develop shared goals and outcomes, and consider how we might assess these outcomes; • and develop logic model for future programming and collaboration on these topics.
Team.
• Kristen Luschen, dean of multicultural education and inclusion, professor of education and co-director of Hampshire College’s Center for Teaching & Learning. Dean Luschen co-chairs the Presidential Advisory Council on Hampshire’s Commitment to Anti- Racism and is leading the campus-wide effort to develop the student changemakers toolkit. • Diana Sutton- Fernández, consults faculty, students and staff on systemic and structural changes to create inclusion, as Hampshire’s chief diversity officer. She coordinates training and professional development for faculty and staff also co-chairs the Advisory Council on Anti-Racism with Dean Luschen. • Jessica Ortiz, director of new student programs, coordinates fall orientation and programming throughout the year for new students. The Institute is a wonderful opportunity for Jessica to think with colleagues about strategies that can be infused through her area and how new student programs can help advance shared goals. • Natalie Sowell, associate professor of theatre, worked closely with students and faculty from the arts to develop an interactive performance piece for convocation, in order to help community members begin exploring the value of listening, deep engagement, and reflection. Prof. Sowell is also a member of the Advisory Council on Hampshire’s Commitment to Anti-Racism. • Pam Tinto, associate dean of students, works closely with campus-wide initiatives to engage and support first year students and also oversees campus leadership and activities, an office that supports student organizations that offer programming and organize conferences on social change and social justice issues. Dean Tinto also coordinates training and professional development for the entire student affairs division.
AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Indiana State University Terre Haute, IN
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: DRU: Doctoral/Research Universities Affiliation: Public
Enrollment Undergraduate: 11,257 Masters: 2,327 Doctoral: [applicant unsure]
Team Leader: Mr. Bryan Lubic, Executive Director Discipline/Office: Career Center 2) Mr. Steve Stofferahn, Interim Chair and Associate Professor: History 3) Dr. Lori Henson, Assistant Professor: Communication 4) Dr. Joy O'Keefe, Assistant Professor & Director, Center for Bat Research, Outreach, and Conservation: Biology 5) Mr. Brice Yates, Director: Charles E. Brown African American Cultural Center
Summary of Goals: Implementing and assessing progress on our career-readiness goals. Working with the campus’ strong assessment infrastructure, we aim to reflect upon and improve our career-readiness initiatives and ultimately share success stories with our stakeholders.
We also hope to foster a significant cultural change on campus with regard to internalizing career-readiness goals. We would know this change has occurred when we have more indicators of integration, in the form of collaborative groups working together across campus, an integration of career readiness components into faculty development programs and the academic curriculum, and further institutionalization of our efforts through structures of faculty and staff recognition.
If we are successful, another indicator would be how we are viewed by other institutions attempting to achieve the same goals. If we are successful, we would be requested to showcase our expertise and experience at other institutions or at conferences.
What you would like to see from the institute: Support for learning how to integrate change, and keep momentum, focusing on the people side of change. Application: Indiana State University AAC&U Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success Team Leaders: Steve Stofferahn and Bryan Lubic
Background Indiana State University has been making progress on a multi-year initiative, funded through the Lilly Foundation, called “Focus Indiana.” It is an evidence-based initiative focused on helping our undergraduate population of over 10,000 students to find and succeed in meaningful, college-level employment after graduation.
We are approaching our challenge on three fronts:
1) Connecting students to career information and employers from the first moment they walk onto campus; 2) Strategically engaging with employers through a data-driven industry cluster strategy; 3) Integrating career readiness into the curriculum.
The third part, integrating career readiness into the curriculum, is our area of focus for the AAC&U Institute.
Over the last year, we have made significant progress toward this goal. Specifically, we have institutionalized integrating career readiness into the curriculum by including it as a key goal on our university strategic plan. This has given us institutional momentum and resources needed to sustain our effort. For example, last year we sent the Dean of the University College and two faculty from the College of Arts and Sciences to the AACU conference and, specifically, to the pre-conference workshop for LEAP (Liberal Education and America’s Promise). And during the fall 2016 semester, we successfully launched an initiative to map the outcomes of every degree program to the career readiness competencies established by NACE (National Association of Colleges and Employers).
As a result, we have increased awareness of our efforts, and in the process have gained valuable insights into where our curriculum is already integrating activities that support career readiness and related outcomes. This has helped us create a common language and reference point for our effort. Our next steps will be to identify ways we can continue to achieve our goals through programs, and most importantly, personal contacts.
Our Need At this stage we need to generate broad-based support for the implementation phase, not only in maintaining the momentum we have already established, but also in integrating this approach throughout our work across campus.
For example, our faculty development efforts to date have not been as successful as we had initially hoped. Workshops and related programming have received only minimal interest. We need to understand how to work together more effectively across areas, especially by building strategic partnerships that result in effective, long term collaboration that creates the change we're aiming for.
One novel area showing promise is the Career Center's "Department Visit Program," started in January 2017. This is a new approach the Career Center has taken, whereby a small team from the Career Center works to establish a regular series of visits with each department to collaborate on students’ post- graduate success. The underlying intention has been quite simple: to develop strong, trusting relationships that will create the context necessary for cross-campus collaborations to grow. Previously, relationships were transactional and based on the exchange of information or data requests. Now, the Career Center is increasingly viewed as a consultant and partner to campus colleges, with invitations to participate in their respective accreditation or internal review processes, and taking a more active role in creating multi-year strategic career development plans.
Our hope is that our participation in this year’s Institute may help us come together as a campus team, build on previous achievements, and continue integrating career readiness throughout the curriculum by building networks of advocates to implement intentional and strategic programs.
Our Goals
In the long term, we expect to advance our university's strategic plan goal of integrating components of career readiness throughout the curriculum. Our specific motivations for participating in the Institute and implementing what we learn upon our return include the following:
Over the next year: Deepening our understanding of how we can achieve our desired career-readiness goals by strengthening relationships and building an effective network of collaborative colleagues across campus.
Understanding how and where career readiness can be integrated into the academic curriculum in ways that are effective and impactful, and focus on ways to show the benefits of such an endeavor by highlighting post-graduate success. We hope to gain insights into best practices employed by colleagues from other universities at the Institute, coming away with fresh ideas for programs, activities, and broader strategies.
Creating a strong core team that will be able to carry forward momentum once back on campus. By attending an immersive and focused experience like the Institute, we will have the opportunity to focus deeply on this key project.
Over the next three years: Implementing and assessing progress on our career-readiness goals. Working with the campus’ strong assessment infrastructure, we aim to reflect upon and improve our career-readiness initiatives and ultimately share success stories with our stakeholders.
We also hope to foster a significant cultural change on campus with regard to internalizing career- readiness goals. We would know this change has occurred when we have more indicators of integration, in the form of collaborative groups working together across campus, an integration of career readiness components into faculty development programs and the academic curriculum, and further institutionalization of our efforts through structures of faculty and staff recognition.
If we are successful, another indicator would be how we are viewed by other institutions attempting to achieve the same goals. If we are successful, we would be requested to showcase our expertise and experience at other institutions or at conferences.
Our Team The team members reflect the selection of campus collaborators, stakeholders, and advocates for the integration of career readiness throughout the entire student experience at Indiana State University. We have assembled a team of faculty stemming from departments within the College of Arts and Sciences, the university’s largest unit: History, Communication, and Biology. Each faculty member is known for structuring academic and classroom experiences in ways that students describe as helpful and engaging. We are hopeful that these members of our team will be even more effective advocates of subsequent career-readiness endeavors once we return to campus to continue the work we start at the Institute.
Our staff members include the Executive Director of the Career Center and the Director of the Charles E. Brown African American Cultural Center. Through these team members we are able to connect to student groups and campus organizations that relate to many more dimensions of the student experience.
Together, our team, united by a shared commitment to the mission of higher education, will be able to draw upon a wide range of backgrounds, trainings, and professional experiences to explore the goals outlined above, and to implement them effectively in the coming years.
AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Indianapolis, IN
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: RU/H: Research Universities (high research activity) Affiliation: Public
Enrollment Undergraduate: 22,000 Masters: 9,250 Doctoral: 750
Team Leader: Dr. Margaret Ferguson, Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Professor of Political Science Discipline/Office: Liberal Arts/Political Science
2) Dr. Scott Weeden, Senior Lecturer of English and Chair of PRAC: Liberal Arts/English 3) Dr. Tyrone Freeman, Assistant Professor of Philanthropic Studies, Vice-Chair of PRAC, and a member of UAC: Philanthropy 4) Dr. Youngbok Hong, Associate Professor of Visual Communication Design: Art and Design 5) Dr. David Pierce, Associate Professor of Kinesiology: Kinesiology
Summary of Goals: The IUPUI team that will attend this AAC&U Institute has these specific goals: (1) Identify how high impact practices contribute to a student’s learning, identity development, and success; (2) Describe how capstones can be used as part of a more coherent and consistent signature undergraduate learning experience for students at IUPUI; (3) Determine effective ways to incorporate other high impact practices (e.g., undergraduate research; service learning; use of electronic portfolios) into IUPUI capstone courses and experiences; and (4) Develop the beginnings of a report for how to: provide faculty professional development related to capstones; assess student learning in capstones; and pilot the implementation of learning from the Institute related to capstone on our campus.
What you would like to see from the institute: Assessment of HIPs; faculty development to support HIPs; linkages of capstone courses/experiences to general education. IUPUI Application: AAC&U 2017 Institute on High Impact Practices and Student Success
Introduction and Context
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) is an urban-serving institution with 2,700+ full-time faculty and 30,000 students, of whom 22,000 are undergraduates. Eighteen degree-granting schools offer both Indiana and Purdue University programs of study, with IU serving as IUPUI’s managing partner. The campus is highly decentralized, in large part due to curricular considerations of offering both IU and Purdue degrees, and also because of the budgeting model known as Responsibility Center Management. IUPUI has a longstanding culture of assessment and improvement, and we were pleased to be the recent recipient of the inaugural Sustained Excellence in Assessment designation from AAC&U, NILOA, and VSA. In preparing the application for that award, and based on the feedback received from the external peer reviewers, IUPUI recognizes one area for ongoing improvement is the need to preserve the positive aspects of our decentralized, innovative culture, while simultaneously strengthening and developing more coherent, consistent learning experiences for our students. Of particular interest to us is a focus on capstone courses and experiences, a high impact practice that, at present, is conceptualized and implemented in highly variable ways at IUPUI.
Need
IUPUI adopted a set of six institution-wide learning outcomes, known as the Principles of Undergraduate Learning (PULs), in 1998, following several years of campus-wide discussion involving more than 1,000 faculty, staff, and students. The PULs include: core communication and quantitative skills; critical thinking; depth, breadth, and adaptiveness of knowledge; application and integration of knowledge; understanding society and culture; and values and ethics. Students practice these skills throughout their undergraduate education, beginning in the first-year seminar and continuing into general education courses and beyond.
In Academic Year 2014-15, IUPUI adopted a state-mandated general education core curriculum. A new faculty-governed Undergraduate Affairs Committee (UAC) was established to serve as the main undergraduate affairs advisory board for the IUPUI campus, overseeing approval of new undergraduate degrees, minors, and certificates. The UAC also oversees curricula and policies associated with the IUPUI general education core, including the review and coordination of curriculum changes involving general education courses. Beginning in Academic Year 2017- 18, UAC will undertake a five-year review process of IUPUI’s general education offerings. Course coordinators for each general education course will produce a course portfolio containing syllabi, student learning outcomes derived from and aligned with the PULs, evidence of student learning, evidence of improvements made in the course, and course enrollment data. This review will be conducted by members of the UAC in conjunction with our campus-wide Program Review and Assessment Committee (PRAC). The outcomes of the general education review will inform ongoing improvements to courses, identify opportunities for professional development, highlight promising teaching-learning practices, and establish evidence of student learning to support the campus decennial reaffirmation of accreditation to our regional accreditor, scheduled for fall 2022.
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IUPUI programs also incorporate the PULs into discipline-specific courses that guide instruction and assessment methods. PULs are joined by program-level learning outcomes to collectively articulate what IUPUI students should know and be able to do upon graduation. As the campus initiates a review of its general education offerings, which will provide information about the effectiveness of student learning at the foundational level PULs, we also recognize the promise and potential of capstone courses and experiences as a venue to assess both program-level learning outcomes and more advanced, integrative student learning related to the PULs. This is significant, as integrative learning aids students in experiencing connections of their undergraduate courses and experiences throughout the curricula. Newman, Carpenter, Grawe, and Jaret-McKinstry (2015) maintain that integrative learning experiences “encourage students to reflect on how and why they should learn these skills, as well as how they might apply them in novel contexts” (p. 14). Indeed, the capstone experience is a high-impact practice because of the students’ deep investment in the purposeful activity and how much they learn about themselves through the experience (Ferren and Paris, 2013). Capstone courses and experiences present an opportunity to reflect upon the learning that has taken place over the course of a student’s career. It also creates space for the integration of knowledge acquired up to that point and functions as a critical bridge between the baccalaureate college experience and graduate study, employment, lifelong learning, and engaged citizenship (Hauhart and Grahe, 2015).
Against the backdrop of a decentralized campus context serving diverse students, recent developments surrounding general education at IUPUI, and a recognition of the need to provide greater coherence and consistency to some of our learning experiences on campus, we have recently launched a faculty Community of Practice (CoP) to reimagine capstone courses and experiences at IUPUI. The Capstone CoP has been charged with developing recommendations in support of capstones, including: the purpose and philosophy of capstones as a signature experience of the IUPUI undergraduate curricula; models and approaches to capstones that can meet the needs of IUPUI’s various academic programs; methods useful in assessing both program-level and PUL outcomes in capstones; and the supports needed for quality, scalability, and sustainability of capstones at IUPUI. The team we are proposing to send to the AAC&U Institute on High Impact Practices and Student Success is comprised of a sub-set of Capstone CoP members, and we envision our time at the Institute to provide an opportunity for focused learning and work to produce specific recommendations and an implementation plan for capstone courses and experiences at IUPUI.
Goals
The IUPUI team that will attend this AAC&U Institute has these specific goals: Identify how high impact practices contribute to a student’s learning, identity development, and success. Describe how capstones can be used as part of a more coherent and consistent signature undergraduate learning experience for students at IUPUI. Determine effective ways to incorporate other high impact practices (e.g., undergraduate research; service learning; use of electronic portfolios) into IUPUI capstone courses and experiences.
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Develop the beginnings of a report for how to: provide faculty professional development related to capstones; assess student learning in capstones; and pilot the implementation of learning from the Institute related to capstone on our campus.
We envision our goals being accomplished through: Consultations with Institute faculty; Discussions with peer Institute participants; and Using the team time to document our discussions and plans related to capstones and other high impact practices.
The Institute is well-timed to support the work of the Capstone CoP. The team will arrive at the Institute having spent this spring semester conducting a literature review, inventorying existing capstone syllabi at IUPUI, and discussing the aims of capstones for IUPUI programs and students. The CoP will continue in AY 2017-18, and work undertaken at the Institute will be shared with campus leadership, UAC, PRAC, and others. Thus, we have an in-tact set of structures to capitalize on, implement, and support the outcomes from our participation in this Institute.
Team
The IUPUI team for this Institute are all members of the Capstone CoP and represent diverse academic disciplines, genders, and races/ethnicities: Margaret Ferguson, Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Professor of Political Science, and Chair of the Capstone CoP Scott Weeden, Senior Lecturer of English and Chair of PRAC Tyrone Freeman, Assistant Professor of Philanthropic Studies, Vice-Chair of PRAC, and a member of UAC Youngbok Hong, Associate Professor of Visual Communication Design and past participant on an AAC&U Institute Team on Project-based Learning David Pierce, Associate Professor of Kinesiology and past participant on an AAC&U Institute Team on Project-based Learning
References
Ferren, A., & Paris, D. (2013). How students, faculty, and institutions can fulfill the promise of capstones. Peer Review: Capstones and Integrative Learning, 15(4).
Hauhart, R.C., & Grahe, J.E., (2015). Designing and teaching undergraduate capstone courses. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Newman, L.E., Carpenter, S., Grawe, N., & Jaret-McKinstry, S., (2015). Creating a culture conducive to integrative learning. Faculty Leadership for Integrative Liberal Learning, 16(4)/17(1).
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AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Keene State College Keene, NH
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: Spec/Other: Special Focus Institutions--Other special-focus institutions Affiliation: Public
Enrollment Undergraduate: 4200 Masters: 100
Team Leader: Dr. Shari Bemis, Assistant Dean, Sciences and Social Sciences Discipline/Office: Professor of Computer Science 2) Dr. Paul Baures, Professor: Chemistry 3) Dr. Sarah McGregor, Assistant Professor: Physics 4) Dr. Irene McGarrity, Assistant Professor: Library 5) Dr. Margaret Smith, Professor: Health Science
Summary of Goals: Our goal is to further and deepen the work of both BEST and CCI to reach a broader audience and capture more students. Undergraduate research is our high-impact practice of choice and reaching out to more faculty and students across campus will enrich the mission of both initiatives and provide more opportunities for our students. Understanding that students participating in undergraduate research tend to contribute to higher successes and retention. We need to better understand how to connect our disciplines across our three schools in order to collaborate in a more meaningful way which will help to attract and engage our students and faculty in undergraduate research. While the Sciences have led the way; both the Arts/Humanities and Professional Studies have done great work as well. We now need to establish pathways for students from all three schools to participate and work across disciplines to accomplish this work. We also strive to provide these experiences to all students ; therefore, providing equitable access to research opportunities for all our students is imperative.
What you would like to see from the institute: Please let me know if I can help clarify anything or answer any further questions that you might have. 603-358-2599 Keene State College (KSC) is the residential public liberal arts college of New Hampshire whose mission includes preparing students to think critically and creatively while pursuing meaningful work. The institution achieves academic excellence through the integration of teaching, learning and scholarship. As a public institution, we strive to provide educational opportunities for all qualified students. Our values include: strong relationships among students, faculty, and staff; excellence in teaching, learning, and scholarship; commitment to learning and cultural enrichment; and educational challenge and support for a wide range of learners.
The Sciences at KSC have led the way in terms of developing the teacher-scholar model of faculty and student engagement through the high impact practice of undergraduate research. Science initiatives include the Program for Undergraduate Research Experiences (PURE), our partnerships with NH-INBRE and the Council for Public Liberal Arts Colleges (COPLAC). The Program for Undergraduate Research Experiences (PURE) was a 4 year pilot program that introduced first year students to research opportunities through a 1 credit Introduction to Research course taught by the School Dean. The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) data indicates that a full 44% of KSC seniors have done undergraduate research with a faculty member, as compared to 32% of seniors in our COPLAC peer schools.
Additionally, the three schools at KSC have shared a vision and a history of embracing high impact practices in instruction and undergraduate research. Efforts have been successful in making undergraduate research the signature high impact practice at KSC. Two of our larger efforts are the development and implementation of BEST (Building Excellence in Science and Technology) and CCI (Center for Creative Inquiry) in which both are supported by the huge contributions of our Mason Library:
The BEST program was designed to benefit all students in six STEM disciplines—Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Geology, Mathematics, and Physics—where high rates of attrition were evident in gateway courses and where there was a capacity for more students to enroll in the program. This program is supported by $0.8M of USNH Trustee funding in support of STEM education, with an overarching goal of increasing the percentage of graduates in STEM fields by 50% by 2019.
The BEST program at Keene State College is designed to help STEM students succeed by providing Peer Course Assistants to support students in their classes, sponsoring a living learning community; offering transformative teaching grants for faculty development, and an undergraduate research program.
The BEST undergraduate research program supports students in their 1st and 2nd year by the direct funding of projects and research peer-mentors. The BEST program continued the high-impact practice of supporting 1st and 2nd year students in undergraduate research during both the academic year and in the summer, with a total of 11 students receiving support in AY 2015-16. This past summer the BEST program also helped fund housing and dining services on campus for the research students, as this had been a previous hurdle in getting 1st and 2nd year students to participate. The students funded by BEST have presented posters sharing their research results at the Academic Excellence Conference (AEC), NH-INBRE annual meeting, and a few of the students have even presented at national meetings. The BEST program is installing a peer-mentoring program for undergraduate research in the 2016-17 academic year that will pair a junior or senior undergraduate researcher with a 1st or 2nd year student. This will help us build a vibrant and sustainable research community with lasting influence that supports our objectives in this work.
The Center for Creative Inquiry (2015) is led by a team of three faculty, one from each of the college’s schools, and has consolidated and coordinated a number of undergraduate research programs as well as internal grant programs for faculty and students. The Center for Creative Inquiry supports unique, rigorous, and transformative academic experiences that focus on the collaboration between students and faculty mentors. The Center for Creative Inquiry promotes undergraduate research and creative endeavors in multiple ways, such as awarding grants for academic-year and summer research; distributing funds to support student travel to conferences; exhibitions, symposia and other academic and professional meetings or events; providing funding for field experience opportunities; supporting the development of faculty mentors and organizing and hosting campus events that showcase student and faculty scholarship.
CCI grants support a wide range of undergraduate research and creative endeavors, from field experiences and student conference attendance to the purchase and equipment of supplies. Grants are awarded four times each academic year and do not have any pre-set funding limitations. Data for all students, including underrepresented minority students, are tracked by NH-INBRE and shows that past undergraduate researchers have gone on to top graduate and professional programs as well as employment.
None of this could be possible without the research materials and support through The Mason Library. KSC’s Mason Library meets the diverse academic needs and supports the college’s mission of academic excellence by providing information literacy instruction and resources to facilitate learning. The Library is a knowledge center where students learn information literacy skills that empower them to navigate a rapidly changing environment. The Library offers a welcoming space at the heart of the intellectual endeavor, integrating materials, technology, place, and teaching in the tradition of a public liberal arts institution. The Mason Library faculty have also recently begun an Information Studies minor. This minor addresses the social, economic, and political aspects of living in an information age. Library faculty support their minor students in conducting primary research and presenting at the Academic Excellence Conference.
Paul W. Baures, David F. Putnam Endowed Chair of Chemistry Paul holds an endowed faculty position in the Department of Chemistry that affords course release in order for him to engage students in undergraduate research and to offer leadership experience to department and college-wide initiatives around student learning. He serves as the Program Director of the BEST program that is improving retention and increasing the number of STEM graduates.
Paul also runs an active research program and has directly mentored a total of 20 students since joining KSC, and two of these students recently completed iSURF fellowships at Dartmouth College.
Dr. Margaret Smith is a professor of Health Science specializing in addictions. Her area of scholarly work is in the area of substance use/misuse and college students. Her role on the team is as one of the three Coordinators of the Center for Creative Inquiry which supports undergraduate research and creative endeavors at Keene State College[KSC]. She represents one of the three schools at KSC. Further, Dr. Smith has worked with students on a study using Appreciative Inquiry regarding substance use on the college’s campus. She also is currently revising a course to include active research activities.
Irene McGarrity, Assistant Professor and Academic Technology Librarian, serves on the Academic Excellence Conference Committee to organize Keene State College’s annual showcase of students’ creative and research-based work. She will be chairing the committee next year. Irene has been teaching first year writing since 2004, and will be coordinating Keene State College’s Integrative Thinking and Writing Program in the Fall of 2017. She also teaches in Mason Library’s Information Studies minor.
Dr. Sarah McGregor graduated from St. Michael¹s College with a B.S. in Physics and a minor in Math. As a graduate student at Boston University Sarah was a member NSF Science and Technology Center CISM (Center for Integrated Space Weather Modeling). Her Ph.D. thesis, On Tracing the Origins of the Solar Wind, combined data analysis and computational models to better understand the solar terrestrial environment. While still in graduate school Sarah began teaching at the CISM summer school, which she still participates in today. After her dissertation defense, she went on to receive a NASA grant to become a ŒVisiting Young Scientist¹ at Dartmouth College, a teacher‐scholar position where she not only expanded her research from the solar wind to the near earth environment but co‐taught a freshman writing seminar in the Physics Department. What followed were a few years at Boston University and Dartmouth College as both a research Postdoc and Adjunct Lecturer before joining the faculty at Keene State College in the fall of 2014. Aside from teaching courses in Physics and Astronomy and conducting and introducing students into research in Space Weather, Sarah has spent a good deal of her time at KSC working with groups that are trying to expand and bring new teaching practices onto campus. These efforts include the Teaching Innovation Studio which brings innovative teaching practices to KSC Faculty in a brown‐bag workshop/discussion style and the BEST program which seeks, through transformative Teaching ideas and Undergraduate Research, to increase the retention of first and second year STEM students.
Dr. Shari Bemis is the Assistant Dean for the Sciences and Social Sciences and Associate Professor of Computer Science. As Assistant Dean, Bemis also serves on the BEST team and teaches Computer Science courses for both KSC’s Integrative Studies Program and the Computer Science Department. Her research includes integrating the Liberal Arts into the Sciences and is a Teagle Planning Grant Recipient in her work: Infusing Humanities and Social Science Perspectives into STEM. Bemis is currently working with her programming students in researching why programing courses should be included in general education programs in higher education.
AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Kent State University Kent, OH
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: DRU: Doctoral/Research Universities Affiliation: Public
Enrollment Undergraduate: 34,143 Masters: 4,444 Doctoral: 1,228
Team Leader: Dr. Alfreda Brown, Vice President Discipline/Office: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion 2) Dr. Mandy Munro-Stasiuk, Associate Provost / Professor: Academic Affairs / Department of Geography 3) Dr. Eboni Pringle, Dean/ Assistant Professor: University College / Education, Health & Human Services 4) Ms. Dana Lawless-Andric, Associate Vice President: Division of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion 5) Dr. Tina Bhargava, Assistant Professor / Provost Faculty Associate: College of Public Health
Summary of Goals: The goals of Kent State’s participation in this Institute are twofold. First, to aid us in the development and implementation of the work of our Great Place Initiative, by helping us shape our organizational strategies; inform our work with evidence-based strategies and workshops; and, provide us with needed expertise to guide us in ensuring we can achieve the goals to greatly improve climate for all members of the Kent State University to live, work and learn. Second, to help implement a unified, equity-minded approach to addressing our Students First priority, by ensuring that all students have equitable opportunities to engage in high-impact practices on our campus.
What you would like to see from the institute: Integrating high-impact practices into classroom experiences, particularly as it relates to fostering interactions across differences within the classroom space. Unique approaches to engage all populations of students in student success and equity work. Best practices for staff and faculty training and engagement.
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES APPLICATION FOR INSTITUTE ON HIGH IMPACT PRACTICES AND STUDENT SUCCESS MARCH 8, 2017
Need: Kent State University is currently implementing a six-year, community-driven vision designed to cultivate a distinctive Kent State grounded in core values that include diversity of cultures, beliefs, identity and thought. Led by President Beverly Warren, A Strategic Roadmap to a Distinctive Kent State includes five priorities and 16 University-Level Initiatives (ULIs) that map to the university’s mission, vision and values (strategicroadmap.kent.edu). Progress is measured through a University Dashboard complete with six-year goals and peer and aspirational institutional comparative data. The leadership for the ULIs is through the President’s cabinet to ensure high-level institutional accountability. Each ULI is driven by university-wide involvement to increase buy-in and community collective action on each priority. Within the last nine years, Kent State has increased retention rates by 10.3% (71.9% To 82.2%) and graduation rates by 3.3% (51.2% to 54.5%). System-wide achievements include an overhaul of student orientation; the implementation of a student-friendly mobile degree-planning system; revisions of academic policies; targeted attention to first-generation and underrepresented student needs; required advising for all students; and changes to placement assessments and math curriculum. A review of large enrollment courses, in which 30% or more of students earn a D or F or withdraw from the course, led to an impressive decrease from 79 in 2012-2013 to 35 courses in 2015-2016. While these efforts have led to significant student gains we remained focused on decreasing attrition and increasing graduation rates. The Dynamic Engagement and Education of Diversity Students (DEEDS) was introduced in Summer 2016 to bring university-wide attention and effort to closing disparities in retention, persistence and graduation outcomes between underrepresented students and their counterparts. DEEDS has been named by President Warren as a Students First University-Level Initiative and is led by the Division of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and Academic Affairs. DEEDS is grounded in research and proven strategies to impact underrepresented student success and includes five facets: Academic Success; Sense of Belonging; Institutional Commitments; Cultural Affirmation; and, Professional Pathways. Existing university efforts, such as the Kupita Transiciones orientation program for students of color, have combined with new initiatives, including Summer Advantage (a free program designed for sophomore and junior students to take summer courses to stay on track to graduation) to coordinate system-wide outcomes and progress. DEEDS is led by a workgroup and connected subcommittees aligned to each of the five facets.
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In Spring 2016, the university administered a Climate Study Survey through leading external consultants Rankin & Associates. The Climate Study Steering Committee, led by the Vice President for Students Affairs and a Professor of Economics, reported into President Warren and the Vice President for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Dr. Alfreda Brown. In January 2017, Climate Study results were shared with the Kent State community to encourage broad ownership for actionable items. We are currently reviewing the extensive data this Study provided and engaging the entire university community in the process of identifying institutional actions to address the findings. To ensure action and accountability, the President has assembled a team to lead the Great Place Initiative (GPI), tied to a University-Level strategic priority, to guarantee that Kent State is a great place for all members to live, work and learn. The results of the Climate Study along with results from other climate-based measures such as the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) survey drive the work of GPI. One such group that is critical in the success of these efforts is the University Diversity Action Council (UDAC). UDAC is a 100+ member Council organized to attend to the diversity, climate and equity issues throughout the campus system, and includes representatives from each College, Regional Campus and Division. UDAC activities are aligned with the University Level Initiatives to ensure attention to diversity and inclusion is directed to all university priorities. Goals: We seek as an institution to participate in this Institute to aid us in the development and implementation of the work of the Great Place Initiative in response to the recently completed Climate Study. It is a comprehensive and expansive task as the group is charged with attending to all members of the Kent State community including students, faculty and staff. We believe attending the Institute will help us shape our organizational strategies; inform our work with evidence-based strategies and workshops; and, provide us with needed expertise to guide us in ensuring that the GPI can achieve the goals to greatly improve climate for all members of Kent State to live, work and learn. GPI is led by the Kent State vice presidents for Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion and Human Resources, and comprised of faculty, staff, students and administrative leadership who are organized into four subcommittees to review core data sources and identify short and long- term actions. These efforts may include short-term goals such as the creation of a fund to increase social and cultural programming for students of diverse backgrounds and longer-term efforts such as policy changes on reinstatement or preferred name policies. It is our intention to address significant findings in the Climate Study over the next one to three years and identify a detailed map to ensure the ability for all Kent State members to feel valued, connected, and successful.
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In addition, the Students First priority of Kent State’s Strategic Roadmap focuses on success for all students through four initiatives: strengthening diversity and cultural competence; increasing retention and graduation rates; focusing attention on student engagement through high-impact experiences; and, aligning curricular and co-curricular undergraduate educational experiences to impact learning outcomes. A key goal of the Kent State team will be to use the strategies from the AAC&U Institute on High-Impact Practices to implement a unified, equity- minded approach to addressing these initiatives, which ensures that our underrepresented students and those students who are facing difficulties with retention and graduation have equitable opportunities to engage in high-impact practices. Team:
Our team is led by Dr. Alfreda Brown, Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, for Kent State. She is part of the Students First university-level priority, has oversight for the GPI efforts and is responsible for high-level diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across Kent State’s eight-campus system.
The remaining team members include: Dr. Mandy Munro-Stasiuk, Associate Provost for Academic Affairs. She co-chairs the Great Place Initiative and has led newly-developed training efforts and efforts for faculty chairs and deans; women in STEM; faculty of color; and mid-career faculty. She also led the implementation of the Kent State One Stop for Student Services. She is a full professor of Geography and has taught and advised students at Kent State for 18 years. Dr. Eboni Pringle, Dean for University College and Assistant Professor, College of Education, Health & Human Services. Dr. Pringle has been instrumental in the university’s gains in retention and graduation rates. She leads the university’s retention committee; serves on the Great Place Initiative and DEEDS ULI; and has implemented efforts to overhaul several key university areas that impact student success such as First-Year experiences, academic support and career exploration and development. Dana Lawless-Andric, Associate Vice President for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and doctoral candidate in Cultural Foundations of Education. Lawless-Andric in partnership with another colleague developed and leads the DEEDS ULI. She co-chairs the Great Place Initiative; served on the Climate Study Steering Committee; serves on the university’s retention committee; oversees diversity-focused Centers, and leads university-wide diversity and cultural competency training, seminars and workshops. Dr. Tina Bhargava, Assistant Professor for Social & Behavioral Sciences, College of Public Health, and Provost’s Faculty Associate for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Her work has focused on educational inequity as a foundation for health equity and provides important scholarship in several university-wide efforts. She leads the Diversity Think Tank; and serves as a member of the University Diversity Action Council, DEEDS and the Great Place Initiative.
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AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Lee University Cleveland, TN
AAC&U Member: no Carnegie Classification: Master's M: Master's Colleges and Universities (medium programs) Affiliation: Religious
Enrollment Undergraduate: 4,821 Masters: 481
Team Leader: Dr. Carolyn Dirksen, Professor of English & Director of Faculty Development Discipline/Office: Center for Teaching Excellence 2) Dr. Rachael Reneslacis, Professor of Education Coordinator: English and Modern Foreign Languages 3) Dr. Blayne Carroll, Professor of Mathematics & Associate Chair of Mathematics: Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics 4) Dr. Suzanne Hamid-Holt, Director of LEAP: Lee University's TRIO Grant - "LEAP" 5) Ms Erin Looney, Director of Student Success and Retention: Center for Student Success
Additional Team Members(s):
Summary of Goals: The following are our goals for the institute: 1. Determine how improved predictive analytics including ALEKS for math and improved placement for English should impact instruction in these areas. 2. Interface math and English courses with support from TRIO and the Student Success Center. 3. Develop a design for improved instruction in core math and English including increased engagement, focus on student skills/background and technological support. This will include and examination of the Emporium and Linked Workshop models of the National Center for Academic Transformation. 4. Determine how an understanding of a student's whole first year might impact course design through an exploration of the synergy that might be gained by thinking of all first -year courses as one integrated unit of instruction. Finding meaningful ways to redesign these courses will impact equity, inclusion and diversity by providing appropriate instruction specifically designed for each student's needs and background.
What you would like to see from the institute: 1) Aligning course sequences and curriculum for efficient and equitable completion. 2) Conducting course redesign with student engagement and diverse learning strategies in mind. 3) Faculty "buy-in" for course redesign. 4) Methods for promoting inclusive and diverse pedagogical practices.
Lee University Narrative Statement
Lee University is a comprehensive institution with an enrollment of more than 5,000 students in 55 undergraduate majors and 14 masters programs. Some 4,100 students are undergraduates who live on or near campus, and approximately 750 are students in the Division of Adult Learning online programs. There are 481 graduate students. The university has five colleges and schools: Arts and Sciences, Nursing, Education, Religion, and Music. Campus climate has long been a priority, and on the last administration of the SSI (2013) Lee exceeded mean satisfaction scores for all peer comparisons on every scale, and on the last administration of the NSSE (2012) Lee rated higher than any peer comparison group on all benchmarks.
Need:
Despite this very positive attitude, Lee's student demographics present some challenges.
Due to a merit-based scholarship program and non-selective admissions, Lee accepts students with a wide range of academic abilities. In 2014, 26% of the first-year class scored at or above the 90th percentile on the ACT/SAT, while 12% scored below 17 ACT or 820 SAT. Relatively low tuition ($14,400 per year in 2016-17) also draws students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. Among new students admitted in Fall 2010, 93% received financial aid; 39% were low income; 25% were first-generation; 15% were ethnic minorities, and 37% had board scores below the national mean. As with many institutions, Lee provides excellent access, but struggles with equity. For the 2010 cohort, the retention rate was 77% and the six-year graduation rate was
45%. However, by the end of the third semester, 45% of students who were either first-generation or had entrance scores below the national mean had dropped out (33%) or were on academic probation (12%). Only 23% of this at-risk cohort completed their degrees in four years, and they received a D, F, or W in 27% of their classes.
Lee has had a traditional remedial program with two pre-core math classes and multiple levels of pre-core English. All pre-core courses are 4 hours of credit and include labs. Further, some low scoring students must also take a 4-hour basic reading class. Students with low
entrance scores can easily spend the first one or two semesters in classes that do not fulfill graduation requirements. The high DFW rate in these classes exacerbates the problem. In 2014-
15 25% failed pre-core math, and 24% failed pre-core English.
Nevertheless, Lee has shown a significant capacity for reshaping curriculum to meet changing demands. Over the past decades, Lee has developed the following high impact practices: a first-year seminar, a required cross-cultural experience, a service learning course and
80 hours of service, and a senior capstone course in each discipline. The cross-cultural experience takes more than 600 students outside the US every year, a statistic that places Lee fourth in the nation for study abroad according to Open Doors. The service learning program has been listed on the President's Honor Roll every year since 2006, and Lee has been ranked in the top three schools nationally for service learning. Prior to the implementation of the first-year seminar, Lee's first-year to second-year retention rate was 50%. After implementation, retention rates have steadily increased to their current level of 78%. In addition to these practices which are required of all students, Lee has significantly increased internships and student-faculty research over the past five years.
Student responses to the NSSE, the SSI and institutional focus groups indicate that these programs have significantly impacted the success and retention of students across differences in preparation and background. Despite the success of these individual programs, however, Lee is devoting its 2016-21 Quality Enhancement Plan to better integration of these powerful learning experiences. To accomplish this, a team of faculty and academic leaders spent a year developing learning outcomes and assessments for these experiences. The first step was to redesign three courses that now span the first year, LEEU101 the first-year seminar, LEEU102A an introduction to the cross-cultural requirement, and LEEU102B, an introduction to the philosophy of the service-learning requirement. Students take these courses as part of a learning community.
Assessment is through student reflections posted to an e- portfolio evaluated by a faculty team of
experts. We will expand assessment through the majors and the senior capstone courses over the next four years.
To address the differences in success between students from differing backgrounds, Lee applied for and received a Trio Grant to support the learning of an identified cohort of 140 at-risk students and a Title III Grant to create a Student Success Center, improve predictive analytics, and create more integrated instruction to build capacity in students. Through Title III funding, Lee will redesign the whole remedial program and first-year math and English classes. Committed discipline teams will also redesign core courses and major gateway courses with high DFW rates.
Planning for pre-core math will be based on vastly improved assessment and instruction through
ALEKS. We hope to find a similar strategy for assisting students who are deficient in writing skills. This AACU Institute comes at a crucial juncture of large curriculum changes that will impact every student at Lee. We believe that if a core team comes to the AACU Institute, we can bring about meaningful change in information, attitudes and actions throughout the faculty that will impact student learning across the variety of students in the Lee demographic. The Director of Faculty Development will lead this team because faculty development is at the heart of implementing such sweeping curricular revisions.
Goals:
Lee's project for the institute is the creation of a model or models for the redesign of pre- core and core math and English courses with plans for how these courses will be supported by the TRIO Program and by the Student Success Center. The following are our goals for the institute:
1. Determine how improved predictive analytics including ALEKS for math and improved
placement for English should impact instruction in these areas.
2. Interface math and English courses with support from TRIO and the Student Success Center.
3. Develop a design for improved instruction in core math and English including increased
engagement, focus on student skills/background and technological support. This will include
and examination of the Emporium and Linked Workshop models of the National Center for
Academic Transformation.
4. Determine how an understanding of a student's whole first year might impact course design
through an exploration of the synergy that might be gained by thinking of all first -year courses
as one integrated unit of instruction.
Finding meaningful ways to redesign these courses will impact equity, inclusion and diversity by providing appropriate instruction specifically designed for each student's needs and background.
During year one, we will redesign pre-core and core math and English courses (tier 1).
Proposals will go through the approval process and be implemented in fall 2018. During the
2018-19 school year, we will assess the models, invite additional faculty into the conversation, and begin redesign of remaining core classes (tier 2). In 2019-20 we will revised the first tier of courses as needed based on assessment, implement the second tier and begin discussions with faculty in major courses with high DFW rates (tier 3). In 2020-21, we will redesign major courses, assess tier 2 courses and revise as needed.
Team:
To accomplish this, the team will consist of the Director of Faculty Development, the
Associate Chair for Mathematics, the Discipline Coordinator for writing, the Director of Student
Success and Retention, and the Director of the TRIO Grant. This composition will ensure the integration of the new designs with the existing support structures. Further, these team members are influential and will be ideal in promoting the concepts and recruiting other faculty to participate with enthusiasm.
AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Loyola University Maryland Baltimore, MD
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: Master's L: Master's Colleges and Universities (larger programs) Affiliation: Independent
Enrollment Undergraduate: 4000 Masters: 1500 Doctoral: 150
Team Leader: Dr. Brian Norman, Associate Vice President for Faculty Affairs and Diversity / Professor of English Discipline/Office: Academic Affairs 2) Dr. James Dickinson, Assistant Vice President for Career Services: Career Center 3) Dr. Barnaby Nygren, Associate Professor of Art History: Fine Arts / Committee on the Assessment of Student Learning 4) Dr. Lisa Oberbroeckling, Associate Professor of Mathematics & Class Dean of 2022: Mathematics & Statistics / Office of Undergraduate Studies 5) Dr. Marie Yeh, Assistant Professor of Marketing: Sellinger School of Business and Management
Summary of Goals: The Loyola delegation to the AAC&U 2017 Summer Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success brings together faculty and academic leaders from a key areas of responsibility: academic affairs and faculty development, career services, academic advising and vocational discernment, academic assessment, and pre- professional programs connected to the liberal arts. The goal of the team is to deepen an understanding of high-impact practices to explore possibilities for truly embedding high-impact practices into the undergraduate student experience at Loyola, both curricular and co-curricular. Individuals will bring this knowledge back to their own units as well as to the full faculty as the campus undergoes a major initiative to reimagine the undergraduate curriculum in the context of a strategic plan that calls for increased educational innovation. Most immediately, the delegation will present what they learn at the annual August teaching workshop attended by 200 faculty and academic leaders.
What you would like to see from the institute: n/a 2017 AAC&U Summer Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success Boston University, June 24-27, 2017
Loyola University Maryland
Delegation
Brian Norman, Ph.D. (team leader), Associate Vice President for Faculty Affairs and Diversity & Professor of English James Dickinson, Ph.D., Assistant Vice President for Career Services Barnaby Nygren, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Fine Arts & Committee on the Assessment of Student Learning Lisa Oberbroeckling, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Mathematics & Class Dean of 2022 Marie Yeh, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Marketing, Sellinger School of Business and Management
Goals
The Loyola delegation to the AAC&U 2017 Summer Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success brings together faculty and academic leaders from key areas of responsibility: academic affairs and faculty development, career services, academic advising and vocational discernment, academic assessment, and pre-professional programs connected to the liberal arts. The goal of the team is to deepen an understanding of high-impact practices to explore possibilities for truly embedding high-impact practices into the undergraduate student experience at Loyola, both curricular and co-curricular. Individuals will bring this knowledge back to their own units as well as to the full faculty as the campus undergoes a major initiative to reimagine the undergraduate curriculum in the context of a strategic plan that calls for increased educational innovation. Most immediately, the delegation will present what they learn at the annual August teaching workshop attended by approximately 200 faculty and academic leaders.
Narrative
Need Loyola University Maryland is embarking on a major initiative to reimagine the undergraduate curriculum to increase space for both time and depth of inquiry for both faculty and students in a liberal education model. The goal is increased intentionality by students in relationship to their courses of study, increased flexibility in curricular paths, increased time for extended and concentrated inquiry, and increased attention to a developmental approach to student learning. High- impact practices have emerged as a central component to the various faculty and campus community conversations in the exploration phases of the reimagining initiative. Now, there is a need for increased understanding of how high-impact practices foster student success and how universities are best able to incorporate such practices into their structures and vision. That knowledge will help the institution identify which high-impact practices are most central to a Loyola education and how best to support faculty in creating learning opportunities based in high-impact practices.
Further, we know that individual faculty and some programs already incorporate many pedagogies and activities that might be described as high-impact practices. But those efforts are not fully visible and they are not fully built into the curriculum and our administrative structures. This summer institute will assist effort to identify those practices and to consider how more systemic support of such practices will equip faculty and programs to best foster student success.
Goal
The goal of Loyola’s delegation to the summer institute is to ask, “What would it mean to truly embed high-impact practices into the undergraduate experience at Loyola?” Such a question includes curricular elements, but also institutional structures, co-curricular experiences, and how the institution measures student success.
The goal in the first year is a faculty-wide presentation on high-impact practices at the annual teaching workshop, which draws about 200 faculty and academic leaders. In addition, delegation members will bring this knowledge to the offices and committees tasked with supporting student success, from advising before matriculation to curricular and co-curricular experiences at Loyola to career development well after graduation. We think this approach builds capacity among individuals and offices that will play a key role in implementing the reimagined curriculum that comes out of a faculty-wide process happening concurrently. After three years, the goal would be for a reimagined curriculum and related support structures to in some way explicitly incorporate those high-impact practices that faculty deem most central to a Loyola undergraduate education.
This attention to high-impact practices will contribute to years of efforts to intentionally diversify Loyola’s student body, including increasing the proportion of students from racial minority backgrounds, first-generation college students, and students from low socio-economic backgrounds (measured by Pell grant eligibility). In response to these changing demographics, in recent years the institution has devoted significant thought to maintaining student success and considering the needs of a new generation of students. For example, academic assessment efforts have paid particular attention to measuring student outcomes in the wake of moving to a test-optional admission policy, which was instituted as a key tool to diversify the student body. (Student diversity did in fact increase while there are no statistically significant differences in academic outcomes by the time of graduate.) In addition, to tracking student success, the institution has thought carefully about the best support structures for a more diverse student body. In addition to maintaining traditional support structures such as an ALANA services office, the Loyola moved to a Class Dean model to provide an academic resource to help connect students to various support structures that may not be easily navigable to all students in an attempt to foster a seamless student experiences from matriculation to graduation and beyond. Similarly, the institution has fundamentally rethought its approach to supporting students in their career development by moving from a stand-alone Career Center to a more integrated approach across units and overseen by an Assistant Vice President of Career Services. Finally, recent faculty development efforts have attempted to a identify the needs of a diversifying student body, such as a fall 2015 teaching enhancement workshop devoted to the needs of first-generation college students and a fall 2016 teaching enhancement workshop on race in the college classroom.
Loyola is well-poised to now ask curricular questions about how high-impact practices might best meet the needs of this generation of college students in the liberal education tradition and how they might best foster student success, both in the academic classroom and in their post-graduate lives. This summer institute will help the faculty and institution to identify those high-impact practices that are most essential to the undergraduate experience and to embed them into the heart of what we do, including how students experience the institution, how faculty see their roles as fostering student learning, and how administrators measure and communicate the student experience.
Team
High-impact practices are not specific to any academic discipline and they have the potential to unify an institutional approach to undergraduate education from a student experience perspective. That is why Loyola’s delegation brings together key faculty and academic leaders from across the institution: academic affairs and faculty development, career services, academic advising and vocational discernment, academic assessment, and pre-professional programs that draw heavily from the liberal arts. By bringing together such a delegation, the hope is to not only increase awareness of best practices in fostering student success but also build capacity for a coordinated and structural response to embedding such practices into the heart of the undergraduate experience.
AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Mercy College Dobbs Ferry, NY
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: Master's M: Master's Colleges and Universities (medium programs) Affiliation: Independent
Enrollment Undergraduate: 6500 Masters: 2500
Team Leader: Dr. Karol Dean, Dean Discipline/Office: School of Social and Behavioral Sciences 2) Ms. Carolyn Hanesworth, Assistant Professor: Social Work 3) Dr. Doug Evans, Assistant Professor: Criminal Justice 4) Dr. Lisa Ecklund-Flores, Professor: Psychology 5) Ms. Emily Murphy, Assistant Professor: Social Work
Additional Team Members(s):
Summary of Goals: The goal for the Institute is to develop a plan to implement a writing-intensive focus within undergraduate academic programs. This plan would include: a) creation of a definition of writing intensive assignments and determination of elements of a writing intensive course; b) consideration of a course sequence that would scaffold writing skill-building throughout SSBS students’ college experience; c) consideration of the number and level of writing intensive courses that would optimize student skill development; d) professional development planning to support faculty skill in teaching writing; and e) a structure to support faculty review and potential revision of writing assignments embedded within courses and to develop any needed writing assignments in courses.
What you would like to see from the institute: We would like assistance in identifying successful models of programs that have developed writing-intensive courses in the context of academic disciplines. Models of requirements for writing intensive requirements would be beneficial. Guidance on how to implement professional development for faculty would also be helpful. Mercy College’s School of Social and Behavioral Sciences AAC&U High Impact Practice Application
Need
Mercy College Mission
Mercy College is poised for transformative curricular and cultural change and seeks the opportunity to participate in AAC&U’s Institute on High Impact Practices and Student Success. Since 1950, Mercy College has been committed to providing students the opportunity to transform their lives through liberal arts, sciences, and professional education in personalized learning environments. Today, the College is an independent, nonsectarian, federally- designated Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). The College’s mission is to provide educational access to traditional and nontraditional students, including many who are racially or ethnically diverse, low income, or first-generation. In fall 2016, the distribution among all Mercy students who self-identified their race or ethnicity was 32% Hispanic; 22% Black; 32% White; 4% Asian; and 1% two or more races. Approximately 71% of students are female. The emphasis on High Impact Practices has been and continues to be a priority at Mercy College. According to data from NSSE 2015 High Impact Practices Report, 50% of first year Mercy College students participated in at least one HIP, while 75% of senior year students participated in at least on HIP. The respective numbers are 10% and 42% for participation in two or more HIPs. According to the report, the most common HIPs are Service Learning (50%) and Internship or Field Experience (40%). Going forward, additional information about the equity of HIP participation will be necessary to evaluate our ability to raise the academic success of underserved student populations.
Mercy College is composed of five Schools (School of Business, School of Education, School of Health and Natural Science, School of Liberal Arts and School of Social and Behavioral Science), and all but the School of Education include undergraduate programs. For the present project, the faculty participants will be from the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SSBS).
School of Social and Behavioral Science Current HIP Projects
This School includes the undergraduate disciplines of Behavioral Science, Criminal Justice, International Relations and Diplomacy, Legal Studies, Psychology, Social Work, and Sociology. The current undergraduate enrollment within SSBS is 2075 – approximately 29% of the undergraduate students enrolled at Mercy College. Successful implementation of the planned HIP project would have a substantial impact on the undergraduate students at Mercy College, and would provide a model useful in the other undergraduate academic programs. SSBS has focused in recent years on enhancing opportunities for students to engage in particular High-Impact Practices (HIPs). We invited a consultant from the Council for Undergraduate Research who provided guidance on how we could integrate research more systematically and profoundly in our undergraduate curriculum. In response, we built a Directed Research course this year that allows a group of students to work with a faculty member on a research project while earning course credit. The model is a research lab model, available to students in Psychology, Behavioral Science, Criminal Justice and Sociology, with students participating in various stages of a faculty member’s project, including literature review, data collection and analysis, and development of the bibliography. During this academic year, faculty members from Psychology, Social Work and Sociology are working with a consultant to develop Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences. The identified courses this year were research methods courses. Our plan is to expand this approach to other relevant courses and disciplines next year. The focus on this HIP has increased the number of students engaged in undergraduate research by 40% in 2016-2017. A second HIP focus we have recently addressed has been student participation in internships. We revised the internship course available for students in the Behavioral Science, Psychology and Sociology academic programs to align with state requirements for internship service hours. We also improved course assignments requiring reflection on the application of previously learned skills and theories, and the exploration of professional interests and growth. As we worked on this HIP, the larger College provided resources by hiring additional staff to assist in identifying potential internship sites for SSBS academic programs, as well as providing stipends available to some students to support their participation in internship courses. As part of a strategic planning process within the School, we will continue to focus on encouraging student enrollment in internship courses. Although these efforts have not yet yielded a substantial increase in enrollment for the relevant courses, we anticipate that continued focus (at both the School and the College level) on the importance of internships and the opportunity for participation will increase student interest in this HIP. In addition to these HIPs, individual programs have pursued HIPs relevant to their programs. For example, the International Relations and Diplomacy program focuses on Diversity/Global Learning. Several programs include a capstone assignment The SSBS focus on engaging students in undergraduate research and in internship experiences is intended to encourage exploration of career possibilities while building skills required for students’ ultimate professional goals. SSBS is now ready to create additional HIP opportunities for our undergraduate students.
Goals As part of students’ preparation, the next HIP experience SSBS plans to build is the systematic introduction of writing intensive courses into our undergraduate curricula. Specifically, we are interested in developing writing intensive assignments within our disciplinary courses which build on the more general composition skills students learn in their first year at Mercy College. For example, students within the social science disciplines represented within SSBS would benefit from consistent training and practice in writing using APA style throughout their disciplinary coursework. These writing assignments would need to be substantive and analytical to help students to both communicate and think like social scientists. The described writing intensive HIP project will have benefits beyond the intended skill development. At this time, internship experiences are required for only one SSBS undergraduate major (Social Work), and are elective activities for other students. This means that not all SSBS students will participate in an internship – reducing the opportunity for this impactful experience. Similarly, the expansion of CURE courses throughout the undergraduate program will take more time to have an impact on students. However, one benefit of our pursuit of a writing-intensive project is that it is likely to have an impact on many students fairly quickly – since review and revision of writing assignments is likely to be more readily done than revision of a full course. Our discussions of a writing intensive focus in our curricula are at the preliminary stage. We will utilize the Institute to develop a plan designed to work across the disciplines of the School and to mesh with the writing training and practice that is included in the College General Education curriculum. We anticipate that this plan would include: a) creation of a definition of writing intensive assignments and determination of elements of a writing intensive course; b) consideration of a course sequence that would scaffold writing skill-building throughout SSBS students’ college experience; c) consideration of the number and level of writing intensive courses that would optimize student skill development; d) professional development planning to support faculty skill in teaching writing; and e) a structure to support faculty review and potential revision of writing assignments embedded within courses and to develop any needed writing assignments in courses. Within the first year after participating in the Institute, we would plan to achieve larger faculty buy-in for elements a), b) and c) above. We would begin planning for element d) and e). The goal would be to have writing-intensive assignments in place in each of the undergraduate disciplines represented by the School within three years.
Team SSBS has assembled a highly effective team of faculty to participate in the AAC&U Institute. The faculty members have experience teaching writing within their disciplines, are known to effectively interact with their faculty colleagues, and usually have innovative ideas. They represent the following disciplines: Social Work, Psychology, and Criminal Justice. AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Northern Illinois University DeKalb, IL
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: RU/H: Research Universities (high research activity) Affiliation: Public
Enrollment Undergraduate: 20,130 Masters: 3,877 Doctoral: 973
Team Leader: Mr. Paul Kassel, Dean Discipline/Office: College of Visual and Performing Arts 2) Dr. Renique Kersh, Associate Vice Provost for Engaged Learning: Office of the Provost 3) Dr. Steven Ciampaglia, Associate Professor: School of Art and Design 4) Ms. Kelly Smith, Director, First and Second Year Experience: First and Second Year Experience 5) Mr. Greg Barker, Director: Office of the Provost
Additional Team Members(s):
Summary of Goals: We propose to develop and implement an innovative and immersive program for underserved students utilizing the arts disciplines as a gateway to college success. It is our hope to use the expertise of peers and mentors at AAC&U to guide us in the development of The Creative Path to College Success. The goals of the program include:
• Increasing student academic success utilizing the arts as a creative pathway. • Providing avenues where students can engage in hands-on learning experiences. • Provide an opportunity for underserved students to get a jump on their college experience. • Fostering an appreciation for the arts as a catalyst for academic and professional growth.
What you would like to see from the institute: Assessment of outcomes, engaging community partners in innovative student success initiatives Northern Illinois University Proposal for Creative Path to College Success
We propose to develop and implement an innovative and immersive program for underserved students utilizing the arts disciplines as a gateway to college success. It is our hope to use the expertise of peers and mentors at AAC&U to guide us in the development of The Creative Path to College Success.
The goals of the program include:
Increasing student academic success utilizing the arts as a creative pathway. Providing avenues where students can engage in hands-on learning experiences. Provide an opportunity for underserved students to get a jump on their college experience. Fostering an appreciation for the arts as a catalyst for academic and professional growth.
The Creative Path to College Success is an outgrowth of NIU’s campus diversity action plan, which has three ambitious, but attainable goals: Identify and eliminate equity gaps among underserved students; Identify and implement effective, sustainable and measurable intervention strategies to ensure equity for all students; and Promote and assess equity-mindedness across the university community and beyond. NIU has the capacity to empower all students and support successful outcomes. Over the last year, NIU has undergone an institutional assessment of academic equity gaps taking into consideration race/ethnicity, income and first-generation status. This work has led to a more thoughtful and intentional strategy for addressing the needs of diverse students. Additionally, NIU’s cultural centers, first-year programs and academic support services offer intrusive advising and success coaching, and provide opportunities for students to engage in leadership and co-curricular experiences.
The first step to building capacity is identifying the barriers to student success, including academic equity gaps, followed by educating the campus community on ways that we both contribute to and have the ability to reduce barriers. The NIU campus action plan serves as a model for engaging faculty in addressing equity and inclusion. The academic equity gap information was born out of the AAC&U equity-minded practice guidelines and serves to help the campus community identify the barriers and shift the paradigm.
The second step is understanding the campus climate and gauging the level of deficit thinking. NIU’s Chief Diversity Officer & Senior Associate Vice President for Academic Diversity, is currently coordinating a task force, which will implement a campuswide climate survey, provide recommendations for best practices and inform a more detailed institutional plan to address critical campus climate concerns. Further, it is critical that the highest levels of leadership provide an avenue for diverse voices to be heard. To that end, NIU supports five Presidential Commissions (Status of Minorities, Interfaith Initiatives, Status of Women, Persons with Disabilities, and Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity), which advise and inform the President and campus community on issues related to campus climate.
High Impact Practices
Another critical consideration is the use of high impact practices as an avenue for increasing student success. The Vice Provost and a team from NIU attended both the AACU institutes on high impact practices and general education reform several years ago. The knowledge gained from these institutes led to the development of the Office of Student Engagement and Experiential Learning and the reformation of the general education requirements. These, in turn, helped inform significant changes to the honors program and NIU’s first-year seminar course. NIU PLUS, a new integrated program model which brings together curricular (customized general education), co-curricular (out-of-class experiences), and professional development opportunities for students, is another example of how NIU is transforming both curricular and co-curricular learning and is also an outgrowth of these efforts. The NIU PLUS program has been recognized as an innovative practice by the Chronicle of Higher Education and the Educational Advisory Board. Initial data on the outcome of these practices confirm that NIU students are more successful (i.e. persistence and graduation rates) when engaged in HIPs and in particular, HIPs lead to increased success for underserved students at NIU. These initiatives have been successful as a result of collaborative efforts of everyone from the President to academic departments, student affairs, deans, advisors, and students.
Using equity gap data and our knowledge of high impact practices, our next steps are to continue to identify, expand and create services, programs and initiatives that are influencing student success using assessment and outcome data. We will use this information to inform larger institutional and structural change to sustain positive changes.
The Creative Path to College Success
It is our belief that student success depends on multiple entry points and pathways. We want to open the door to college wider, and to open more doors. The efforts noted above inextricably link quality, equity and diversity. We see them not as separate items to be individually addressed; rather, we approach these efforts holistically. The Creative Path to College Success is another door—and a rather wide one—that will capture students who might otherwise choose not to attend college. The proposed project is a natural development of our efforts to reach and help students—all students—succeed.
In the next year, we intend to: Pilot the Creative Path to College Success, which includes a summer pre-college program, leveraging current high impact learning opportunities on NIU’s campus Identify natural partners (e.g., Chicago Public Schools, One Goal, etc.) and identify and encourage students with creative proclivities to apply to NIU.
We envision that the Creative Path to Success will include: A pre-college summer “boot camp” one week prior to beginning of fall semester to establish cohorts and creative college culture Discipline-specific first-year intensive (six credit) studio experience in concert with existing programs, such as NIU PLUS, to develop competencies in writing, reading, and quantitative analysis. A summer immersion experience at the end of the first-year at NIU Access to innovative curriculum through the BA in Interdisciplinary Arts (proposed new major), which will include a sophomore course on entrepreneurship and the arts, a junior level course on the evolution of art and aesthetic philosophy and a senior capstone in community engaged creative practices.
AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Norwalk Community College Norwalk, CT
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: Assoc/Pub-S-SC: Associate's--Public Suburban-serving Single Campus Affiliation: Public
Enrollment Undergraduate: 5,881
Team Leader: Dr. Vanessa Morest, Dean of Institutional Effectiveness Discipline/Office: Institutional Effectiveness 2) Ms. Suzanne Lyons, Title V Coordinator: Institutional Effectiveness 3) Dr. Forrest Helvie, Coordinator, Center for Teaching & Learning; Coordinator, Developmental English; Faculty: Academic Enrichment & First-Year Experience 4) Ms. Maria Buchta, Coordinator, First Year Experience; Chair, Common Read Program; Faculty: Academic Enrichment & First-Year Experience 5) Ms. Pracilya Titus, Student Success Coach: Student Services
Additional Team Members(s): 1 Hannah Moeckel-Rieke, Department Chair, ESL, [email protected]
Summary of Goals: Norwalk Community College is focused on increasing the success of students, especially Hispanic students, through improved student services, dynamic instruction, and enhanced academic support. We are specifically seeking to increase student success in gateway courses by (1) infusing student success skills from Freshmen Year Experience into gateway courses, (2) strengthening active and collaborative learning, (3) embedding academic supports, and (4) developing online learning objects for the identified courses. At the Institute, we hope to focus on result-based practices used by other schools that impact broader cultural changes and subsequently sustainability in supporting student success through curricular and co-curricular resources. Under the umbrella of curriculum development and effective teaching, topics of additional interest include student engagement, inquiry-based analysis, and incorporating diversity into student experiences across the curriculum.
What you would like to see from the institute: Our areas of interest include: evaluation of impacts of high-impact practices, how to generate buy-in, how to establish cross-departmental connections, dynamic instruction, student engagement, inquiry-based analysis, and incorporating diversity into student experiences across the curriculum. Northern Illinois University Proposal for Creative Path to College Success
We propose to develop and implement an innovative and immersive program for underserved students utilizing the arts disciplines as a gateway to college success. It is our hope to use the expertise of peers and mentors at AAC&U to guide us in the development of The Creative Path to College Success.
The goals of the program include:
Increasing student academic success utilizing the arts as a creative pathway. Providing avenues where students can engage in hands-on learning experiences. Provide an opportunity for underserved students to get a jump on their college experience. Fostering an appreciation for the arts as a catalyst for academic and professional growth.
The Creative Path to College Success is an outgrowth of NIU’s campus diversity action plan, which has three ambitious, but attainable goals: Identify and eliminate equity gaps among underserved students; Identify and implement effective, sustainable and measurable intervention strategies to ensure equity for all students; and Promote and assess equity-mindedness across the university community and beyond. NIU has the capacity to empower all students and support successful outcomes. Over the last year, NIU has undergone an institutional assessment of academic equity gaps taking into consideration race/ethnicity, income and first-generation status. This work has led to a more thoughtful and intentional strategy for addressing the needs of diverse students. Additionally, NIU’s cultural centers, first-year programs and academic support services offer intrusive advising and success coaching, and provide opportunities for students to engage in leadership and co-curricular experiences.
The first step to building capacity is identifying the barriers to student success, including academic equity gaps, followed by educating the campus community on ways that we both contribute to and have the ability to reduce barriers. The NIU campus action plan serves as a model for engaging faculty in addressing equity and inclusion. The academic equity gap information was born out of the AAC&U equity-minded practice guidelines and serves to help the campus community identify the barriers and shift the paradigm.
The second step is understanding the campus climate and gauging the level of deficit thinking. NIU’s Chief Diversity Officer & Senior Associate Vice President for Academic Diversity, is currently coordinating a task force, which will implement a campuswide climate survey, provide recommendations for best practices and inform a more detailed institutional plan to address critical campus climate concerns. Further, it is critical that the highest levels of leadership provide an avenue for diverse voices to be heard. To that end, NIU supports five Presidential Commissions (Status of Minorities, Interfaith Initiatives, Status of Women, Persons with Disabilities, and Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity), which advise and inform the President and campus community on issues related to campus climate.
High Impact Practices
Another critical consideration is the use of high impact practices as an avenue for increasing student success. The Vice Provost and a team from NIU attended both the AACU institutes on high impact practices and general education reform several years ago. The knowledge gained from these institutes led to the development of the Office of Student Engagement and Experiential Learning and the reformation of the general education requirements. These, in turn, helped inform significant changes to the honors program and NIU’s first-year seminar course. NIU PLUS, a new integrated program model which brings together curricular (customized general education), co-curricular (out-of-class experiences), and professional development opportunities for students, is another example of how NIU is transforming both curricular and co-curricular learning and is also an outgrowth of these efforts. The NIU PLUS program has been recognized as an innovative practice by the Chronicle of Higher Education and the Educational Advisory Board. Initial data on the outcome of these practices confirm that NIU students are more successful (i.e. persistence and graduation rates) when engaged in HIPs and in particular, HIPs lead to increased success for underserved students at NIU. These initiatives have been successful as a result of collaborative efforts of everyone from the President to academic departments, student affairs, deans, advisors, and students.
Using equity gap data and our knowledge of high impact practices, our next steps are to continue to identify, expand and create services, programs and initiatives that are influencing student success using assessment and outcome data. We will use this information to inform larger institutional and structural change to sustain positive changes.
The Creative Path to College Success
It is our belief that student success depends on multiple entry points and pathways. We want to open the door to college wider, and to open more doors. The efforts noted above inextricably link quality, equity and diversity. We see them not as separate items to be individually addressed; rather, we approach these efforts holistically. The Creative Path to College Success is another door—and a rather wide one—that will capture students who might otherwise choose not to attend college. The proposed project is a natural development of our efforts to reach and help students—all students—succeed.
In the next year, we intend to: Pilot the Creative Path to College Success, which includes a summer pre-college program, leveraging current high impact learning opportunities on NIU’s campus Identify natural partners (e.g., Chicago Public Schools, One Goal, etc.) and identify and encourage students with creative proclivities to apply to NIU.
We envision that the Creative Path to Success will include: A pre-college summer “boot camp” one week prior to beginning of fall semester to establish cohorts and creative college culture Discipline-specific first-year intensive (six credit) studio experience in concert with existing programs, such as NIU PLUS, to develop competencies in writing, reading, and quantitative analysis. A summer immersion experience at the end of the first-year at NIU Access to innovative curriculum through the BA in Interdisciplinary Arts (proposed new major), which will include a sophomore course on entrepreneurship and the arts, a junior level course on the evolution of art and aesthetic philosophy and a senior capstone in community engaged creative practices.
AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Oklahoma City University Oklahoma City, OK
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: Master's S: Master's Colleges and Universities (smaller programs) Affiliation: Religious
Enrollment Undergraduate: 1546 Masters: 604 Doctoral: 519 including law
Team Leader: Dr. David Steffens, Acting Assistant Provost/Professor of Music Discipline/Office: Office of the Provost 2) Ms. Mary Benner, Director of Global Engagement: Office of the Provost 3) Dr. Karen Youmans, Director of University Honors Program/Associate Professor of English: University Honors Program (reports to Provost) /English Department 4) Dr. Laurie Kauffman, Associate Professor of Biology: Biology 5) Ms. Colbi Beam, Coordinator of First Year Experience: Office of the Provost
Summary of Goals: Focusing initially on the Petree College of Arts and Sciences, we want to create a four-year mentoring and self- assessment plan for students that offers concrete, discipline-specific guidelines on how to use HIPs to enhance every student's undergraduate degree program. Our plan includes working with faculty and staff mentors and advisors to identify means of incorporating HIPs into their discipline and to ensure that they are aware of how these HIPs support their students. Ultimately the plan will ensure that each student understands the importance of HIPs and how to access the support to fully participate in them. This project speaks directly to our newly drafted strategic plan, which calls for ensuring that all students are prepared for success in the workplace or in graduate school following the bachelor’s degree.
What you would like to see from the institute: Effective, developmentally appropriate methods of articulating the value of HIPs for freshman and sophomore students, particularly those who may not have family/cultural support for some HIPs Effective methods of working with faculty and staff to incorporate HIPs into their disciplines and their mentoring/advising of students Strategies for gaining buy in and collaboration/cooperation among faculty and staff who are reluctant to add "one more thing" to their workload. For a small, private, United Methodist-affiliated institution in the heart of the U.S., Oklahoma City University (OCU) is surprisingly diverse (see graphic below). At any given time, our student body includes residents of most of the 50 states and as many as 60 countries. Our programs include the performing and visual arts, business, nursing, religion, natural and social sciences, and humanities. With this array of disciplines and a lean university-wide budget, every employee who interacts with a student has a role to play in that student’s success, and collaboration across departments, schools, and divisions is critical. To best serve our students, we propose creating a two-pronged approach to integrating High Impact Practices (HIPs) across the curriculum. Our focus will be on tailoring HIPs to each discipline in collaboration with select employees in that area and then offer training to all employees in the discipline about HIPs and their impact on students. The second is to develop a curricular overlay for each discipline that illustrates and tracks students’ development of the competencies various HIPs have proven to enhance. We will begin this process using the disciplines represented by the Petree College of Arts and Sciences (PCAS). We chose PCAS for our pilot because it has the widest array of majors, but also because it struggles with the lowest retention and graduation rates. We hope this pilot program will ultimately be adopted across campus.
Ongoing efforts to best prepare students for life after the bachelor’s degree occur across campus. Programs to promote student success range from introductory courses in various majors, which frequently include information about career choices and may include segments on the benefits of HIPs, to targeted support for specific student populations such as first-generation college students, student athletes, students with disabilities. Students may first hear about HIPs during pre- matriculation enrollment, which occurs the spring prior to the traditional student’s first semester at OCU. Students and parents learn about some HIPs during new student orientation week through activities focused on specific HIPs, academic advice by college/school, and through such activities as our common reading program. Students in specific scholarship programs, such as our American Indian Scholars and our Clara Luper Scholars—named for the Civil Rights leader—are part of a cohort that engages in enhanced orientation activities and the yearlong OCULeads leadership program. Unfortunately, for some students, the wealth of information they receive before and during their first semester at the university is not systematically presented to them over the next four years nor is their progress in the areas strengthened through HIPs systematically assessed over time. If students didn’t make note during orientation—while they are trying to make friends and find their way from their dorm to the cafeteria—that internships, undergraduate research, and studying abroad are important aspects of an undergraduate education, they might not focus on these areas until they are searching for jobs or applying to graduate schools as seniors. Opportunities exist, but we lack a unified method of ensuring that all students are aware of them and advised on how these HIPs support the student’s major and career interests.
With guidance from the AAC&U Institute, we hope to develop a systematic plan to promote student success across our diverse population. We envision a collaborative process to learn from advisors and faculty mentors about what their students require followed by the development of a training/tracking process that becomes part of advising or mentoring sessions students receive. Armed with relevant options for his or her major and professional/academic interests, the onus will then be placed on the student to utilize these opportunities with guidance from a tracking process available to each student through our online course management system (D2L). We envision an enhanced advising system, particularly for students in their freshman and sophomore years, that helps them to recognize and utilize HIPs in their degree plans. The tracking process will be more than a checklist. It will help to structure advising activities and conversations with students throughout their undergraduate career.
Previous efforts to help students track their progress have largely failed. It’s likely that one reason for this failure is that OCU is an institution built on individual relationships between students and their mentors. Frequently these mentors are faculty or staff academic advisors, but other mentors include staff from academic and student affairs, residence life, athletics, or student organization advisors. These relationships bind students to OCU. Most students and mentors will ignore a one- size-fits-all or even a discipline-specific form that neglects the power of relationships. Students and mentors have misconceptions of the relevance of HIPs. Career Services is only for business majors. Study abroad is too expensive or is only for students from X, Y, and Z majors. Undergraduate research is for science majors. Music majors shouldn’t complete a minor. Acting majors don’t need business courses. We hope to change these misconceptions for the benefit of all students.
To work with the strength of individual attention OCU offers, the Institute team will prepare a brief survey for advisors and mentors who interact with students within the disciplines of PCAS. This will include faculty and staff advisors within the college, but also include data from other mentors. We will try to assess the foci of student advising and mentorship and where the current strengths and weaknesses exist. Armed with these data, the team hopes to devise a shell for student mentoring, opportunities and critical points of contact and milestones students should be achieving in addition to their curricular requirements. In effect, this shell will become a roadmap for how all disciplines will incorporate HIP, co-curricular, and cross-disciplinary opportunities already available to students. It will also help to identify where gaps exist and how to fill those gaps. The route requires collaboration and cross training, where leaders of HIPs will listen to the needs of students, faculty, and staff advisors in specific disciplines. It will also be an opportunity for the HIP leaders to work with advisors and leaders to tailor opportunities to meet the needs of specific student groups.
Our Team We chose a team that represents knowledge and affiliation with as many areas of the university as possible within just five persons.
Dr. David Steffens is acting assistant provost and a longtime professor in the school of music. He has extensive knowledge of the university through his leadership as chair of the university’s budget committee and a representative of the faculty senate executive committee, among others. With the performing arts representing approximately one-third of our undergraduate enrollment, he represents a key constituency of the university.
Dr. Karen Youmans is director of the Honors Program and a professor of English. She is also the distinguished fellowships advisor and is instrumental in the annual campus-wide undergraduate research day.
Dr. Laurie Kauffman is an associate professor of biology and has led study abroad programs for biology majors and non-majors to Costa Rica. She offers ongoing undergraduate research opportunities. She recently chaired the PCAS dean’s search committee and the Student Retention Committee through which she gained insights into the strengths and challenges facing PCAS.
Ms. Mary Benner is the director of global engagement, which includes all study abroad programs, incoming exchange students, and the university’s visiting scholars program. She reports to the provost and has worked in the provost’s office in several capacities since 2002. She has served on numerous university councils and committees including the diversity taskforce, the ongoing Diversity Council, and the undergraduate research committee. She co-chaired the university’s prioritization taskforce for support services.
Ms. Colbi Beam is the first-year-experience coordinator and common reading program chair. As chair of staff council, she serves on numerous councils and committees including budget, benefits, and strategic planning. She previously worked in student affairs, so brings that division’s perspective to the group.
Undergraduate population by race and ethnicity Race%or%Ethnicity Percentage American)Indian/Alaskan 3 Asian 2 Black%or%African%American 5 Caucasian 63 Hispanic 9 Two%or%more%ethnicities%reported 8 Nonresident%aliens 9
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AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications University of Mississippi University, MS
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: RU/VH: Research Universities (very high research activity) Affiliation: Public
Enrollment Undergraduate: 18,515 Masters: 1,189 Doctoral: 721
Team Leader: Mrs. Kristina Phillips, Coordinator Discipline/Office: UM Division of Outreach, Office of College Programs 2) Dr. Rich Forgette, Associate Provost: Office of the Provost 3) Ms. Laura Martin, Assistant Director: McLean Institute for Public Service and Community Engagement 4) Dr. Kate Kellum, Associate Director: Office of Institutional Research, Effectiveness, and Planning 5) Dr. Nancy Wiggers, Learning Specialist: Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
Additional Team Members(s): 2 We are purposeful in including staff, faculty, and administrators directly involved with high-impact practices on our team. Kristina Phillips was chosen to be team leader because her unit (UM Division of Outreach-College Programs) will coordinate and sustain the institution's HIP efforts. Dr. John Samonds, Associate Dean of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honor’s College, will participate in pre-institute meetings to contribute to our HIP dialogue and efforts. He is willing to serve on our team in Boston if space allows. Dr. Samonds' email address is [email protected]. Dr. Kyle Ellis, Director of the Center for Student Success and First-Year Experience, has also expressed interest in being an alternate if any other team member cannot attend. Dr. Ellis' email is [email protected].
Summary of Goals: UM's overarching goal for participating in the Institute is to create an infrastructure supportive of current and future HIP initiatives. Desired outcomes include: 1) Development of infrastructure to strengthen existing HIP programs and forge new collaborative partnerships 2) Development of multiple learning pathways for diverse student groups to benefit from HIPs 3) Establishment of standard learning objectives for programs and courses considered to be HIPs 4) Exploration of best practices for high-impact practice reporting and assessment and the relationships between retention, completion, and HIP participation 5) Development of an HIP toolkit as a resource specifically for UM faculty and staff 6) Acquisition of foundational knowledge related to best-practices for interdepartmental collaboration and efforts related for a HIP reporting group
What you would like to see from the institute: We have secured full support from our executive leadership team, including Interim Vice Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor, Dr. Noel Wilkin. Our campus leadership anticipates that more robust HIP offerings impacting a) recruitment of high-achieving students seeking unique academic experiences b) academic enthusiasm and engagement and c)retention and completion. We are mostly interested in creating the appropriate infrastructure to ensure the longevity of HIP collaborative efforts at our institution. Information related specifically to connecting existing units and developing an HIP "ecosystem", including best practices for HIP recruitment, participation, facilitation, and assessment. University of Mississippi 2017 Summer Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success Proposal
Abstract The University of Mississippi (UM) would benefit from the expertise and leadership of AAC&U in areas of high-impact practices (HIP) and student engagement and seeks guidance in the development of a comprehensive plan to implement equitable high-impact practices at our institution. Currently, UM employs a de-centralized model for HIPs, so we would like to examine best practices and other successful models in order to build upon existing programs.
Desired outcomes from the Summer Institute include: Development of infrastructure to strengthen existing HIP programs and forge new collaborative partnerships Development of multiple learning pathways for diverse student groups to benefit from HIPs Establishment of standard learning objectives for programs and courses considered to be HIPs Exploration of best practices for high-impact practice reporting and assessment and the relationships between retention, completion, and HIP participation Development of an HIP toolkit as a resource specifically for UM faculty and staff Acquisition of foundational knowledge related to best-practices for interdepartmental collaboration and efforts related for a HIP reporting group
These outcomes were developed by examining areas for improvement in monitoring HIP student participation and in performing institutional assessments for high-impact practices. Current programs exist primarily within a single department with interdisciplinary and interdepartmental collaboration at a minimum. UM’s mission promotes enriching opportunities outside of the classroom, and high-impact practices can be an effective vehicle for both student enrichment and collaborative opportunities among departments and schools. We hope to develop an infrastructure to a) increase diverse student participation, b) broaden and support faculty innovation in incorporating high-impact practices into the curriculum, and c) improve tracking and assessment to better understand the impact and potential of HIPs at our institution.
Need The overarching need at the University of Mississippi is to create an infrastructure supportive of current and future HIP initiatives. The University of Mississippi Center for Student Success and First-Year Experience (CSSFYE) is an example of a unit that has achieved organization and structure for all first-year issues and concerns. The CSSFYE has fostered increased retention for first-year, first-time students in recent years.
In 2014, the CSSFYE advised approximately 80% of first-year students and fall-to-fall retention was at a record-breaking 86.5%. Even though this record-breaking retention percentage is comparable to institutions in our SUG group, our university’s low admission standard is directly related to legislation enacted due to Mississippi’s troubled history of segregation and discrimination. Achieving this 86.5% retention for an institution with relatively low academic admission standards is an impressive and noteworthy achievement unique to our institution. The CSSFYE’s director attributes some of its success to providing tailored support for each student and early identification of academic and social pitfalls, its foundational mission of serving first- year students in several capacities, and campus-wide buy-in for first-year initiatives. The CSSFYE has successfully established its foothold for collaboration and resource sharing for everything related to first-year experiences at UM although it is not associated with one particular academic unit.
More advanced students, especially sophomores and juniors, could benefit from similar tailored support, resources, and information sharing in areas of HIPs. In the same year, sophomore to junior retention was 82.14% and junior to senior retention was 71.9%. Six-year graduation rates tend to hover around 60%. The AAC&U Institute would guide UM in creating of an action plan establishing learning objectives for professional development through HIPs, guide faculty in implementing those learning objectives, and provide a framework for administrators in assessing student outcomes related to high-impact practice effectiveness.
Resource sharing and interdepartmental collaboration is embedded into the foundation of the CSSFYE, and we acknowledge that a similar foundation and information network would improve efforts in HIPs. We hope to develop a plan to extend retention efforts beyond freshmen by creating a strategy for success, developing and managing resources to support HIPs, and developing tools to improve and institutionalize HIPs at UM.
The following departments will contribute to a dialogue about improved HIP collaboration at UM. The list describes existing campus units and identifies each unit’s experience in supporting and/or providing HIPs. Units denoted with (*) are included in our team. Pre-institute meetings to discuss UM’s vision for HIPs and ensure inclusivity will take place at UM:
Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Community Engagement – Established January 2017 to organize and integrate an infrastructure that facilitates and encourages community engagement, develop partnerships to effectively facilitate transformation, and identify and support target areas to maximize the university’s impact. This new position will be instrumental in promoting equity and accessibility among several programs and initiatives.
Office of Research and Sponsored Programs – Creates and maintains the optimum environment for the University community to achieve excellence in research, scholarship, and the dissemination of knowledge. This unit is currently exploring increased undergraduate research opportunities.
Office of Global Engagement – Includes UM’s Office of Study Abroad, International Programs, Intensive English, and the US Japan Partnership. This unit’s mission is student preparation to be global leaders in a 21st century workforce and expand UM’s international footprint.
UM Career Center – Assists students in transitioning from academia to a career. Provides career counseling and testing, access to electronic and print career resources, peer education programs, opportunities to connect with employers, and career and life-planning courses. Center for Inclusion and Cross Cultural Engagement –Provides programs and services encouraging cross-cultural interactions and to provide a welcoming space for students from diverse backgrounds. The Center’s staff develops programs and services supporting inclusiveness, one of UM’s core values.
*McLean Institute for Public Service and Community Engagement – Promotes community engagement opportunities that enrich classroom learning. The Institute encourages transformation through service by connecting university research, teaching, and service activity with community partners to serve the state, fosters inclusivity, and promotes cultural competence.
*UM Division of Outreach-Office of College Programs – Offers two internship programs to support student experiences in New York and Washington, D.C. and Study USA, a faculty-led, short-term domestic travel program. Provides faculty development stipends to promote HIP and experiential learning pedagogy and student scholarships to increase access.
Residential College – Living-learning communities available to all undergraduate classifications. This unit promotes career exploration through on-campus and off-campus programming including career workshops and trips to nearby cities with large UM alumni bases to assist students in finding entry-level careers or internships.
Bachelor of General Studies Program – Introduced eight years ago to address degree completion, with a high percentage of students either under-represented minority students or non-traditional students. It has since grown as an undergraduate major and is at the threshold of possibly splitting into two programs: (i) an expanded degree completion program and (ii) an enhanced interdisciplinary program.
*Center for Student Success and First-Year Year Experience – Offers a comprehensive set of programming and programs for first-year students from their first experiences with the University and continuing through the end of the first year. The University has extensively tracked students and the impact that this set of programs has on campus-wide retention.
FasTrack (Foundations for Academic Success Track) – Offers programs to support first-year students during their transition from high school to college via smaller classes, individualized advising and mentoring, and a community of supportive peers.
*Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honor’s College – Requires a capstone project for completion, which can include traditional research, internship or unpaid volunteer experience, senior design course or policy writing. The Honor’s College also offers domestic and international travel experiences and grants for its students.
*Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning - Promotes student learning by improving teaching at the University of Mississippi. The Center provides resources and assistance to faculty to enhance their teaching endeavors by promoting ongoing, university-wide discussion about teaching and learning issues.
UM has existing framework that could potentially build upon the capacity for educators to ask and respond to questions about equity and inclusive excellence that can lead to campus change. For example, the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning hosts monthly workshops for UM faculty related to improving teaching strategies. Similarly, the CSSFYE’s Academic Advising Network provides a forum for academic advisors to convene and discuss best practices for academic advisors. Challenges arise when trying to organize collaboration for existing efforts for a variety of reasons, including lack of communication and program ownership. We’re hopeful that AAC&U’s Summer Institute will guide us in organizing efforts and provide us with an opportunity to examine the infrastructure of other institution’s HIP efforts.
AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Point Park University PIttsburgh, PA
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: Master's L: Master's Colleges and Universities (larger programs) Affiliation: Independent
Enrollment Undergraduate: 3128 Masters: 693 Doctoral: 113
Team Leader: Dr Jonas Prida, Assistant Provost Discipline/Office: Academic Affairs 2) Dr Jehnie Reis, Assistant Professor: History 3) Dr Stephen Tanzilli, Dean Rowland School of Business: Business 4) Ms Molly McClelland, Direct of Student Success: Student Success 5) Mr Michael Gieseke, Dean of Student Life: Student Affairs
Summary of Goals: - Integration among academic programming—both general education core and program specific, co- curricular programming, student advising and success, and institutional effectiveness. Point Park has understandable policies and procedures for specific departments, but no larger-scale integration that links student success, academic advisement, high-impact classroom practices, and resource allocation. - integrating high-impact practices into a variety of learning spaces on campus. Point Park has made headway on instituting certain high-impact classroom practices—senior capstones for example—but lags in employing other ones. The University’s co-curricular transcript service is underused, and there is not enough intentionality given to curricular and co-curricular activities in supporting learning outcomes. -Devising strategies for the promotion of inclusive excellence across the curriculum. The term is used in the University's recent strategic plan, and the team would like to return to campus with ways to incorporate its concepts.
What you would like to see from the institute: - Working with senior faculty on incorporating high-impact practices - Strategies for integrating high-impact practices across the curriculum - Ways to embed diversity into curricular and co-curricular activities - Best practices for experiential learning and co-ops/internships in particular Point Park University
Needs
Presently, Point Park University is focused on specific markers of success: namely first-year retention and six-year graduation rates. Both have increased as a result of this attention, and now the University can set its sights on developing a more holistic success program incorporating a demanding curriculum with co-curricular events that offer another space for student learning and development. A new general education core was instituted in 2014, emphasizing outcomes and dispositions more than a traditional check the box method. However, the integration of the new core has been slow. Additionally, the incorporation of 21st-century learning strategies into high- population core classes has been erratic, with few training opportunities. The University is actively working to increase the numbers of internship and co-op opportunities; additionally, it has a new Ph.D. in Community Engagement, which will also house our first-year experience course. The combination of community engagement for first-year students and co-op/internship experiences for most [ideally all] other students offers an opportunity for Point Park to situate itself as a leader in experiential learning. The University offers a co-curricular transcript, but, like several other student success initiatives, it is still in a nascent stage. Recent assessment data show that while roughly 85% of faculty and staff knew about co-curricular transcripts, roughly the same percentage did not know how to submit an event or what counted as a co-curricular activity. The University is also extremely aware that, although it serves a diverse, urban population, its faculty and staff do not reflect the students it serves. The new Provost, along with other senior administrators, have included the vocabulary of “inclusive excellence” into the five- year strategic plan and operational steps to increase the likelihood of diverse hiring have already begun. There has not been a campus climate survey given recently, and the anecdotal evidence points to a marginalization of students of color within the larger institution. The previously mentioned strategic plan also includes objectives for increasing interdisciplinary offerings, promoting capstones in programs, more resources for the scholarship of teaching and learning, and other efforts to more fully engage students in and out of the classroom. The strategic challenge is coalescing these various initiatives into a coherent, assessable, manageable whole.
Goals
There are two interconnected projects that the Institute can help us advance. The first is the more effective integration among academic programming—both general education core and program specific, co-curricular programming, student advising and success, and institutional effectiveness. Like many universities, Point Park has understandable policies and procedures for specific departments, but no larger-scale integration that links student success, academic advisement, high-impact classroom practices, and resource allocation. Each of these groups wants to improve pathways for admitted students to succeed in academically challenging programs, while providing robust co-curricular activities that support psychosocial development and needed soft skills. Being able to work through potential strategies and specific tactics that will facilitate this integration is one project.
Our second project is also an integrative one: this time, integrating high-impact practices into a variety of learning spaces on campus. Point Park has made headway on instituting certain high- impact classroom practices—senior capstones for example—but lags in employing other ones. There is a need to retrain senior faculty in the new science of teaching and learning, but we are unsure of best practices towards this retraining. Our Business department has made great headway using e-portfolios, but it is also concerned that they are no longer the best tool for charting a student’s progress. The University’s co-curricular transcript service is underused, and there is not enough intentionality given to curricular and co-curricular activities in supporting learning outcomes. Knowing how other institutions embed HIP into a variety of learning spaces, as well as developing a strategic plan that links these HIPs with assessment, resources, and program development will be extremely useful.
Ideally, in the next three years, Point Park will see its first year retention rate reach 85% and its graduation rate reach 63%, the stated goal in the University’s present strategic plan. Student success continues to provide a variety of services, while linking these services with academic opportunities. Additionally, student services will offer various types of support, recognizing that help-seeking behaviors are cultural and gendered. Co-curricular activities will be scheduled to coincide with curricular activities, and students will find learning opportunities in a variety of spaces. The co-curricular transcript will become an expected part of every students’ experience. High-impact practices will be embedded into courses throughout the time a student is enrolled, and each student will have opportunities to explore undergraduate research, a co-op or internship, or other culminating activity. A capstone symposium for all seniors across disciplines is instituted, and students are expected to participate as audience members in symposiums outside of their disciplines. All of these parts are routinely assessed, as is the integrated whole. This assessment, in turn, helps drive resource allocation and university-wide strategic planning.
Team
Our rationale was choosing faculty and staff interested in promoting student success across the institution and in positions where they either have large amounts of student contact or are in departments undergoing reorganization. The team leader is the Assistant Provost, whose emphasis is on assessment, curriculum and faculty development. The Director of Student Success leads the advising of students and is engaged in the redevelopment of our first-year experience. The Dean of Students Life is involved with student housing, student government, counseling services, and most other phases of student life. Our two faculty members are the Dean of the Business School, which serves roughly 1,000 undergrad and graduate students, and an Associate Professor of History, who has been tasked with implementing the University’s new general education core.
These five members have all demonstrated their commitment to 21st-century inclusion, engagement, and excellence in a variety of ways. The Director of Student Services instituted a model program where students on the autistic spectrum are given peer mentors to facilitate the everyday mechanics of University life. She is working on developing systems that acknowledge different help-seeking behaviors and instituting these systems into student success and advising. Our history professor helped design the new general education core emphasizing domains of knowledge instead of specific courses, allowing for student flexibility and a transfer-friendly environment. The Dean of Student Life works daily with students on questions of community engagement and on-campus inclusion; he also has a deep working knowledge of student life at Point Park. The Business School Dean is a University leader in internships and co-op opportunities and has been tasked with increasing the retention rate and overall student satisfaction in the Business School. The Assistant Provost emphasizes high-impact practices, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and how these practices can be assessed. Additionally, his office provides funding for incorporating HIPs into the curriculum, as well as funding for inclusive excellence in the classroom.
AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Regis College Weston, MA
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: Spec/Health: Special Focus Institutions--Other health professions schools Affiliation: Religious
Enrollment Undergraduate: 950 Masters: 900 Doctoral: 60
Team Leader: Dr Helen Sabolek Consiglio, Chair, Psychology Department, PI, PRIDE scholars Discipline/Office: Faculty, Psychology 2) Dr. Kathryn Edney, Assistant Professor, Humanities, Director, MA in Heritage Studies for Global Society: Associate Dean-Academic Assessment 3) Mr Adam Brown, Title III Activity Director, Assistant Dean of Student Services: Academic Student Support 4) Ms. Erin Wisniewski, Director, Student Programming and Leadership: Student Affairs 5) Mr. Anthony D'Aries, Assistant Professor, English; Director, Writing Program: Faculty
Summary of Goals:
1. Develop a cohesive assessment process for curricular, co-curricular and high-impact practices to ensure consistency and efficacy across the university 2. Bring team-members from a range of offices and departments to a single table to lay the groundwork for equity- minded practices and to provide opportunities that reflect the diversity of our learners across gender, ethnicity, race, socio-economic status, disability status and neuro-diversity 3. Develop curriculum and programming to empower students to become independent learners and to increase persistence and resilience among our most at-risk students, through the establishment of both informal and formal learning communities, redesigned coursework, coaching and tutoring
These elements will move us towards a fully-integrated and equity-minded learning experience for our students that enables them to take control of their learning. This institute will further foster campus-wide collaborations among faculty and staff that can build on the ethos of the Title III grant. The Institute will provide an opportunity ensure collaboration and integration among all contingencies on campus in our shared goal of increasing student success.
What you would like to see from the institute:
- Fostering a HIPs culture on campus that is sustainable from year to year, and selecting best practices for integrating HIPs into curricular and cocurricular programs - Aligning courses and programs with guided learning pathways; ensuring equitable access for all students - Supporting faculty development that recognizes contingent contracts and connects inclusive, student-centered pedagogies to equitable outcomes - Designing and assessing the quality of HIPs at the course and institutional levels - Bridging divides and building collaborations to ensure that campus programs work toward equity goals Application Narrative
Regis College is committed to ensuring access to high-quality education and academic success for our students. We have made great strides in increasing student access to education and as such our student body is comprised of a wide range of students with intersecting identities around race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, academic preparedness and learning style. Over 40% of our undergraduate students are first-generation college students. We have committed to improving our institutional capacity for student success through innovative initiatives designed to increase retention and on-time graduation. These include:
Grant Funded Initiatives to Increase Student Success
In Fall 2016, Regis College was awarded a Title III grant from the Department of Education to build our institutional capacity for student success. The grant activity is divided into two “prongs” to be implemented simultaneously: proactive engagement of students by our academic student support team, and improvements in student-centered teaching and learning. This approach allows a level of collaboration among faculty and student support staff that has traditionally been lacking at our institution. The PRIDE (Potential, Resilience, Initiative, Drive, and Engagement) scholars program, is a grant-funded program to pilot high-impact practices with a small group of academically at-risk students.
Curricular and Co-curricular Improvements
Creation of curricular and co-curricular learning opportunities offered through academic affairs and student affairs Transition from a prerequisite remedial mathematics model to a co-requisite model Development of the Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing, addition of a co- requisite laboratory for our foundational writing courses and the addition of a writing intensive course requirement All undergraduate majors to participate in experiential learning/internships Development of clear learning outcomes and assessment procedures for all academic programs and an internal 5 year comprehensive program review cycle
Addressing Campus Climate Issues
In 2014, the Regis College community completed a campus climate survey, and identified areas in need of improvement. Since this time, we hired a Director of Diversity and Inclusion, and made considerable strides in prioritizing and addressing campus climate concerns through creative outreach and programming orchestrated through the Office of Student Affairs and the Director. These efforts include the creation of informal and formal dialogue opportunities surrounding identity for students, faculty and staff. Regis is a Catholic institution with strong ties to the mission of our founders, the Sisters of St. Joseph, including love and service to the dear neighbor, without distinction. We will assess campus climate on a three year cycle and monitor our progress toward achieving our goal of equity minded practices throughout all domains of campus life. The Director works closely with our Unity Committee, comprised of faculty, staff and students, to facilitate campus wide initiatives to help us achieve this goal. While the Director is not available to attend the Institute, we will continue collaborate to ensure we are following best practices for establishing equity-minded learning.
Leveraging High Impact Practices to Increase Student Success
We currently employ the following high-impact practices in our curriculum
First-Year Seminar/Experience Piloting Learning Communities Writing-Intensive Courses Expansion of Undergraduate Research Creation of a Center for Global Connections Piloting Service Learning, Community-Based Learning Internships Capstone Projects/e-Portfolios
While we have made considerable progress in expanding opportunities for success, much work remains to advance an inclusive and equity-minded learning experience that leverages all campus resources toward an integrated learning experience that meets the needs of our twenty-first century students.
Challenges and Next Steps: The Need for a Cohesive, Equity-minded Learning Pathway and Integrated Assessment
One of our most notable challenges has been finding the opportunity for the multiple contingencies on campus, all of whom share the goal of supporting our students and increasing student success, to come together and braid our existing curricular and co-curricular threads into a single, cohesive experience for students. While we have made great strides in establishing tractable assessment procedures within academic majors, the current model for assessing our general education/core curriculum is outdated and cumbersome. As we update our learning pathways, it is imperative that we develop a holistic assessment process that represents students’ full learning experience.
Key Goals for the Regis Team at the Institute
1. Develop a cohesive assessment process for curricular, co-curricular and high-impact practices to ensure consistency and efficacy across the university 2. Bring team-members from a range of offices and departments to a single table to lay the groundwork for equity-minded practices and to provide opportunities that reflect the diversity of our learners across gender, ethnicity, race, socio-economic status, disability status and neuro-diversity 3. Develop curriculum and programming to empower students to become independent learners and to increase persistence and resilience among our most at-risk students, through the establishment of both informal and formal learning communities, redesigned coursework, coaching and tutoring
These elements will move us towards a fully-integrated and equity-minded learning experience for our students that enables them to take control of their learning. This institute will further foster campus-wide collaborations among faculty and staff that can build on the ethos of the Title III grant. The Institute will provide an opportunity ensure collaboration and integration among all contingencies on campus in our shared goal of increasing student success.
In the next year: Proactive engagement of students by our academic student support team will occur through re-envisioning our tutoring, advising and coaching models and the development of “college survival toolkits”). Improvements in student-centered teaching and learning will be achieved through faculty development, revision and integration of high- impact practices into existing courses, and the creation of a sophomore year experience (SYE). This SYE will include a 1 credit-sophomore seminar with accompanying co- curricular activities to address four areas in which we have identified a need for increased student support: 1) Financial Literacy, 2) Integration of Career Development throughout the curriculum, 3) engagement in co-curricular learning experiences and, 4) proactive student engagement where learning strategies rather than study skills are emphasized and where students are emerged in metacognitive skill training within “content area” groupings so ultimately they will have the skills to become independent learners, and not be dependent upon an academic coach. We will integrate additional writing-intensive courses into the curriculum. Notably, we have created a Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing, which is embedded within student support to facilitate this necessary collaboration. Over the next three years, we expect to see measurable increases in student success and retention, including an increased sense of belonging among our first-generation college students. We will incorporate high-impact practices into existing courses, move toward an advising model with differentiated learning plans and develop and launch our “college survival toolkits”.
Team
The Regis College five-person team is comprised of faculty and staff representing a wide-range of campus divisions including: Academic Programming and Student Leadership and First Year Experience faculty, Student Affairs, PRIDE Scholars faculty, Title III Director and Assistant Dean of Academic Student Services, the Associate Dean of Assessment, and Director of the Writing Program. The faculty have extensive experience with curriculum development and shared governance practices, as well as deep commitment to student learning. The representative from Student Affairs has well established relationships with students and teaches within FYE, so has knowledge of both sides of students’ needs. The Title III director, while new to Regis, has abundant experience with connecting co-curricular to curriculum and brings a new perspective to campus. The institute will present a unique opportunity for each of these leaders to work together to develop an integrated learning pathway for our students. The Regis team can bring expertise and perspective to the institute on the successes and challenges inherent in working with a diverse group of students through grant-funded initiatives and the challenges and successes of implementing high-impact practices across campus initiative. AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Skyline College San Bruno, CA
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: Assoc/Pub4: Associate's--Public 4-year Primarily Associate's Affiliation: Public
Enrollment Undergraduate: 10,000
Team Leader: Dr. Carla Grandy, Associate Professor Discipline/Office: Earth Science 2) Ms. Jessica Hurless, Associate Professor: Communication Studies 3) Dr. Luis Escobar, Dean of Counseling, Advising, and Matriculation: Student Services 4) Dr. Jude Navari, Professor: Music 5) Mr. Christopher Gibson, Associate Professor: Language Arts
Additional Team Members(s): 1 Nathaniel Nevado Professor Student Services, Skyline College
Summary of Goals:
x Develop more service learning opportunities for students to engage with and connect their learning to their communities; x Develop Collaborative Assignments and Projects that connect themes across disciplines; x Design core courses or first year experiences within meta major houses to introduce students to career opportunities and fields of study within their areas of interest; x Imbed e-portfolios into our GE pathways, so students can easily track their learning and progress and have tangible evidence of their work to support their future efforts; x Offer professional development workshops for faculty to strengthen curriculum with HIPs x Dedicate time for our team of faculty, student services, and administrators to work to implement these goals and incorporate other insights from the institute.
What you would like to see from the institute: Specific techniques for connecting faculty and student services across disciplines and incorporating specific HIPs like e-portfolios.
Need for High Impact Practices at Skyline College: Skyline College uses a comprehensive diversity framework covering multiple domains. We look at ourselves and institutional structures, processes, and practices to address issues that impact students’ ability to access and successfully complete their educational goals. We recognize that effective equity efforts intersect all aspects of the institution; that identifying barriers and transforming structures must be collaborative; and that shifting this paradigm begins with an institutional culture that practices reflection and critical inquiry.
One example grounded in our Diversity Framework is the Skyline College Promise, a K-14 initiative. The Skyline College Promise helps mitigate financial barriers impeding the pursuit of higher education, provides intentional academic and career support, and supports the institutional redesign of curriculum into guided pathways to improve student success and completion. The Skyline College Promise embodies Skyline College’s commitment to efficient and timely college completion for our students.
The College’s Mission-Vision-Values and Goals presents a “strengths framework” that understands diversity as value added and as a necessary starting point rather than an “obstacle” or the entire goal. To create an equitable and rigorous educational environment, the value of diversity must be embedded in policy and practice, reflected throughout the institution, and address equitable impact and intent. It requires an explicit approach to address educational inequities; equitable distribution of resources; and clear lines of accountability.
Among the critical components necessary for transformative practice are structured self-reflection and assessment, commitment to lifelong learning, bold and innovative leadership, and a continuous cycle of inquiry and action. The College’s Equity Summit exemplifies this work and included over 100 faculty, staff, administrators, and leaders in educational research to discuss findings and implications in regards to equity, pedagogy, and best practices. From the forum, an equity training series with a cohort of 25 faculty, staff, and administrators began ongoing training to help redesign their course outlines to advance equity in their disciplines. Professional development and spaces for reflection, assessment, and accountability are critical to advance these efforts.
The Skyline College campus climate reflects equity and social justice in a culture of collaboration and innovation. The College’s Stewardship for Equity, Equal Employment, and Diversity (SEEED) Advisory Committee oversees this work to ensure equity throughout Skyline College along with addressing issues of inequality across the institution to foster critical consciousness and equitable representation, access, and resources distribution. Further, the 2016 Community College Survey for Student Engagement (CCSSE) illustrates the College’s success in providing a high level of student comfort and support.
Skyline College also works to make curriculum accessible and relevant to students through several major initiatives. Over the last academic year, our institution responded to student success and retention rates by creating cross-functional teams to address student success and excess units through the development of meta-majors and guided pathways. This major effort required dedication of faculty and staff to collaborate to facilitate these changes.
Our work implementing high impact practices, learning outcomes, and assessment occurs at several levels. Skyline College’s Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning (CTTL) provides innovative professional development where faculty, staff, and administrators find resources and opportunities to strengthen student learning, engagement, support, and success. Through the integration of pedagogy, technology, and innovation, the CTTL provides support to transform teaching and learning to empower and transform a global, diverse community of learners.
The College currently assesses student learning outcomes (SLOs) at the course level, and Skyline College has recently revised the institutional student learning outcomes (ISLOs) and assessment rubrics to reflect expected student competencies. We encourage a culture of assessment that uses common criteria, which encourages equitable outcomes with consistent expectations. Our infrastructure allows us to continue developing and analyzing our assessment results to implement HIPs for a deeper level of student learning and engagement.
Skyline College has more than 400 students participating in various learning communities with linked courses and dedicated faculty and support staff. As we move to guided pathways, we are working with our learning communities to take their HIPs and scale up to positively impact a larger student population.
Additional HIPs in development include: internships with community and campus partners, undergraduate student research symposia, a global learning program for international students, a study abroad program for our students, service learning curriculum, and implementation of e-portfolios.
Skyline College has focused on several major initiatives, including: • Summer 2016, Faculty attended AACU Institute on General Education and Assessment • Summer 2016, Faculty, staff, administrators, and student services visited colleges across the country to see the implementation of similar strategies. • Fall 2016, discussions began to address the need for alignment of courses into meta-majors. Cross-functional teams participated in professional development to understand student challenges as they to forge a pathway through their coursework to a degree or certificate. • Spring 2017, the College formed a cross-functional and interdisciplinary Meta-majors Design Team to work with faculty, students, staff, and administrators to design Meta-majors and guided pathways. This includes a realignment of degrees and certificates into meta-majors and reimagining of our GE curriculum into coherent pathways. As we begin aligning course work and developing skills along these paths, we need faculty to engage in HIPs that engage, retain, and help students achieve their academic goals.
Skyline College’s Goals for AACU Summer Institute on High Impact Practices: Skyline College’s goals for the AACU Summer Institute on High Impact Practices (HIPs) center around developing concrete plans for implementing HIPs throughout our curriculum during our meta-majors reorganization and GE reform. We would specifically like to focus on the following areas: • Develop more service learning opportunities for students to engage with and connect their learning to their communities; • Develop Collaborative Assignments and Projects that connect themes across disciplines; • Design core courses or first year experiences within meta major houses to introduce students to career opportunities and fields of study within their areas of interest; • Imbed e-portfolios into our GE pathways, so students can easily track their learning and progress and have tangible evidence of their work to support their future efforts; • Offer professional development workshops for faculty to strengthen curriculum with HIPs • Dedicate time for our team of faculty, student services, and administrators to work to implement these goals and incorporate other insights from the institute.
Through our work in developing pathways and implementing HIPs that will complement and leverage the experience of the pathways, we hope to give students (and especially first generation students) more guidance in charting their education. Insufficient guidance represents a major obstacle to persistence, and improving the guidance and student services to better align with individual student goals will improve the quality of their educational experiences while addressing issues of equity and diversity. By accomplishing this, we hope to achieve the following 1-year and 3-year goals:
• 1-year: Establish fully developed meta-majors and guided pathways with cross-functional support structures for students; redesign general education to integrate interdisciplinary coursework with service learning and e-portfolios; identify course work appropriate for first-year students; explore and make decisions on how Learning communities affect meta-majors and guided pathways. • 3 years: Complete a cycle of evaluation of new campus structures and HIPs to learn and adjust based on results; fully-immerse the campus in meta-majors structure and culture; work to see 75% of students successfully completing as per the Skyline College Promise.
Skyline College’s Team: Our team is composed of faculty from a range of disciplines, including: Communication Studies, English, Music, and Earth Science as well as student support staff and administrators and represents the facilitators for our meta-majors work groups. In addition, team members serve on a variety of campus committees, including: Academic Senate, Curriculum Committee, GE Collective, Sustainability Ambassadors Network, Basic Skills Initiative, Employee Development, and Student Learning and Outcomes among others and thus represent a variety of perspectives. In addition to faculty, our team includes a counselor and the Dean of Student Services, who will add additional perspective on the students as well as institutional perspective on our goals. AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Edwardsville, IL
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: Master's M: Master's Colleges and Universities (medium programs) Affiliation: Public
Enrollment Undergraduate: 9,908 Masters: 1,229
Team Leader: Dr. Venessa Brown, Associate Chancellor and Chief Diversity Officer, Professor of Social Work Discipline/Office: Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion 2) Dr. Lakesha Butler, Clinical Associate Professor: Pharmacy Practice 3) Dr. Jerrica Ampadu, Director Student Nurse Achievement Program (SNAP) and Assistant Professor: School of Nursing 4) Dr. Kimberly Carter, Assistant Professor: Social Work 5) Dr. Sonia Zamanou-Erickson, Associate Professor: Department of Applied Communication Studies
Summary of Goals: Our main goal for the Institute is to develop a tool to centralize all of our diversity and inclusion efforts into one depository to better address the goals in the diversity plan and the overall mission of the institution. This will allow us to centralize all of our efforts so that actions towards diversity can be more impactful across the university. Currently, there are many diversity and inclusion initiatives that are not shared with the larger campus community. We plan to map out our current and new initiatives and align them with our new Diversity Strategic Plan. We plan to create an online depository where everyone at the University could continuously feed their programs and initiatives into a website portal and therefore it would be constantly updated and accessible to everyone. Finally, we plan to develop a communication plan on how we will share this information with the campus community.
What you would like to see from the institute: • What does diversity and inclusion mean to me? (We all have different perspectives on this and it would be good to uncover what it means to us as a multi-disciplinary team and where there might room for alignment) • What does it mean to be an ally and a champion for diversity/inclusion? How to identify allies and/or groom them within a campus community? • How to engage non-minority faculty and students in the diversity and inclusion conversation? • How to engage faculty who have no interest in dialogue about a diverse and inclusive environment? (They are the ones committing microaggressions) • Identification of Best Practice High Impact Strategies Being Employed in Institutions in our area, in Institutions of similar size, in Institutions of similar demographic background • Strategies for how to Effectively Network and Cross Collaborate with with other universities • How to infuse diversity and inclusion in the curriculum. Should faculty training be mandatory like ethics training? How do we entice all constituencies to do things differently so that we create an inclusive community for everyone • How to create, energize, and focus the efforts of intra-university collaborative teams , committees, and councils as the administrative, faculty, and student level so that their efforts are moving toward goal accomplishment • How to develop mechanisms of communication so that University units can share, compare, and integrate efforts of diversity and inclusion 2017 Institute on High Impact Practices and Student Success Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Need Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) has built the capacity to support the success of everyone, including students, faculty and staff through a variety of initiatives for the entire campus community. Significant strides in the area of diversity and inclusion have been made over the last ten years. The Office of Faculty Development and Diversity was first created in 2007, has grown in recognition in the University and beyond and it has evolved to the Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion led by the Associate Chancellor and Chief Diversity Officer, Dr. Venessa Brown. Furthermore, in 2009 the University Diversity Council was established, consisting of approximately 20 persons representing various constituency groups across campus, including faculty, student and staff representatives. The council works with Dr. Brown in leading initiatives pertaining to diversity and inclusion across the University. In addition to the University Diversity Council, school-specific diversity committees have been formed to create more focused strategies for each respective school, such as the School of Pharmacy, Nursing, Business, Education and the College of Arts and Sciences. Additionally, the International Office at SIUE provides support services for our significant number of international students and faculty.
The Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion, along with the University Diversity Council, have led a number of initiatives. In 2013, the University adopted its first 3-year diversity plan, which included specific goals and strategies to increase diversity in all areas of campus and have since been implemented. In 2014, the inaugural Multicultural Center was established. The campus now offers a space for multicultural discussions and activities and it has gender neutral bathrooms to promote further inclusion of everyone. Most importantly, we are now opening the lines of communication through candid dialogue at the Black Lives Matter Conferences and Diversity Summits on campus. Finally, campus climate surveys for faculty, staff and students are conducted and analyzed every 3 years to provide a continuous assessment of the climate.
SIUE has been successful in transforming parts of the curriculum and co- curriculum by offering courses that address issues of social justice and oppression, creating specialized programs such as international studies, black studies and women/gender studies, and offering required cultural competency and ethics courses at the professional healthcare schools. These are examples of what the different schools have been doing, however this is not an all-inclusive list due to a lack of consistent collection and reporting of this information. With the creation of school diversity committees, the University has been making efforts to become more diverse and inclusive; however, diversity efforts are being accomplished in silos. There is no unified plan being carried out to make a greater impact. Some schools provide diversity training for their faculty while others do not. Some schools use holistic admission processes to improve equity and diversity among their student applicant pools, however, other schools do not. A network system is needed between the current and future diversity
1 committees and groups on campus to have a centralized reporting and assessment tool to aid in the development of a significant and consistent plan that encompasses every aspect of the University. Even though SIUE has made significant strides across campus, they are not unified, which has limited their impact.
Goals
Our goal for the Institute is to develop a tool to centralize all of our diversity and inclusion efforts into one depository to better address the goals in the diversity plan and the overall mission of the institution collectively. This will allow us to centralize all of our diversity and inclusion efforts into one web-portal that is easily accessible and usable to our students, faculty, staff and administration. Currently, there are many diversity and inclusion initiatives that are not shared with the larger campus community. First, we plan to map out our current and new initiatives for diversity and inclusion and align them with our new Diversity Strategic Plan. Second, we plan to brainstorm on how to create an online depository where everyone at the University could continuously feed their programs and initiatives into a web-portal and therefore it would be constantly updated. This online depository will be easy to update and accessible to everyone at all times. Finally, during the institute we plan to develop a communication plan on how we will share this with the campus community.
This project will create an avenue for initiating dialogue among the different groups on campus and will also help us to establish a structure for continuous training and improvement. One of the main challenges at the institution is that we do not think our quality improvement, equity, and diversity efforts are linked in a way that showcases the commitment we have to diversity and inclusion here at SIUE. Diversity champions are making strides in silos but the impact could be much greater with more collaboration and sharing of best practices. In the next year, we hope to achieve the development of a unified plan and web-portal that will allow all university units to record and report their initiatives. In three years, we hope to achieve 100% buy-in from the University community, to be able to have an institutional view of all our initiatives to more adequately assess our efforts on student success and campus climate. We also feel that mapping all of our initiatives will allow us to identify areas of growth or lack thereof that can be addressed in future programming and initiatives.
Team Members The rationale for the makeup of our team is all team members have shown a commitment to diversity and inclusion throughout the university and in their specific schools. Four of the five team members currently serve on the University Diversity Council. The team is comprised of individuals from multiple disciplines from the university which provides us with an interdisciplinary approach. Each member of our team reflects a shared commitment to inclusion, engagement, and excellence on our campus in a number of ways.
Drs. Butler and Ampadu both serve as Chairs of their Diversity Committees in their respective schools. Dr. Ampadu is also the director of our SNAP program, which is
2 a support program for underrepresented students in Nursing. Dr. Butler also leads a healthcare summer for minority high school students, coordinates a required cultural competency course for pharmacy students and received the SIUE Champion for Diversity Award in 2015.
Dr. Zamanou-Erickson teaches an array of multicultural and interracial courses for the Honors program and the department of Applied Communication Studies. She chairs the committee for infusing diversity into the curriculum. Dr. Brown, who is currently the Associate Chancellor and Chief Diversity Officer for the University runs the Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion, has championed for diversity and inclusion at SIUE for over 20 years and is the recipient of the 2017 Insight Into Diversity Giving Back Award.
Dr. Carter’s research and teaching is in Social Work and specifically in the area of cultural competence and mental health. Beyond her health and mental health scholarship, she has an extensive background in community engagement, service learning, and student support, particularly being involved in activities with underrepresented populations. She is a Faculty Senator and member of the Faculty Development Council and is actively involved in a number of university development and recruitment initiatives. She remains an active voice on campus for social justice, equality and inclusiveness.
3
AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Tallahassee Community College Tallahassee, FL
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: Assoc/Pub-S-SC: Associate's--Public Suburban-serving Single Campus Affiliation: Public
Enrollment Undergraduate: 12,000 Fall; 20,000 Annual
Team Leader: Ms. Summer Washington, Director Discipline/Office: Center for Professional Enrichment 2) TBA TBA TBA, Faculty: TBA 3) TBA TBA TBA, Faculty: TBA 4) TBA TBA TBA, Student Services: TBA 5) TBA TBA TBA, Academic Affairs Officer: TBA
Summary of Goals: Through the institute, TCC plans to advance and expand programming relating to high-impact practices through continued purposeful efforts to recognize and reward faculty that utilize such practices, and develop meaningful training to support and advance a campus culture of effective teaching and learning practices. The institute will enable us to partner with other entities to collaborate as we improve our work toward high- impact practices. Sharing ideas, failures, and successes with other institutions will enable us to work more effectively and efficiently, while also building a network of support for continued collaboration. Our desire is to create a culture of effective teaching and learning processes that focuses on high impact practices sustained long term. Student success is paramount and many gains in student success are made through high-impact practices in the classroom.
What you would like to see from the institute:
x Promoting high-impact practices long term phasing out financial and other incentives x Changing campus culture x Creating a culture of collaboration amongst faculty
Note: Team member selections have not been finalized. If selected we will narrow our choices and submit our selected group. Need Tallahassee Community College (TCC) has a strategic priority to ensure that all programs and services to students are viewed through a student success lens, ensuring maximum opportunity for students to achieve their educational and career goals. Setting this priority enables us to build capacity to support student success for all students. Our value to be the College of Choice means that we are committed to helping students prepare for college; ensuring student access; changing the student experience; and promoting academic achievement and skills that add both market and social value to courses and credentials. TCC’s vision of student success is aligned with the AACC national project Guided Pathways to design and implement structured academic and career pathways for all students. TCC builds the capacity for educators to ask and respond to questions about equity and inclusive excellence through continued dialogue on these issues and by creating programs to address equity and inclusivity. The advocacy for equity and inclusion through dialogue and programming leads to campus change, especially when the benefits are demonstrated through program assessment data. As an Achieving the Dream leader college TCC is committed to closing achievement gaps among diverse student populations, particularly low-income students and students of color. For example, the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Center, open to all STEM students, places special emphasis on supporting minority students by providing NSF need-based scholarships, tutoring, and opportunities to participate in summer enrichment programs. The Center has both improved success rates and narrowed the gap.
In addition, a Black Male Achievers (BMA) Program was designed to empower and educate students on the importance of the successful completion through the practices of academic, social, and occupational excellence. A 2014 comparative study of BMA participants and non- participants demonstrated a positive impact on participants indicating a 13% difference in course success rates, a 22% difference in fall-to-fall retention rate and an 8% difference in graduation rates.
Many other programs and supports exist for various student populations to address equity and inclusion. Through these efforts, TCC has seen positive improvements within underrepresented populations. Outcome data of such programs sparks dialogue relating to equity and inclusion prompting continued action and support.
TCC has been transforming the curriculum and cocurriculum to meet changing demands for learning in the twenty-first century and sees this as an ongoing process. TCC was Awarded the Title III Grant in 2014, with the grant’s focus being two-fold: Infuse student support services with the concept of meta-majors and pathways (programs of study) leading to transfer of majors or directly into the workforce, and redesign gateway courses within the meta-majors to connect course content to fields of study and careers. The College redesigned gateway courses within the eight meta-majors, which includes assignments and experiences to help students see how what they are learning can be applied to the chosen career path. Our College has a history of assessing student learning outcomes and using results for improving teaching and learning, and ultimately, increasing student success. TCC faculty have established learning outcomes at course, discipline, and institutional level. The assessment process for general education competencies was recently revised to use the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AACU) VALUE rubrics to assess student work, which will increase the external validity of College assessment.
To further our goal of connecting high quality teaching and learning to student success and completion, a new High-Impact Practices (HIPs) grant process was launched in 2016. Faculty developing teaching and learning activities in their course(s) using HIPs were invited to apply for HIPs Grants to expand their work and share with colleagues the impacts of high-quality teaching practices. Faculty projects focused on HIPs assists the College in developing cohesive and coherent curriculum that supports student retention and has a broad impact of student learning, success, and completion. Applications aligned with the AACU’s list of ten widely tested HIPs and be connected to at least two of the eight markers of quality that underlie these practices. Twelve HIP Grants were awarded during the first round. HIPs proposals were developed with a detailed assessment plan and statement of sustainability. A mini-conference was held for all faculty in August 2016 where concurrent sessions were led by HIP Grant faculty to gather input from peers, while also sparking interest in HIPs use in the classroom. Faculty implemented the plans during the semester and followed up with a detailed report of the project from implementation to completion noting successes, failures, and reflections based on assessment data. HIPs Grant faculty later held independent workshops to report on the overall process of their projects. A second round of HIPs Grants were recently awarded to 13 faculty to follow the same process and a supplementary grant will be announced soon to the first round recipients for extending their current plan and expanding it interdepartmentally or cross-departmentally. The impact of the HIPs grants have generated conversation and is fostering collaboration amongst faculty with respect to the teaching and learning process. Goals Through the institute, TCC plans to advance and expand programming relating to high-impact practices through continued purposeful efforts to recognize and reward faculty that utilize such practices, and develop meaningful training to support and advance a campus culture of effective teaching and learning practices. The institute will enable us to partner with other entities to collaborate as we improve our work toward high-impact practices. Sharing ideas, failures, and successes with other institutions will enable us to work more effectively and efficiently, while also building a network of support for continued collaboration. Our desire is to create a culture of effective teaching and learning processes that focuses on high impact practices sustained long term. Student success is paramount and many gains in student success are made through high-impact practices in the classroom. The focus on high-impact practices is extended beyond the HIPs Grant program with a commitment from the college to support such practices through a recent 50-classroom renovation project. Fifty campus classrooms will receive a total renovation from furniture to technology improvements to create a 21st century classroom feel that is focused on active learning and high-impact practices. Faculty will also have a collaborative learning space created for them to practice and plan using similar equipment. We recognize that in order to make a greater impact on our students and the communities we serve, a change in how we serve our students is required. Our goals are to: a) clarify and streamline paths to student goals; b) help students choose and enter a pathway; c) help them stay and progress on the path chosen; and d) employ faculty talent and expertise to ensure impactful learning occurs by sustaining continuous improvement of learning via review and discussion regarding student outcomes attainment, embedding experiential learning, and high impact practices in our classrooms and online; and e) ensuring students are gainfully employed and/or enter a University path within the major of their choice upon graduation, and f) position the institution to be competitive within a performance-based funding model.
Team Our team is comprised of individuals from academic affairs, student affairs, and professional development. It is pertinent, when addressing student success, inclusion, engagement, and excellence, to work seamlessly within the College. Including members of student affairs and academic affairs keeps a line of communication open as goals are created and directions are set for the College in a mutual, collaborative effort. The inclusion of our professional development department enables us to focus our institutional training efforts and align it with the goals of the College. The members selected to attend have been active on campus in initiatives focused on high-impact practices, diversity and inclusion, and engagement. Members in attendance continually exhibit a desire for excellence on our campus and are respected by the campus community in a way that will help move us forward.
AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Temple University Philadelphia, PA
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: RU/VH: Research Universities (very high research activity) Affiliation: Public
Enrollment Undergraduate: 29,416 Masters: 1,619 Doctoral: 363
Team Leader: Ms. Dana Dawson, Associate Director Discipline/Office: General Education Program 2) Dr. Patricia Moore-Martinez, Associate Professor, Teaching/Instructional: Spanish and Portuguese 3) Dr. Anne Frankel, Assistant Professor, Teaching/Instructional: Public Health 4) Ms. Michele O'Connor, Associate Vice Provost: Undergraduate Studies 5) Dr. Carol Harris-Shapiro, Associate Professor Teaching/Instructional: Intellectual Heritage
Additional Team Members(s): 1 Dr. Genevieve Amaral Assistant Professor Teaching/Instructional
Dr. Genevieve Amaral will be Associate Director of Special Programs in the Intellectual Heritage Program beginning in the fall of 2017. In this capacity, she would play a critical role in engaging Intellectual Heritage faculty members in the proposed project. As she will be key to the implementation of the project, we would like to involve her in the planning and development phases.
Summary of Goals: In an effort to develop a service learning structure that is conducive not only to student learning, but to positive outcomes for the organization, we would like to develop an annual project organized around community-based research. The institute will provide participants with the opportunity to determine best practices for ensuring projects benefit the promotion of GenEd learning outcomes and meet the needs of community partners. During the institute, our goal is to take advantage of AAC&U expertise in relation to service learning to establish a feasible and sustainable plan for implementing community-based research in a GenEd context. Key challenges will include building institutional supports necessary to facilitate an annual project, and establishing a model that does not overburden community partners. By the conclusion of the institute, we hope to have established a framework for the implementation and maintenance of the proposed project.
What you would like to see from the institute:
- Fostering a HIPs culture on campus that is sustainable from year to year, and selecting best practices for integrating HIPs into curricular and cocurricular programs. - Implementing service learning that is sustainable. - HIPs and community engagement. Temple University Institute on High Impact Practices and Student Success Application Narrative, 2017
Background and Statement of Need
Temple University is a public, urban, research university. Located in the metro Philadelphia area, it offers 140 undergraduate degree programs across eight campuses, and serves over 29,000 undergraduate and over 10,000 graduate and professional students. Temple’s longstanding mission has been to provide superior educational opportunities to all regardless of status or station, and it continues to attract a body of students with diverse backgrounds, aspirations, and levels of academic preparedness. In support of this mission, Temple has implemented many of the High Impact Practices identified by the AAC&U, including first year and common intellectual experiences, learning communities, writing intensive courses, undergraduate research, and global learning.
Campus Climate and Student Success Temple University’s General Education (GenEd) curriculum has been intentionally designed to address the challenges and maximize the opportunities inherent to the diversity of both its student population and the city in which it is situated. The GenEd program is somewhat unique relative to Temple’s peer institutions in that its courses do not double as prerequisites or requirements for majors, minors and certificates, but were and are created to address the specific learning goals assigned to GenEd foundation and breadth areas. The eleven course curriculum features both a Race and Diversity and a Global/World Society course requirement. Students investigate the meaning of race, diversity and multiculturalism in a variety of cultural and historical contexts, both nationally and globally. Dialogue across disciplinary and experiential boundaries is additionally uniquely fostered by Intellectual Heritage (IH), a two course text-based sequence required of all but some transfer students. Many of the texts featured in the IH book list address questions of identity and inclusion, and its status as a common requirement encourages engagement with the interpretations that a wide variety of students bring to each text.
In support of these curricular decisions and the work of faculty members in fostering a supportive learning environment, Temple has instituted the Center for the Advancement of Teaching (CAT) and the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, Advocacy and Leadership (IDEAL). In addition to offering faculty consultations and collaborating on workshops, IDEAL promotes student leadership through its Diversity Peers program and by providing space for students to meet and strategize around diversity and social justice programming.
Temple’s success in promoting productive student engagement with one another and with faculty members is demonstrated by the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) 2016 Snapshot. Temple scored significantly higher than Carnegie Class peers on student responses at both the freshman and senior level for higher-order learning, reflective and integrative learning, learning strategies, discussions with diverse others, effective teaching practices, and supportive environment. By their senior year, 66% of students surveyed reported participating in two or more of the following high impact practices: Temple University Institute on High Impact Practices and Student Success Application Narrative learning community; service learning; research with a faculty member; internships; study abroad; and a culminating senior experience. An additional 22% reported having participated in at least one.
Assessment Temple University’s assessment efforts are coordinated by the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment (IRA). In addition to standard student feedback reporting and the deployment of nationally validated assessments such as the NSSE and ETS College Portrait, IRA collects the results of direct assessment of learning outcomes from each college and university program, and from Student Affairs units.
GenEd employs locally designed and AAC&U rubrics to carry out cyclical assessments of learning outcomes and competencies, designed and conducted with the support of program faculty. Courses are additionally recertified in the fifth year of instruction through a portfolio review of syllabi and student work, in conjunction with a narrative produced by faculty members teaching the course. Through the involvement of faculty members in rubric development and recertification activities, the program has had some success in developing a shared interest in assessment, and recognition that these activities can spark rejuvenating reflection on course design and pedagogy.
In 2012-13, GenEd underwent an extensive external review. While the review was largely positive, one area that was found wanting was commitment to service learning. We have not yet had a coordinated or sustained effort to integrate community based learning or research into the GenEd curriculum.
Project Description
The project our team will work to advance at the institute is the introduction of an annual GenEd Community Project. The institute will provide participants with the opportunity to determine best practices for ensuring projects benefit the promotion of GenEd learning outcomes and meet the needs of community partners. Uncoordinated service learning efforts often leave local organizations over-burdened and exhausted by the effort required to orient new volunteers. Because of the drop-in, drop- out nature of service learning, organizations have reported to GenEd staff feeling that they give more than they receive – that the time dedicated by staff to bring new student volunteers on board does not pay off in contributions to the organization because student participation does not extend past the duration of the assignment or semester. In an effort to develop a service learning structure that is conducive not only to student learning, but to positive outcomes for the organization, we would like to develop an annual project organized around community-based research. One organization would be selected each year on the basis of a project students can participate in, and that involves carrying out information gathering for the organization. Faculty members teaching in the GenEd curriculum would commit to integrating the project into their semester. In the academic year prior to the project year, faculty and the selected organization would work closely to ensure project feasibility, define student involvement, arrange for necessary
2 Temple University Institute on High Impact Practices and Student Success Application Narrative training and IRB approvals, and ensure the project supports the learning outcomes of the course. By virtue of its structure, GenEd courses are taught by faculty members in every Temple University college and one of its professional schools. This project would serve to introduce faculty members across the university to community-based research, and promote close and productive working relationships with community partners throughout the city. This is an opportunity to turn classroom engagement with these issues into hands-on experience while also providing a benefit for the community partner. Our goal is to establish the necessary framework for the project and our first campus partner in academic year 2017-2018. A key challenge to be addressed in the coming year would be ensuring that the institutional infrastructure for the necessary training and coordination with community partners is in place. In academic year 2018-2019, we hope to undertake the first GenEd Community Project and within three years, have embarked on the second project cycle. Team Composition
The proposed team is composed of individuals who will be key to the implementation of this project, and individuals who have extensive experience with community based learning and research. Dana Dawson, Patricia Moore-Martinez and Genevieve Amaral all hold positions within the GenEd Program that involve faculty development and/or events programming, and would be centrally involved in generating faculty interest and involvement, and coordinating faculty and student training. Associate Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies Michele O’Connor has played a vital role in the establishment and success of existing high impact practices at Temple including the first year seminars and learning communities. Carol Harris-Shapiro actively promotes service learning among faculty members in and beyond Intellectual Heritage. She, along with a collaborator in Public Health, is currently analyzing data on learning outcomes of community based research gathered with the support of a Spencer Foundation grant. Carol brings a wealth of experience and knowledge related to instituting sustainable community-based learning endeavors in Temple’s institutional context, and faculty and student training needs. Anne Frankel is currently the Principal Investigator of the Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance System in the city of Philadelphia and is an instructor for internship and field experiences at the undergraduate and graduate level. She has strong experience integrating community-based practice experiences into courses, particularly graduate program planning and evaluation.
3 AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications University of Massachusetts, Amherst Amherst, MA
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: RU/H: Research Universities (high research activity) Affiliation: Public
Enrollment Undergraduate: 21,734 Masters: 1400 Doctoral: 2488
Team Leader: Mr Eric Moschella, Associate Provost for Student Success Discipline/Office: Provost and Student Affairs 2) Ms Enku Gelaye, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life: Student Affairs and Campus Life 3) Ms. Martha Stassen, Assistant Provost for Assessment and Educational Effectiveness: Provost 4) Ms Marcy Clark, Director of Assessment for Student Affairs and Campus Life: Student Affairs and Campus Life 5) Ms. Carolyn Cave, Senior Assistant Dean College of Natural Sciences: College of Natural Sciences
Additional Team Members(s): 1 Academic Advisor, College of Natural Science, Erin Battistoni [email protected]
The team felt it was important that assessment from Student Affairs and Campus Life and Assessment and Educational Effectiveness was represented due to the need for developing assessment metrics that will likely involve curricular and co- curricular experiences. Leadership from Student Affairs and Campus Life and the Office of the Provost was also considered critical for implementing initiatives that must support the whole student, and will require significant coordination across units. Finally, it was determined that representation by the college in which our efforts are to be piloted should contain administrative leadership and an advisor. For this reason we respectfully request that Erin be allowed to participate.
Summary of Goals: In an effort to address post-second year student attrition, the University of Massachusetts, Amherst seeks to participate in the AAC&U Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success. Because the factors that contribute to post second year attrition are complex and require a multi-faceted approach, the UMass team seeks to develop a pilot model that can be implemented and assessed in a single school/college, and subsequently revised and scaled across campus. Select goals for attending include: - Learn about high impact practices and how they are used on other campuses. - Exchange experiences and brainstorm innovative ideas with colleagues. - Identify current high impact engagement and support practices that meet stated needs. - With data gathered pre-institute, develop an action plan to reduce sophomore and Jr. year attrition by 1% in the College of Natural Sciences. Use institute participants to gather feedback on the plan as it is developed. - Develop strategy for building relationships and consensus with stakeholders as well as a communication plan.
What you would like to see from the institute: Process oriented sessions Time for application of learning and idea development Peer review and sharing Best practice for implementation of High Impact practices Information on research and effectiveness long term
Applicant Narrative for AAC&U Institute on High Impact Practices and Student Success
Over the past 5 years the University of Massachusetts, Amherst has committed itself to a campus wide, multi stage strategic planning process. At the heart of this process was the recognition of the diverse and changing needs of the student population and a call for a “new model for success”. A model that establishes UMass Amherst as a destination of choice for students of color and demands innovation, curricular and co-curricular coherence, engaged learning, and a “unified strategy for student success”.
In the Spring of 2016 the position of Associate Provost for Student Success was created to develop the unified strategy for student success. As a dual report to the Office of the Provost and the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life, the Associate Provost resides in the newly created Office of Undergraduate Student Success. This unit will identify needs and develop student success strategy for the campuses increasingly diverse population. In 2016 over 29% of new students identified as ALANA (African American, Latino/a, Asian/Pacific Islander, and Native American), a number that has increased steadily over the past 6 years. The UMass commitment to access is strong, with 25% of our students in 2015 being Pell eligible, a higher percentage than any of the top ranked universities in the commonwealth.
In addition to the development of the student success infrastructure, the University of Massachusetts, Amherst has successfully implemented several high-impact practices aimed at transforming curricular and co-curricular experiences. These initiatives include: o A new residential curriculum model that targets transitional, developmental, and academic needs. o A first year seminar structure that requires a seminar within the major college; engaging students and faculty in a transitional academic experience. o A new advising model designed to connect students directly with their major department early on. Undecided students are assigned an exploratory track advisor who works with them to discover an appropriate major within three semesters. o Use of a data analytics platform to assist in advising and retention efforts focused on information sharing across unit boundaries. o A redesigned hybrid model of career support and exploration that provides career specific advising, exploration, and opportunities within the colleges. o A campus climate survey that was administered to all students, faculty, and staff in the fall of 2016. The results of the survey will inform new initiatives. o The proposal of a new diversity general education requirement to the faculty senate.
Clearly the University of Massachusetts, Amherst has the capacity for change and a commitment to excellence in undergraduate education. The efforts outlined in this narrative have without question improved the student experience, particularly for new students. First to second year retention at UMass Amherst is a respectable 91%. This is comparable to peer institutions with similar student profiles in the region and nationally. The proliferation of best practice and support in the first year has had an undeniable impact on the campus.
However, retention from year 2 to 3 drops to 86%, and from year 3-4 drops to 81%, with a 6- year graduation rate of 76%. It is concerning that the post-second year drop in retention is considerably greater at UMass Amherst than peer institutions in the region with similar student profiles: -3% (year 2-3), -7% (year 3-4), and a -5% lower 6-year graduation rate. Of the students in the 2010 first year cohort, 24% who had a gpa greater than 2.2 at the end of their second year did not graduate in six years.
Initial review of 2016 ACE-CIRP data reveal additional cause for concern. UMass students: 1) chose UMass for financial reasons, 2) have less academic confidence, 3) believe they will change their major, 4) report a higher rate of alcohol consumption, 5) indicate the institution was not their first choice, and 6) indicate they were bored in class at a higher rate than students at peer institutions.
Review of available data collected on non-academic departure at UMass yields 3 emergent themes: financial reasons, medical reasons, and personal reasons. Unfortunately, demographic and financial data on the students who departed is not easily accessible, so it is not apparent how attrition is impacting various populations. While efforts focused on first year students may postpone attrition, the confluence of factors indicated above and the abrupt drop in coordinated support in the second year present a scenario that calls for institutional attention in years two, three, and beyond.
In an effort to address post-second year student attrition, the University of Massachusetts, Amherst seeks to participate in the AAC&U Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success. Because the factors that contribute to post second year attrition are complex and require a multi-faceted approach, the UMass team seeks to develop a pilot model that can be implemented and assessed in a single school/college, and subsequently revised and scaled across campus.
The proposed team is configured to maximize the ability to assess, plan, and implement a pilot model for post second year retention and student success. Comprised of both student and academic affairs professionals that cover assessment, advising, academic program administration, diversity and inclusion, and student success strategy on campus, the knowledge and skills of the team members are diverse, and the scope of influence is broad.
Team members are: Associate Provost for Student Success, Eric J. Moschella Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life, Enku Gelaye Assistant Provost for Assessment and Educational Effectiveness, Martha Stassen Director of Assessment for Student Affairs and Campus Life, Marcy Clark Senior Assistant Dean College of Natural Sciences, Carolyn Cave Academic Advisor, College of Natural Science, Erin Battistoni
The team felt it was important that assessment from Student Affairs and Campus Life and Assessment and Educational Effectiveness was represented due to the need for developing assessment metrics that will likely involve curricular and co-curricular experiences. Leadership from Student Affairs and Campus Life and the Office of the Provost was also considered critical for implementing initiatives that must support the whole student, and will require significant coordination across units. Finally, it was determined that representation by the college in which our efforts are to be piloted should contain administrative leadership and an advisor.
The University of Massachusetts, Amherst team has identified the following goals for participation: o Learn about high impact practices and how they are used on other campuses. o Exchange experiences and brainstorm innovative ideas with colleagues. o Identify current high impact engagement and support practices that meet stated needs. o With data gathered pre-institute, develop an action plan to reduce sophomore and Jr. year attrition by 1% in the College of Natural Sciences. Use institute participants to gather feedback on the plan as it is developed. o Develop strategy for building relationships and consensus with stakeholders as well as a communication plan. o Configure the identified practices in a manner that supports student success from multiple perspectives in order to reduce post sophomore year attrition by 1% in the pilot group. o Develop metrics for measuring the impact the implemented practices over a 3- year period.
Before attending the institute, the UMass team will begin a discovery phase on campus, meeting to gather and share information and strategize. Additionally, the team will recruit an expanded campus-based team to assist in preparation, strategy, and research on post second year attrition. Upon their return to campus the team will engage the larger campus team in preparation for the pilot.
The recent successes of our campus call for us to deepen our commitment to students. Opportunity exists for UMass to build on current momentum and make sure all who enroll as students will benefit from their educational experiences as graduates. Participation in the AAC&U Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success will provide a committed team of professionals a valuable learning experience that will have significant campus impact.
AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications University of North Carolina Wilmington Wilmington, NC
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: Master's L: Master's Colleges and Universities (larger programs) Affiliation: Public
Enrollment Undergraduate: 13,914 Masters: 1695 Doctoral: 131
Team Leader: Dr. Paul Townend, Dean of Undergraduate Studies Discipline/Office: Academic Affairs 2) Dr. Beverley McGuire, Director of University Studies: Academic Affairs 3) Dr. Melinda Anderson, Director of University College: Academic Affairs 4) Dr. Linda Siefert, Director of Assessment, College of Arts and Sciences and General Education: Academic Affairs 5) Dr. Jess Boersma, Director of ETEAL: Academic Affairs
Additional Team Members(s): 1 Dr. Kent Guion, Chief Diversity Officer, UNCW, Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion, (910) 962-2691 We would like Dr. Kent Guion to be a part of our team because our hope is to engage diverse student populations in High-Impact Practices, and he would be an essential partner in that effort.
Summary of Goals: We would like to develop a framework for sequencing and scaffolding HIPs over the course of a student’s college career – beginning with the First Year Seminar and continuing through to the Capstone – that we might implement in our fall pilot of ePortfolios within University Studies. Recognizing that well-designed ePortfolios themselves can be HIPs, we would like to create a structured way for students to intentionally reflect on their academic identity and articulate how they developed and actualized themselves through their academic studies, co-curricular experiences, and participation in HIPs. By encouraging students to move beyond a “checked box” approach to their education and instead appreciate how they have developed transferable skills, we hope to promote a more holistic vision of student success at UNCW. We consider this especially important given our current campus climate, in which we have support for HIPs from the upper administration, but we face particular challenges given our increasing enrollment.
What you would like to see from the institute: ePortfolios, student success pathways, taking HIPS to scale
UNCW’s Integration of High-Impact Practices to Facilitate Student Success
I. Need
The University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) has developed a broad range of high- impact practices aimed at better engaging an ever more diverse student body. The Office of Undergraduate Studies houses the major units responsible for high-impact, applied learning experiences including University College (UC), which organizes First-Year Seminars and Learning Communities to facilitate successful student transitions to UNCW, Honors College, the Center for the Support of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships (CSURF), and ETEAL – Experiencing Transformative Education through Applied Learning – our Quality Enhancement Plan that funds applied learning experiences designed to meet the National Society for Experiential Education’s Eight Principles of Good Practice for All Experiential Learning Activities and George Kuh’s Eight Key Elements of High-Impact Practices (2013).
Undergraduate Studies also includes University Studies (US), our robust general education curriculum that provides students a solid interdisciplinary base upon which they can develop their competencies of information literacy, thoughtful expression, and critical reasoning. As a LEAP campus, UNCW’s University Studies facilitates a 21st century liberal arts education by affording students multiple opportunities to engage with LEAP Essential Learning Outcomes and participate in high-impact learning experiences including First-Year Seminar, Writing-Intensive Courses, and Diversity/Global Learning.
UNCW has enjoyed considerable campus-wide interest and support for its high-impact practices. Faculty drove the creation of University Studies; faculty, staff, and students play important roles in advising and peer mentoring within University College; and faculty, staff, and student leaders all have seats and active charges on the ETEAL Advisory Board. Applied learning initiatives, in particular, have continued to grow the number of students who seek out these opportunities and we have secured additional financial commitments—tied to assessment protocols and performance measures—at a time when the university as a whole remains under tight fiscal conditions.
In regards to assessment, UNCW incorporates VALUE rubrics in almost all of our general education assessment, and Student Affairs uses them in select programs to measure student learning in the co-curriculum. We assess the eight UNCW Learning Goals on a 3-year recurring cycle, and the University-wide “Learning Assessment Council” reviews general education assessment and institutional effectiveness measures, as coordinated by the Provost’s Office. This spring a General Education Assessment Review Committee has been reviewing our assessment plan and current practices to determine the schedule for the next three years. The Assessment at UNCW website has been featured by the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment, and the Division of Student Affairs is nationally recognized as a model for assessment in the co- curriculum, using both direct and indirect measures of assessment for participants in programs as well as student leaders who coordinate activities, and they actively measure the impact of Residential Learning Communities on retention and graduation rates. Our assessment of applied learning shows students engaged in applied learning report a greater emphasis on synthesizing and organizing ideas into new, more complex information, making judgments about the value of
UNCW 2 the information, working on projects requiring integration of ideas, acknowledging diverse perspectives, examining the strength and weaknesses of their own views, and they report greater levels of happiness and satisfaction.
In the 2016-2017 academic year UNCW engaged in a number of initiatives surrounding student success and high-impact practices. In the fall we brought in George Kuh to speak to faculty and staff about “What Matters to Student Success: The Promise of High-Impact Practices” and in the spring we organized a panel about “Student Success from 10 Years Out” where eight UNCW alumni shared what they valued most about their academic experience ten years after they graduated. Academic Affairs and Student Affairs also launched a new program in the spring called Seahawk LEADS (Leadership, Empowerment, Academic Development, and Success) aimed at providing students with additional informal mentoring and support.
Next steps include piloting e-Portfolios – recently identified as an eleventh High-Impact Practice – in 25 sections of First Year Seminar and 10 sections of Composition, strengthening our advising by providing greater resources and opportunities for professional development, improving our messaging and road-mapping of HIP opportunities to students, and better coordinating with the Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion and Academic Advising to educate underserved students as to benefits of engaging in HIPs (Kuh 2008, Finley and McNair 2013).
II. Goals for AAC&U Institute and Academic Year 2017-2018:
At the institute we would like to focus on developing a framework for sequencing and scaffolding HIPs over the course of a student’s college career – beginning with the First Year Seminar and continuing through to the Capstone – that we might implement in our fall pilot of ePortfolios within University Studies. Recognizing that well-designed ePortfolios themselves can be HIPs, we would like to create a structured way for students to intentionally reflect on their academic identity and articulate how they developed and actualized themselves through their academic studies, co-curricular experiences, and participation in HIPs. By encouraging students to move beyond a “checked box” approach to their education and instead appreciate how they have developed transferrable skills, we hope to promote a more holistic vision of student success at UNCW. We consider this especially important given our current campus climate, in which we have support for HIPs from the upper administration, but we face particular challenges given our increasing enrollment.
We are not alone in perceiving the value of ePortfolios in encouraging greater reflection and awareness of one’s academic journey: currently several institutions in the UNC system are in the process of implementing ePortfolios, including Appalachian State University and UNC Charlotte. In the next year we hope to partner with one or two degree programs so that we might track how students participating in the ePortfolio pilot progress over their four years. In the next three years we hope to have encouraged even more majors and schools to partner with University Studies, and to foster a culture that appreciates the value of students reflecting with intention on their academic development at UNCW.
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III. Team Composition and Rationale
Team Members attending the Institute as well as the larger UNCW home team represent extensive cross-functional campus leadership over student success and diversity and inclusion initiatives, in addition to the oversight of over almost every HIP offered at UNCW. The project and planning conducted at the Institute will find its way back to the campus as the attendees are the same campus leaders dedicated to moving their units forward in a more collaborative and comprehensive way. Examples of institute participants’ responsibilities include management of 75% of all course sections offered campus wide, the educational mission of promoting inclusive excellence and cultural competency campus wide (in a predominantly white institution (PWI) that doesn’t reflect the evolving demographics of North Carolina), the implementation and assessment of general education and co-curricular activities, the enhancement of academic advising experiences, and the execution of the campus-wide applied learning quality enhancement program.
AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications University of Alaska Anchorage Anchorage, AK
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: Master's L: Master's Colleges and Universities (larger programs) Affiliation: Public
Enrollment Undergraduate: 17121 Masters: 653 Doctoral: 37
Team Leader: Ms. Shawnalee Whitney, Director; Associate Professor Discipline/Office: Center for Advancing Faculty Excellence; Journalism and Communication 2) Dr. Jeane Breinig, Associate Vice Chancellor for Alaska Natives & Diversity; Associate Dean; Professor: Chancellor’s Cabinet; College of Arts and Sciences (Humanities Division); English 3) Dr. Daniel Kline, Director; Director and Professor: General Education; English 4) Dr. Francisco Miranda, Faculty Associate; Professor: Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship; Languages 5) Dr. Judith Owens-Manley, Director: Center for Community Engagement and Learning
Additional Team Members(s): 1 Ms. Heather Caldwell ePortfolio Specialist; Academic Innovations & eLearning
Summary of Goals: University of Alaska Anchorage wishes to attend the HIPs Institute to: - equip our team to return to UAA and lead work around increasing the use of HIPs in general education courses by 10% per year for the next three years; - develop and deepen skills and knowledge among our team members regarding best practices for diffusing HIPs throughout our institution; - ensure that we have the skills and knowledge necessary to integrate HIPs into all of our institutional efforts at equity, inclusion and excellence; and - integrate HIPs in a manner that contributes to improvements in rates of retention and completion for underrepresented students.
What you would like to see from the institute: We have a particular interest in the following areas: - implementation of HIPs with idigenous populations; - incorporating planning, faculty development, and HIPs in the faculty workload* - expansion of HIPs at open enrollment, public institutions - expansion of HIPs across general education courses * Evidence of effectiveness in teaching is included in our faculty evaluation guidelines, but we're interested in approaches to incorporating this work into the workload. 2017 HIPs Institute Proposal University of Alaska Anchorage
Needs
Located in Alaska’s largest city (one of the most diverse in the United States) (1), the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) is an open enrollment institution committed to educating a wide range of learners. Over 25% of our statewide K-12 population is Alaska Native; Anchorage students speak 107 different languages (2); and we have several of the most diverse schools in the nation (3). UAA has a tremendous responsibility to provide learning opportunities that engage and support students in an equitable, integrated manner.
UAA has many programs designed to support success for students from underrepresented populations and across intersecting identities. Student Affairs has launched an aggressive recruitment program in which a diverse group of UAA students eases prospective students’ onto our campus, a program of particular importance for UAA’s many first generation students. Our campus boasts the nationally acclaimed Alaska Natives in Science and Engineering Program, a learning community initiative that supports students starting in middle school, and houses a vibrant Multicultural Center that is achieving strong results with a new mentoring program. Examples of other programs that support diverse student success include: Recruiting and Retention of Alaska Natives in Nursing, Alaska Rural and Native Outreach Program, and the Office of Military and Veterans Affairs, which has earned UAA recognition as a Military Friendly Campus.
Our dedication to success for underrepresented populations extends to shared learning opportunities for faculty, staff, and students. UAA affiliates with the National Coalition Building Institute, and a team leads prejudice reduction trainings for the campus community. The Faculty Senate Diversity Committee holds Diversity Dialogues for students and faculty. Faculty, administrators, and student leaders are developing an Alaska Native Studies general education requirement across the UA system.
Building capacity for educators to engage in questions of equity stems from three primary points on our campus: leadership; student support programs; and faculty development.
First, UAA’s Chancellor has a cabinet-level position for Alaska Natives and Diversity (held by Dr. Jeane T'áaw xíwaa Breinig, a member of our proposed team) to tackle equity issues and the transformation of institutional barriers.
Second, we are engaging students in transformative curricular and co-curricular work. Native Student Services’ award-winning Cultural Identity ePortfolio project, and Alaska Native Students Bridge to Success, online modules with videos, resources, and games for incoming Alaska Native students, are both strong examples that were showcased at AAC&U’s conference in January. Participation in the Institute will enable us to expand these opportunities.
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Finally, UAA’s faculty development efforts strongly support faculty to address questions of equity. The Center for Advancing Faculty Excellence (CAFE) has a robust Inclusive Excellence track and an internationally-recognized Difficult Dialogues Initiative, which increases faculty capacity to engage in (and help students engage in) conversations about power, privilege, and identity that lead to campus change. The Center for Community Engagement and Learning (CCEL) offers extensive options for engagement and service learning related to equity. Academic Innovations and eLearning (AI&e) houses our ePortfolio initiative. Through workshops, learning communities, and a range of resources, faculty are supported in their adoption of practices that challenge inequities in the classroom, department, and institution. UAA is on a path to successfully transforming our curricular and co-curricular offerings to meet the demands of 21st century learning, including: a) initiatives related to inclusivity and equity (at both the student and faculty level); b) expansion and improvement of our technology-based teaching options; c) exploration of increased interdisciplinary, problem- and team-based pathways for student learning; d) adoption of ePortfolios in an increasing number of curricular and co-curricular contexts, e) a new Innovations Lab that enables us to expand our use of ePortfolios in multiple ways, and f) movement towards an outcomes-based general education program, and work with the LEAP outcomes and rubrics.
Assessment activities at program and general education levels guide us toward curriculum revision and improved student experiences.
Goals
Fortunately, our goal of broadening the offering of HIPs dovetails with an organic growth of HIPs on our campus over the last several years. In February 2014, through a cooperative effort between CAFE, Academic Affairs, and Student Affairs, we facilitated a year-long faculty and student affairs learning community on HIPs, culminating with presentations by George Kuh. Those activities produced myriad discussions on the most fruitful ways to advance HIPs at UAA. At the Institute, we will focus on diffusing and expanding our existing HIPs, and adding them to general education courses so students will encounter them routinely rather than by chance.
At present, UAA has three robust HIPs.
1) Service and Community-Based Learning The Center for Community Engagement and Learning (CCEL) is one of only 361 institutions recognized with a Carnegie Foundation Community Engagement classification. CCEL offers
2 many opportunities in engaged and service learning with a focus on: social justice; food security; Alaska’s environment, language and culture; healthy communities; and youth and education. CCEL offers 25 Community Engaged and 5 Service Learning courses and provides mini-grants for faculty to conduct community engaged research, carry out community projects, and create or redesign curriculum incorporating community engagement and partnerships. CCEL also offers multiple opportunities for faculty, students and community members to address local issues, and offers awards to students for community engaged/service learning projects.
2) Undergraduate Research The Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship (OURS) advances the involvement of UAA students in research and creative activities through: undergraduate research grants and funding; an Undergraduate Research & Discovery Symposium; and scholarships, awards and fellowships. In addition, UAA’s first eight National Institute of Health EXITO Scholars were recognized in 2016; they receive funding and mentoring towards increasing the number of underrepresented groups in biomedical research careers.
3) ePortfolios Kuh recently added ePortfolios as the 11th HIP, and UAA has actively worked to integrate this tool throughout the institution. AI&e supports an annual ePortfolio Intensive, a Working Group, faculty development opportunities, and the Native cultural identity initiative.
AAC&U’s 2017 HIPs Institute could not be better timed for UAA. A state fiscal crisis, a focusing of institutional priorities, and our accreditation cycle have all resulted in UAA undergoing a period of extensive, structured institutional reflection. With input from the entire campus community, UAA has completed a system-wide goal development process, identifying highest priority goals to direct the institution’s work and resource allocation for the next three years. Broader adoption of HIPs in general education courses was put forth as one of our key institutional goals for UAA 2020, and is now under consideration by the Chancellor’s Cabinet. If selected, this goal call would call for increasing the use of HIPs in general education courses by 10% per year for the next three years. Sending a team to the AAC&U HIPs Institute would enable us to develop a plan for meeting this ambitious goal.
Team Rationale
Our team
reflects a wide range of constituencies at UAA (from GERs to teaching and learning to diversity to our two strongest HIPs; four members also hold faculty positions);
maximizes our capacity to accomplish the institutional goal outlined above, due to the GER and HIP-related leadership positions held by all team members; and
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strengthens our efforts to increase inclusion, engagement and excellence on our campus, especially for traditionally underrepresented students; and
will ensure that our HIPs initiative will be integrated into the existing work of key institutional units and ongoing work around assessment and revision of general education.
References
1. McCoy, K. (2013, April 10). Data show Mountain View is most diverse neighborhood in America. Seawolf Weekly. Retrieved from http://greenandgold.uaa.alaska.edu/blog/11835/
2. Anchorage School District. Languages spoken in Anchorage School District. Retrieved from http://www.asdk12.org/aboutasd/languages/
3. Tunseth, M. (2016, September 28). Anchorage public schools lead the nation in diversity. Alaska Dispatch News. Retrieved from https://www.adn.com/education/article/anchorage-melting-pot-diversity/2015/05/24/
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AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications University of Central Oklahoma Edmond, OK
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: Master's L: Master's Colleges and Universities (larger programs) Affiliation: Public
Enrollment Undergraduate: 15,067 Masters: 1843
Team Leader: Dr. Cia Verschelden, Executive Director of Institutional Assessment Discipline/Office: Planning and Analysis 2) Dr. Sharra Hynes, Associate Vice President Student Affairs: Volunteer and Service Learning Center 3) Dr. Sunshine Cowan, Associate Professor: Kinesiology and Health Studies 4) Mr. Mark Walvoord, Assistant Director STLR: Center for Excellence in Teaching and Transformative Learning 5) Ms. MeShawn Conley, Director: Office of Diversity and Inclusion
Additional Team Members(s): 1 Ms. Dana Jackson-Hardwick Assitant Direcotr, Office of High-Impact Practices Academic Affairs
Rationale: We respectfully request to add Ms. Jackson-Hardwick to our team for two reasons. First she represents our Office of High-Impact Practices which is an important voice that needs to be represented in the discussions about access and equity of high-impact teaching practices at our institution. In addition, not only does she represent the office responsible for encouraging participation in high-impact practices at the institution, she also represents one of the target populations that we hope to better reach: first in family students. Ms. Jackson was the first in her family to attend college and understands the challenges faced by students when it comes to participation in curricular and co-curricular activities. The student perspective is much needed on our team. One final note, one of the members listed above, Dr. Sharra Hynes, may not be able to attend.
Summary of Goals: First we want to explore ways to expose students to high-impact practices in their first year that are equitable and include all students. We are having some success already, but we are limited by participation in the Student Success courses. We are also limited by the structure of our University Core, which has no single course that all first-year students are required to take. Team members will examine methods for early delivery of this information and ways we might convey this information to first-year and transfer students in an equitable manner that ensures access for all students at UCO.
The second goal might best be described as exploring curricular pathways. By this we mean thinking about methods to improve student retention and engagement, and thus the pathway to a degree. This may include examining best practices when it comes to identifying and overcoming barriers to participation for target groups, preparing faculty mentors to address equity and inclusion, or exploring new approaches such as Georgia State’s meta-majors.
What you would like to see from the institute: Best practices for early delivery of high-impact practices that promotes and ensures access for all. Methods for ensuring faculty understand the importance of equity and inclusion when it comes to engaging students in high-impact practices. Project Narrative
Over the past decade the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) has enhanced capacity to support student success. In 2005, we began a journey to institutionalize high-impact educational practices before the nomenclature for these practices yet existed. Terming it the Central Six Tenets of Transformative Learning (TL), UCO began a deliberate process of incorporating these practices into the planning and budgeting processes of the university (Barthell et al. 2010). The tenets are (1) Disciplinary Knowledge, (2) Leadership, (3) Service Learning and Civic Engagement, (4) Global and Cultural Competencies, (5) Research, Creative, and Scholarly Activities, and (6) Health and Wellness.
The focus on TL and the Central Six has led to several initiatives and programs to support student success and to transform curriculum and co-curriculum to meet the changing demands for learning in the 21st century. The initiatives and programs include: • The Student Transformative Learning Record (STLR) is a process through which student learning and personal growth is assessed and documented as it relates to experiences with the high-impact practices of the Central Six. It provides students with a comprehensive record of curricular and co-curricular learning, which they can assemble into an e-portfolio to share with future employers or graduate schools. STLR was launched in 2014 with a five-year start-up grant from a Department of Education (Title III), and the university has made clear its commitment to keep the program going after the initial grant expires in 2019. One strength of STLR is its emphasis on target populations - low-income, first-generation, and non-majority - and addressing equity across our student population. • Supported by the Title III award is the STLR Grant Program and Intern UCO, which fund student projects and internships respectively, all associated with the Central Six. These experiences are conducted or supervised by faculty and professional staff mentors who have been trained in assessing student learning in the Central Six. • Also in 2014, the university created the Office of High-Impact Practices to administer undergraduate research programs including the Research, Creative, and Scholarly Activity Grant Program, launched in 2007, which funds projects conducted by students working with faculty mentors. • Success Central courses give first-year students a jumpstart to their college education by developing learning communities and introducing students to the Central Six and other ways to make the most of their university experience. • Student Success Initiatives in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion such as the Black Male Initiative and Hispanic Success Initiative are designed to facilitate student success among specific groups of students. • A Supplemental Instructor program provides tutoring and study support for all students enrolled in University Core courses.
All of the programs and initiatives described above are designed to engage students in the Central Six and to increase student academic success, retention, and graduation. Although we have had success in institutionalizing the Central Six in curricular and co-curricular activities, and there is much support at all levels of the University for this effort, we have more work to do. Only 65% of first-year students take the Success Central course and the institution offers no equivalent for transfer students, who make up a significant part of our student body. One aim of our participation in the institute is to explore ways to introduce all new students to the Central Six and ways to engage in high-impact practices (through STLR and beyond) while at the university. Overall, participation in TL is part of our culture at UCO. In the 2015 National Survey of Student Engagement (2015), 74% of first-year student respondents reported participating in one or two high-impact practices. This number is higher than our metro peers, who reported 61%. However, our peers reported 85% of seniors participated in high-impact practices compared to 82% at UCO. The lower number when compared to peers may be a result of the large number of transfer students. These numbers show work is needed to increase engagement with high-impact practices, which we know to be important for student success, and to assure that all students have access to these opportunities.
When thinking of our campus climate, it perhaps can best be described as one in which TL is embedded in curricular and co-curricular activities, and STLR helps measure student learning in the Central Six. This does not ensure equitable access for all students, and recent changes made on our campus point towards a prioritization of engaging all students, taking into account the intersecting identities. Academic Affairs hired the first Assistant Vice President for Global and Cultural Competencies, who focuses on issues of diversity and globalization on campus. At the same time Student Affairs made some changes in its executive leadership, introducing the Assistant Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. This new post brings together many of the offices supporting important target populations of students including the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Disability Support Services, and Veteran Student Support. Both offices signal the university’s commitment to addressing equity in student success.
Our goal for the 2017 High-Impact Practices and Student Success Institute is twofold. First we want to explore ways to expose students to high-impact practices in their first year that are equitable and include all students. We are having some success already, but we are limited by participation in the Student Success courses. We are also limited by the structure of our University Core, which has no single course that all first-year students are required to take. Team members will examine methods for early delivery of this information and ways we might convey this information to first-year and transfer students in an equitable manner that ensures access for all students at UCO.
The second goal might best be described as exploring curricular pathways. By this we mean thinking about methods to improve student retention and engagement, and thus the pathway to a degree. This may include examining best practices when it comes to identifying and overcoming barriers to participation for target groups, preparing faculty mentors to address equity and inclusion, or exploring new approaches such as Georgia State’s meta-majors.
The Team
The following individuals represent various constituencies at UCO and will comprise the team sent to the institute. 1. Sharra Hynes, Associate Vice President Student Affairs ([email protected]) 2. Cia Verschelden, Executive Director of Institutional Assessment ([email protected]) – Team Lead 3. Sunshine Cowan, Associate Professor, Kinesiology and Health Studies, Chair of the University Core Curriculum Committee ([email protected]) 4. Mark Walvoord, Assistant Director STLR ([email protected]) 5. MeShawn Conley, Director, Office of Diversity and Inclusion ([email protected]) 6. Dana Jackson-Hardwick, Assistant Director, Office of High-Impact Practices, and first generation student ([email protected])
AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications University of Georgia Athens, GA
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: RU/VH: Research Universities (very high research activity) Affiliation: Public
Enrollment Undergraduate: 27951 Masters: 3877 Doctoral: 3129
Team Leader: Dr. Thomas Hagood, Director Discipline/Office: Division of Academic Enhancement 2) Dr. Naomi Norman, Associate Vice-President for Instruction: Office of the Vice-President for Instruction 3) Ms. Judy Iakovou, Director: Academic Advising Services 4) Dr. Shannon O'Brien Wilder, Director: Office of Service-Learning 5) Dr. Lindsay Coco, Coordinator of First-Year and First Generation Student Programs: Division of Academic Enhancement
Additional Team Members(s): 1 Dr. Erin Richman Director of Academic Partnerships Division of Student Affairs
Dr. Richman leads innovative, high-quality partnerships between the Division of Student Affairs and other academic and instructional programs at UGA. She will be an integral part of this initiative identifying and connecting students to co-curricular opportunities.
Summary of Goals: Our goals for this initiate are to develop a leadership plan for coordinating this program across many different units to remove administrative barriers; design an initial programmatic plan for the cohort experience and Service-Learning course; formulate a plan for connecting with UGA schools and colleges and community partners to support and work with this initiative; craft assessment strategies and models to determine the program’s effectiveness and impact; consider ways this initiative can connect to other institutional priorities such as increasing the four-year graduation rate and fostering a more inclusive and diverse campus; and assess and evaluate gaps in existing campus resources to support students from rural area.
What you would like to see from the institute: -Setting up cross-collaboration partnerships across curricular units and Division of Student Affairs -Forecasting and realigning existing and new programming -How to bridge divides across units -Building student success initiatives when there is not an overarching umbrella 2017 AAC&U High Impact Institute Proposal – University of Georgia
Need The University of Georgia (UGA) has successfully integrated many examples of high-impact practices throughout the undergraduate experience in an effort to promote the academic success of all students through expansion of service-learning courses, undergraduate research opportunities, and internships; global learning through vibrant study abroad and international education offerings; a required, first-year experience program linked to faculty research agendas; and the creation of a pioneering Experiential Learning requirement for all undergraduate students. Per the 2017 President’s State of the University Address (president.uga.edu), an emphasis on enhancing the learning environment for all students is set to transform even further undergraduate education at UGA. This renewed commitment to innovative undergraduate education has inspired this proposal.
The University of Georgia is a land grant university, and the institution reaches far and wide across the state and world through teaching, research, and public outreach and service. While many UGA students come from metropolitan Atlanta and Savannah, approximately 15 percent of the student population hails from the more rural parts of the state. The recent public discourse has brought to light the lives and academic choices of students from rural America. J.D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy as well as “Colleges Discover the Rural Student” and “Voices from Rural America on Why (or Why Not) Go to College” in the New York Times have given voice to the educational experiences of students outside of sub/urban geographic areas.
We are particularly interested in supporting this population of students and thereby, expanding our land grant mission by extending the transformative reach of higher education deeper into rural Georgia. Our team sees a particular need to sustain rural Georgia’s students’ connection to their communities in ways that assist community development and highlight the importance of higher education in agriculture, public health, financial literacy, business, and beyond.
On-campus awareness on the needs of rural students is increasing. A recent student newspaper article highlighted students from rural areas (redandblack.com). Preliminary data from the Office of Institutional Research confirms that students from rural areas of Georgia have approximately 10 percent lower four-year graduation rates than students from sub/urban areas. Additionally, students from rural areas have a higher one and two-year withdrawal rate than students from sub/urban geographic regions. Minority students from rural areas also have a lower four-year graduation rate and higher one-year withdrawal rate than those students who do not identify as a minority.
During fall 2016, the first cohort of students matriculated who are required to fulfill the Experiential Learning (EL) requirement (a UGA team attended a similar AAC&U Institute to help develop the campus plan in 2015). Service-Learning courses—that have a successful history at UGA—are an approved channel for students to fulfill the EL requirement. Not only does preliminary data show that Service-Learning courses positively impact students across different demographic profiles, but the data also suggest that they are even more impactful for rural students. Our goal for this year’s Institute is to develop a plan to support our rural students and engage them to fulfill their EL requirement through Service-Learning courses in their hometowns or similar communities in the state. In addition, we envision a more targeted approach to connecting curricular and co-curricular aspects of the EL experience for a cohort of AAC&U High Impact Institute Proposal, University of Georgia, page 1 students who are more likely to be first generation college students.
Goals Our preliminary vision is to identify students arriving from rural areas to be included in a cohort that will utilize academic and life-skills support, co-curricular involvement, and a Service- Learning course to connect them with various resources. The primary goal for our team will be to more fully develop the program’s implementation and leadership plan so that it is grounded in research related to high-impact practices and connected to broader institutional goals. To meet this goal and prepare for implementation, there are a number of topics our team would like to explore:
Developing a leadership plan for coordinating this program across many different units to remove administrative barriers. Designing an initial programmatic plan for the cohort experience and Service- Learning course. Formulating a plan for connecting with UGA schools and colleges and community partners to support and work with this initiative. Crafting assessment strategies and models to determine the program’s effectiveness and impact. Considering ways this initiative can connect to other institutional priorities such as increasing the four-year graduation rate and fostering a more inclusive and diverse campus. Assessing and evaluating gaps in existing campus resources to support students from rural areas.
Ideally, we will leave the Institute with ideas and an action plan that will enable us to implement a strategic plan for blended co/curricular programming and services that will empower UGA’s rural students to find their sense of community at UGA and connect their college experience to their home communities.
Team UGA’s team is comprised of representatives from units that will be responsible for implementing the efforts to support rural students. Team leader, Dr. Thomas Chase Hagood serves as Director of the Division of Academic Enhancement (DAE), the primary administrative home for this new initiative. The DAE is housed within the Office of the Vice President for Instruction (OVPI) and provides UGA students with a wide range of services and courses designed to support their academic efforts. Faculty and staff in the DAE work to ensure a quality student experience from the day a student is admitted until graduation.
OVPI supports a number of programs designed to promote inclusion and engagement of all students. These include the First Year Odyssey, a small class experience required of all incoming students to introduce them to the academic life of the university; the Experiential Learning requirement that all entering students must fulfill to graduate; UGA’s Complete College Georgia, a statewide project coordinated by the University System of Georgia designed to improve student access to college and increase retention and graduation rates; and the Gateway to Georgia Scholarship Program which offers need-based scholarships designed to support UGA’s most financially challenged students.
AAC&U High Impact Institute Proposal, University of Georgia, page 2 The DAE within OVPI is currently at the nexus of the exciting work going on at UGA to promote student success in new and innovative ways. With the addition of Dr. Hagood as the new Director, the DAE is experiencing a renaissance of programs, initiatives, services, curriculum, and partnerships designed to reach all students in support of their academic endeavors, with targeted emphases on the first-year and first generation student populations at UGA. The DAE is uniquely positioned to utilize in-house organizational strengths and partner with other instructional units, colleges and schools, and the Division of Student Affairs in developing and implementing this proposed initiative.
Additional team members include the following:
Dr. Lindsay Coco, coordinator of first-year and first generation student programs, will be working with programmatic initiatives and support for this initiative in the DAE. Ms. Judy Iakovou, director of academic advising services, will prepare the network of academic advisors to educate students about the initiative and sustain real-time data collection on student challenges and performance. Dr. Naomi J. Norman, associate vice-president for instruction, will oversee OVPI-wide efforts for this initiative. Dr. Erin Richman, director of Academic Partnerships in the Division of Student Affairs, will help identify and connect students to co-curricular opportunities. Dr. Shannon O’Brien Wilder, director of UGA’s Office of Service-Learning (OSL), will oversee the community partnership development and connection for the experiential learning component.
AAC&U High Impact Institute Proposal, University of Georgia, page 3 AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications University of North Dakota Grand Forks, ND
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: RU/H: Research Universities (high research activity) Affiliation: Public
Enrollment Undergraduate: 10,621 Masters: 2,070 Doctoral: 646
Team Leader: Dr. Karyn Plumm, Associate Dean for Academic Success Discipline/Office: College of Arts & Sciences 2) Dr. Yvette Koepke, Associate Professor: English 3) Dr. Rebecca Simmons, Associate Professor: Biology 4) Dr. Heather Terrell, Assistant Professor, Director of Undergraduate Programs: Psychology 5) Dr. Donovan Widmer, Associate Professor, Chair: Art & Design
Summary of Goals: Our College of Arts & Sciences (CAS) team will disseminate the practices to divisional areas so that they may be integrated as part of the expected learning experience for all majors within the CAS. Not all faculty are aware of HIPs or their value for student success and are therefore unable to develop and assess them. We also plan to collaborate with other colleges across campus who are simultaneously working on improving HIPs. In the next three years we will work to put a network of HIPs, with appropriate assessment, into practice throughout CAS. A final goal is to engage the registrar to transcript courses with HIPs for easier codification and assessment.
What you would like to see from the institute: Creating and evaluating interdisciplinary HIPS on a tight budget. Assessment of HIPs at various levels (student learning, major/discipline, college/university retention). Ensuring equity and engagement in HIPs. AAC&U HIP Summer Institute Application Narrative
UND’s focus on the need for high-impact learning has largely fallen to departments or degree offerings, but is becoming more widespread. Current high-impact practices in the College of Arts & Sciences include undergraduate research opportunities, undergraduate teaching assistant opportunities, writing-intensive courses, diversity/global learning courses, community paid and volunteer work as part of credit, service-learning courses, internships, study abroad experiences, and capstone courses.
Despite successful implementation and assessment in programs like Integrated Studies and First Year Experience, HIPs have not previously received much institutional support. We expect support to increase given an emerging university-level strategic plan with a learning goal of at least two HIPs for all students. Likewise, different colleges (Business, Engineering) have embraced HIPs, ensuring that these practices will not be isolated to a subset of the student body.
HIP requirements, which have been incorporated into certain areas (Psychology, International Studies) and Essential Studies, serve students quite well, though levels of assessment vary. There is little departmental assessment of the value HIPs bring to student learning and retention, despite the nationwide data (Finley & McNair, 2013). Equity of access must also be evaluated. Only 56% of graduating students report having completed the required capstone (NSSE). They may be currently enrolled, but they may also be unaware of the curricular goal of completing such an HIP course.
Including additional HIPs would help to ensure students are gaining the best possible experience and knowledge within their majors. In particular, mid-level HIPs would sustain student engagement across their academic careers. However, many programs lack HIPs or include only one in the required curriculum. At the same time, we need to expand access to and success in HIPs for traditionally underserved students.
The College of Arts & Sciences is well situated to bring about an interdisciplinary and equity focus in the campuswide implementation of HIPs. HIPs are central to the Strategic Plan of the CAS, which also teaches most of UND’s Essential Studies requirements. Incorporating high- impact practices within the CAS will therefore reach the majority of students, while equity within those opportunities will ensure that everyone is able to gain the valuable experience of HIPs
Faculty represent the four divisions within the CAS (Social Sciences, Humanities, Fine Arts, and Math/Sciences). These representatives will work to develop appropriate and equitable HIPs (lower, mid, and upper level) with assessment tools for each division, as well as interdisciplinary HIPs across divisions. Given our institution’s focus on improving diversity and equity education, we will incorporate these aspects into the proposed HIPs.
Following the AAC&U workshop, the team will disseminate the practices to divisional areas so that they may be integrated as part of the expected learning experience for all majors within the CAS. Not all faculty are aware of HIPs or their value for student success and are therefore unable to develop and assess them. We also plan to collaborate with other colleges across campus who are simultaneously working on improving HIPs. In the next three years we will work to put a network of HIPs, with appropriate assessment, into practice throughout CAS. A final goal is to engage the registrar to transcript courses with HIPs for easier codification and assessment.
Our team includes a member from each division (Fine Arts, Social Science, Humanities, and Math/Science) under the leadership of the Associate Dean for Academic Success. Our team consists of members who have varied experience in pedagogy, HIPs, and interdisciplinary education approaches but who all have a commitment to equitable education.
Karyn Plumm, Associate Dean for Academic Success, is currently involved in the UND 1st g initiatives for first-generation students. She serves as the College representative on the McNair Scholars evaluation committee. She also directs student advising and probation programs for the College of Arts & Sciences, working primarily with students who need additional resources and support during their academic career. She has a passion for diverse populations, having taught Diversity Psychology and special topics courses in the areas of gender identity and sexual orientation, as well as conducting research in related areas and ensuring that underrepresented student groups have been included in her research lab.
Yvette Koepke, Associate Professor, English, teaches courses centered on gender/sex/sexuality and is active in Women and Gender Studies, serving on the Curriculum Committee and Executive Council. She helped redesign the WGS curriculum and wrote the mission statement, program goals, and assessment plan. She completed the Essential Studies validation of WGS diversity courses and helped develop the ES guidelines for capstone courses. She is part of the UND 1st g group. Additionally, she was part of the First Year Experience taskforce which involved research on best practices, program design, assessment, and teaching. Drawing on her medical background, her research, teaching, and mentoring of pre-med students is strongly interdisciplinary.
Rebecca Simmons, Associate Professor, Biology, is a National Academy of Sciences Northstar Institute Teaching Fellow, and teaches using Student Centered Active Learning Experiences in Undergraduate Pedagogy (SCALEUP) approaches in her large (approx. 140 students) classes. She believes that progress in STEM can only be achieved through inclusion of individuals from differing backgrounds and talents. She has a strong commitment to involving undergraduates in STEM and her individual research program. She is a Co-PI on the NSF: DUE: S-STEM project, “S-STEM: Undergraduate studies with environmentally oriented research” that provided scholarships and mentoring support to over 40 students over 2010-17. Her research program has involved ten graduate students (8 from underrepresented groups) and 41 undergraduate students (26 from underrepresented groups) over 12 years.
Heather Terrell, Assistant Professor and Director of Undergraduate Programs, Psychology, has prioritized incorporation of more HIPs, such as teaching assistant opportunities, research assistant opportunities, and community-focused practical experiences, into the psychology undergraduate curriculum. She has a passion for interdisciplinary work and has team-taught interdisciplinary courses, regularly incorporates humanities with social science into her upper division psychology courses, and oversees a Psychology and Fiction readings course. She is committed to working with students from diverse backgrounds and has assisted with UND 1st g initiative events and also served as a McNair program mentor for several undergraduate students. She also oversees research projects and works with undergraduate research assistants in her Gender in Social Psychology lab, which primarily focuses on research related to gender roles, sexism, and stereotyping and prejudice.
Donovan Widmer, Associate Professor and Chair, Art & Design, is committed to developing students’ abilities to see the interconnectedness of individual courses and subjects outside of the discipline of art. As an artist his research combines multiple disciplines and his art courses apply experiential learning methods in varying ways. He has developed and taught several senior capstone courses with interdisciplinary components and experiential learning methods driving the curriculum and assessment. He strives to include and encourage any and all students interested in pursuing art. AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications University of St. Thomas Houston, TX
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: Bac/A and S: Baccalaureate Colleges--Arts and Sciences Affiliation: Religious
Enrollment Undergraduate: 1814 Masters: 1498 Doctoral: 0
Team Leader: Dr. Jo Meier, Director, Freshman Symposium and Associate Professor of Psychology Discipline/Office: Psychology 2) Dr. Beena George, Dean, Cameron School of Business; Professor of Marketing: Business 3) Dr. Juventino Balderas, Director, Study Abroad and Associate Professor of International Studies: International Studies 4) Dr. Catherine Barber, Associate Professor of Education: Education 5) Ms. Lindsey McPherson, Vice President Student Success and Dean of Students: Student Affairs
Summary of Goals: We hope to advance the new Freshman Symposium course at the summer Institute. In a few short months in fall 2017, we will unveil a new Freshman Symposium course that will more narrowly focus on social justice and service to the community as a reflection of our mission statement. A common intellectual experience will be added to Freshman Symposium in the form of a new Common Read program, culminating in a service- learning project. As part of the course, freshmen will be exposed to and engaged in real-world issues early in their undergraduate careers. Each year, a social justice issue relevant to the local community will serve as the backdrop of the course and will be reflected in a new Common Read program, class experiences and activities, campus events, and service-learning projects in the local community.
What you would like to see from the institute: We are really excited about the possibility of attending the institute this summer. We have been working hard to bring together our new Freshman Symposium course, and attending a conference like this, as a team, is just what we need. Please don't hesitate to contact me should you have any questions. - Jo
APPLICATION NARRATIVE
NEED
High-impact educational practices in higher education have a positive impact on students’ educational experiences (Kinzie, 2012). Participating in these high-impact practices enhances students’ college experiences and serves to increase learning and retention rates, particularly amongst underserved student populations (Kuh, 2008). While many students indicate an interest in participating in these experiences, not all do so (Kinzie, 2012). One-third to three-fourths of all first-year students indicate plans to participate in at least one high impact educational experience over the course of their college career, yet the number of corresponding seniors who report such experiences is much lower than first-year numbers would predict (NSSE, 2014). More problematic is that the profile of the typical student participating in these practices is largely the same. First generation students and students of color are significantly less likely to participate in study abroad programs, for instance, yet they show greater educational gains compared to their more traditional counterparts (Kinzie, 2012).
University of St. Thomas is a small, liberal arts Hispanic-serving institute with well over one-third of our student population identifying as first-generation college students. Our entering freshman class is small, averaging 250 in the past four years. UST is primarily a non-residential campus, making it more difficult for many of our students to participate in educational practices that serve to engage and connect students with the college campus. We know, based on NSSE data, that many of our students desire high-impact educational practices arriving at our institution, but fail to achieve that goal upon graduation.
Our first year experience course, in its present iteration, is in its 8th year. The course was designed to help incoming freshmen connect with the mission of the university, with the intended goal that we would retain more students if they understood the value of a Catholic, liberal arts university. Freshman Symposium is a required, one-credit hour course that students complete in their first fall semester. The course is taught by a three-person mentor team in the form of a faculty, staff, and student mentor. Students are randomly assigned to course sections, resulting in students with different backgrounds, experiences, and interests sharing the first-year experience course. The course focuses exclusively on the university mission statement, highlighting nine topics related to our faith-based heritage, liberal arts tradition, critical thinking, ethical leadership, effective communication, and professional success. Feedback from mentors and students at the end of each semester continually highlight that the course, while connecting freshmen with the mission of the university, fails to unite all topics with one common thread. As one mentor recently observed, Freshman Symposium consists of “a lot of moving parts, with no coherent whole”.
Freshman Symposium, in many respects, had the intended effects that its creators hoped. Retention rates from freshman-to-sophomore year increased significantly after the introduction of the course. With an average 82 percent freshmen-to-sophomore retention rate, graduation rates at four- and six-years should be similarly strong. Our graduation rates, however, continue to hover below 50 and 60 percent at four-
and six-years, respectively, suggesting that what we are doing beyond the first year is failing to engage and keep our student body.
Goals
With these data points in mind, we are redesigning Freshman Symposium in an effort to provide students with more opportunities to participate in meaningful, engaging college experiences early in their undergraduate career. Given that Freshman Symposium is a required core course for all incoming freshmen, regardless of whether they identify as traditional or underrepresented; commuter or residential, we will provide all students the opportunity to engage in more high-impact educational practices, unified by a common theme.
We hope to advance the new Freshman Symposium course at the summer Institute. In a few short months in fall 2017, we will unveil a new Freshman Symposium course that will more narrowly focus on social justice and service to the community as a reflection of our mission statement. A common intellectual experience will be added to Freshman Symposium in the form of a new Common Read program, culminating in a service-learning project. As part of the course, freshmen will be exposed to and engaged in real-world issues early in their undergraduate careers. Each year, a social justice issue relevant to the local community will serve as the backdrop of the course and will be reflected in a new Common Read program, class experiences and activities, campus events, and service-learning projects in the local community.
In addition to the semester-long Freshman Symposium course, freshmen will have two opportunities to participate in additional academic activities that carry forward the Common Read theme and highlight and encourage global learning and social engagement beyond the first semester. First, students can participate in a global learning experience in an optional, second semester study abroad program, which will carry forward the social justice theme, here and abroad, by featuring service-learning in the local community and the host country. Special funding opportunities will be available for under-represented student populations, including first-generation college students and underrepresented student populations, so that they can participate in these high impact educational experiences. Second, first-year students can participate in a year-long living and learning community or, for commuters, a year-long learning community, which will provide additional opportunities for students to learn about the social justice issue in the local area, larger global community, and help develop a series of service-learning projects. The learning/living and learning communities can extend beyond the first year.
Our goal in incorporating these high-impact educational practices into the first year experience is to create more engaged students at both the campus and community level, as well as addressing one of the university core curriculum student learning outcomes, 'to affirm the dignity of the human person as the source of social justice, respect for human rights, and regard for the proper interests of communities". By highlighting social justice issues, social responsibility in the form of service-learning, and local and global issues, our newly designed Freshman Symposium course can provide these experiences to a broader range of students.
We plan to build-in short-term and longitudinal measures that determine whether packaging HIPs early in an undergraduate's career leads to meaningful changes in campus and community engagement, retention rates from freshman-to-sophomore year, and graduation rates at four- and si -years. In the first year, we
anticipate exposing all of our freshman students to three high impact educational practices; a common intellectual experience in the form of a Common Read program, the first year experience by participating in the Freshman Symposium course, and service-learning by participating in the Celts-Give-Back day of service in the fall. In this pilot year, we hope to recruit 20 percent of the entering freshman class to participate in the additional high impact practices of Learning/Living Communities or Learning Communities and global learning in the form of the first year experience study abroad program. Within three years, we hope to expand that number to over 50 percent of our freshman population, capturing an equal number of traditional and traditionally under-represented student populations.
Team
Similar to the mentor team composition, which includes a faculty, staff, and student mentor that lead each section of Freshman Symposium, our planning committee includes administration, faculty from various disciplines, staff, and student members to carry out the planning and implementation of each year's course. The composition of our planning committee allows, and even forces, each of move outside of our silos and own fields of interest to consider the many moving parts that make for a successful student- centered program. Indeed, our very motto, “doing what is best for students”, continually serves as a focal point for our discussions, decisions, and gentle reminders to one another that all of our decisions must reflect what is best for students.
AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) Blacksburg, VA
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: RU/VH: Research Universities (very high research activity) Affiliation: Public
Enrollment Undergraduate: 24715 Masters: 3646 Doctoral: 3236
Team Leader: Dr. Jill Sible, Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education and Professor of Biological Sciences Discipline/Office: Undergraduate Academic Affairs 2) Dr. Gary Kirk, Director of VT Engage Community Learning Collaborative: Student Affairs 3) Mr. James Harder, Project Specialist: Office of the Senior Fellow for Resource Development 4) Dr. Kim Filer, Assistant Provost for Teaching and Learning and Director of the Center for Instructional Development and Educational Research: Undergraduate Academic Affairs 5) Dr. Amy Azano, Assistant Professor of Adolescent Literacy: School of Education
Additional Team Members(s): 1 Ms. Najla Mouchrek Graduate Assistant, Ph.D. Candidate in Human Centered Design
Summary of Goals: The timing is optimal for members of this committee to engage the support of AAC&U and peer institutions to build an implementation plan that assures access for all students to a VT-shaped education grounded in purpose-driven experiential learning. VT programs that have demonstrated success in providing inclusive access to HIPs have resulted from collaborations across academic and student affairs and the embedding of HIPs into the curriculum. With its new Pathways general education curriculum set to launch fall 2018, VT is well positioned to meet the following goals: 1. identify curricular barriers and obstacles for participation in HIPs, especially for non-majority students of intersecting identities (1 year) 2. experiment with curricular reforms that provide access to HIPs and measure impact (2 years) 3. adopt curricular changes that facilitate time-to-degree, cost-of-degree and participation in HIPs (3 years)
What you would like to see from the institute:
- building faculty support and rewords for leading HIPs - strategies to make HIPs more affordable and scalable - assessment of HIPs - creating inclusive HIP programs Virginia Tech AAC&U Proposal
Need
Virginia Tech (VT) was recently named by INSIGHT into Diversity Magazine as one of ten Diversity Champions institutions. This honor is humbling in the face of the work that remains to create an inclusive environment for students who come to the university from different paths and life histories. VT is a comprehensive, very-high research, land- grant University with an enrollment of 24,715 undergraduate and 6,882 graduate students. With a commitment to “Invent the Future” and a longstanding motto of “Ut Prosim” (That I May Serve), VT provides its student population with opportunities to engage in living learning communities, undergraduate research, study abroad, internships, and service learning. These high impact practices (HIPs; Kuh, 2008) correlate with student retention and success, especially for underserved student populations (Lopatto, 2007; Hurtado et al., 2014). The university continues to increase these opportunities with an aspiration that “every Virginia Tech undergraduate will have the opportunity to participate in either an internship in a field related to their studies or in a meaningful undergraduate research experience, or both.” (President Sands’ Installation Speech, 2014)
Nonetheless, unintended and sometimes invisible barriers to participation in HIPs exist for some students. Indeed, many students face such substantial barriers to completing the coursework of a 4-year degree that they cannot consider the very opportunities that would help improve their success and retention. Nationally, these students are disproportionately first-generation college attendees, community college transfer students, low-income students, and/or underrepresented minorities (URMs) (Kuh, 2008). These are intersecting populations of students, some of which have not been tracked until recently at VT, but there is sufficient data for URMs to indicate that there are disparities in graduation rates and time to completing their degrees.
The university’s commitment to access and inclusion is genuine as evidenced by its plans to increase the enrollment of URMs and transfer students and to increase the number of scholarship awards to Pell- eligible recipients by 45% over the next two years. However, this commitment to diversity will not translate into inclusive practices without attention to removing barriers to participation in HIPs for all students. VT spent the past year engaged in a 30-year visioning exercise termed Beyond Boundaries, in which the community imagined VT as a leading global land-grant university facing the challenges and possibilities of life 30 years in the future. One of the most powerful concepts that emerged from that exercise was the VT-shaped student. The T- shaped student (Guest, 1991) is one who has gained both deep disciplinary learning in one or more fields as well as broader capacities in areas that transcend disciplines such as problem solving, communication, ethical reasoning, teamwork, and creativity. The Beyond Boundaries exercise helped the university to recognize that its culture of service was indeed timeless and that a strategy for promoting academic motivation, inclusion, and success would be to structure curricula around engaged and authentic work, in what was termed “purpose driven learning.” The ‘V’ in the VT-shaped student is the purpose-driven, mentored experiential learning, which can be accomplished through undergraduate research, internships, and other HIPs. A presidential committee has been working for the past four months to develop a shared definition, learning outcomes, metrics, and recommendations for purpose-driven experiential learning at VT.
Goals
The timing is optimal for members of this committee to engage the support of AAC&U and peer institutions to build an implementation plan that assures access for all students to a VT-shaped education grounded in purpose-driven experiential learning.
VT programs that have demonstrated success in providing inclusive access to HIPs have resulted from collaborations across academic and student affairs and the embedding of HIPs into the curriculum. With its new Pathways general education curriculum set to launch fall 2018, VT is well positioned to meet the following goals:
1. identify curricular barriers and obstacles for participation in HIPs, especially for non- majority students of intersecting identities (1 year)
2. experiment with curricular reforms that provide access to HIPs and measure impact (2 years)
3. adopt curricular changes that facilitate time-to-degree, cost-of-degree and participation in HIPs (3 years)
Team
Jill Sible, Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education will serve as team leader. She chairs VT’s Experiential Learning Committee. She oversees the Offices of General Education and Undergraduate Research, is developing a curriculum for a new Global Challenges study abroad available to all students, and supports iScholars, which innovation-focused, paid internships to students across campus. She has led VT’s general education reform based on work accomplished at an AAC&U Summer Institute on General Education. Jill has led over $9M in sponsored research projects including $5M in STEM education grants. She is currently the lead investigator for projects funded by the National Science Foundation, which focus on increasing success, retention and diversity among undergraduate programs in STEM. Jill is a National Academies of Science Education Fellow in the Life Sciences.
Gary Kirk serves as the Director of VT Engage Community Learning Collaborative within Student Affairs at VT. Gary serves on the Experiential Learning Committee and provides leadership for both curricular and co-curricular service learning experiences including
2 the SERVE living learning community and a new Pathways general education minor in Community Systems and Engagement.
James Harder serves as a research and project specialist for the Office of the Senior Fellow for Resource Development providing administrative leadership for VT’s Beyond Boundaries long range planning initiative. He oversees a team of graduate students who support all aspects of Beyond Boundaries including the Experiential Learning Committee. He is also the direct connection with President Sands and University Relations. James is also a PhD candidate in Public Administration and Policy.
Kim Filer, Assistant Provost for Teaching and Learning and Director of the Center for Instructional Development and Educational Research at VT, works with interdisciplinary teams to plan curricula requiring HIPs. As Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment at Roanoke College, she supported development of a new campus-wide experiential learning program to enhance and expand internships, undergraduate research, service learning, and study abroad. Kim facilitated the framing of the program based on the literature of HIPs. She worked with the Directors of Undergraduate Research and Experiential Learning to develop and implement campus-wide student reflection through faculty development opportunities and presentations to students.
Amy Price Azano is an Assistant Professor of Adolescent Literacy in the School of Education. Her scholarship focuses on rural literacies, place-based pedagogy, and the literacy needs of special populations. She is the co-Principal Investigator of Promoting PLACE (Place, Literacy, Achievement, Community, and Engagement) in Rural Schools, a five-year, 1.9 million dollar U.S. Department of Education grant designed to support gifted education programs in high-poverty rural communities. Amy serves on the Beyond Boundaries Experiential Learning Committee and plays a critical role in keeping the team focused on issues of access and inclusion.
Najla Mouchrek the first doctoral candidate in the individualized PhD program at VT. She has applied design as an agent of change for youth development and engagement with sustainability and social change and mentored youth in several education projects in Brazil. As a graduate assistant, Najla supports general education, undergraduate research, global study abroad, and internship programs. She co-chairs the Experiential Learning Committee. Najla is investigating innovative learning strategies to promote youth empowerment and transformative developmental outcomes during the transition into adulthood.
References
Guest, D (1991) The hunt is on for the Renaissance man of computing. The Independent. September
3 Hurtado S, K Eagan, T Figueroa, B Hughes (2014) Reversing Underrepresentation: the Impact of Undergraduate Research Programs on Enrollment in STEM Graduate Programs. Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA: Los Angeles
Kuh G (2008). High-impact educational practices: What they are, who has access to them, and why they matter. Association of American Colleges and Universities: Washington, DC.
Lopatto D (2007) Undergraduate research experiences support science career decisions and active learning. CBE-Life Science Education. 6: 297-306.
Sands, T. Intallation Speech http://www.unirel.vt.edu/audio_video/2014/10/102114- president-installationspeech.html
4 AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications
Washington and Jefferson College Washington, PA
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: Baccalaureate College: Arts & Sciences Focus Affiliation: Independent
Enrollment Undergraduate: 1404 Masters: 4
Team Leader: Eva Chatterjee-Sutton, Vice President of Student Life and Dean of Students Discipline/Office: Student Life 2) Mr. Quatez Scott, Assistant Director of Inclusive Campus Engagement: Student Life 3) Dr. Kelly Weixel, Professor of Biology: Biology 4) Dr. Mark Swift, Professor of Music: Music 5) Dr. Judith Atzler, Assistant Professor of German: Modern Language
Additional Team Members Lisa Huff, a sophomore woman of color who is also an honors student. She has shown initiative and leadership in the area of race relations on campus and could be an excellent leader.
Nick Baker,s a junior white male, who is a philosophy major and deeply interested in issues of race and gender. He is also an honors student.
Summary of Goals: Our goals are to increase college-wide commitment to equity and inclusive excellence through careful scrutiny of the problems we have identified in campus climate and variable student success rates. The team will develop strategies to address identified problems and create a plan for stimulating on-going community reflection as well as for piloting activities and demonstration sections of our freshman year seminar, using effective high-impact practices.
In short, we hope to make the first steps toward becoming a student-ready campus. We have the support structures in place to accomplish this college-wide transformation, thanks to good work from our Mellon Fellows and our Student Life division. We have a long way to go, but we are ready to start.
What you would like to see from the institute: We hope to use this time to immerse ourselves in reflection upon the quantitative and qualitative data we have gathered on campus climate and student success. In the Institute, we will be able to test ideas on others, gain valuable feedback form experts, and shape our strategies going forward. Therefore, we hope to work long hours and experience collaboration, open and honest discussion, and sharing of knowledge and insight.
Washington & Jefferson College (W&J) has been trying to become a student-ready college for years. We may not have initially used that terminology, but that was our intent. The effort started twelve years ago when W&J began a conversation about the paradigmatic shift from an emphasis on learning rather than just on teaching. This conversation was not easy for a relatively traditional faculty. Some understood the change and have embraced it. Others remain confused. But, alas, that is natural in the process of change and growth.
If you looked at the activities on campus, W&J would seem to be very cognizant of the importance of inclusive excellence. At matriculation about the value of diversity. She tells them:
Sitting in class with you there will be liberals and conservatives, Hindus and Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, and Jews. Individuals who grew up in the dying neighborhoods of inner cities, and those who have private estates in gated communities. There will be individuals who are religious, atheist, straight, gay, and everything in between. . . .
We brought you here you because each of you has a unique voice to add to the chorus of voices that creates our community. College is a conversation; we want to hear what each of you has to say. And we also want you to listen to the other voices around you. Listen with respect and listen to understand.
Students can participate in a wide variety of diversity programs. They serve on our Diversity Programming Board and stage powerful theatre projects that provoke discussion about difference. All student are required to take a diversity course as part of their general education. A faculty-staff retention committee studies and acts on individual needs. Resident assistants and academic peer mentors receive diversity training and work in communities that comprise difference.
We do a lot. We achieve too little. High impact practices are available to students, but we do not yet recognize that the participation in high impact practices is unevenly distributed across race and social class. Efforts are not coordinated or always strategic. The diversity course requirement is a perfect example. A single course focusing on a culture not your own does not necessarily foster inclusive excellence or cross-cultural appreciation. Yet it “checks a box.”
At the most basic level, our faculty have not yet recognized that we all have bias, and that implicit as well as explicit bias can get in the way of teaching and learning. We have not yet recognized how the structures and policies of the college can present opportunities like study abroad, internships, and service learning as more appropriate for rich, white students than for students from under-represented groups.
Washington & Jefferson College must move from an equality model to an equity model. Too many of our conversations about teaching and learning are still expressed in terms of student deficits: “Our students just are not as good as they used to be.” And, of course, the implication is that teachers would succeed if only the students would come up to the bar. “Students” are still treated as a homogeneous group—some of whom can “cut it” and others simply cannot.
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Our students have changed over the years. We need to investigate the question, “Are we teaching to the diverse student body that is in front of us? Or, are we teaching to those students we wish were in front of us?” Twenty-six percent of our students are the first in their families to attend college and one third are Pell-eligible. Our students of color were 7.5% of our population in 2009-10; today they are 19.22%. But our curriculum, our pedagogy, and our faculty demographics do not seem to reflect these realities. In short, we are still in the mode of expecting our students to be college-ready, and we are not yet focused on being a student-ready college. We think we are being inclusive, but our actions too often say otherwise.
When the Andrew Mellon Foundation awarded W&J a $150,000 presidential discretionary grant, the president directed it to working on this problem. With the Mellon funding, W&J identified fifteen up-and-coming faculty leaders called Mellon Fellows (only faculty unfortunately, since the Mellon Foundation does not support staff or students). These individuals have been given stipends to engage in a two-year project to
1) Study our students and learn about who they are today 2) Move us from a deficit model to more descriptive and embracive language, 3) Define the problems we need to address to enhance inclusive excellence, 4) Create strategies for addressing the problems, and 5) Execute those strategies.
Obviously, the Mellon Fellows will need to work closely with both the Student Life staff (who are far ahead of them in terms of understanding who our students are and what they need) and students throughout this process. Therefore, our institute team is comprised of Student Life staff, faculty, and student leaders.
This is an excellent time for W&J to double down in our efforts to address this situation. We are in the process of a presidential transition. Our current president is very supportive of this work, and the search committee is committed to hiring a new president with these values. During this transition, we also have a truly engaged two-year interim vice president for academic affairs and an experienced Vice President for Student Life, who will serve as a bridge from the current president to her successor.
Next year, we will also be completing our self-study for our decennial Middle States accreditation. This all-campus reflective activity will create opportunities for important conversations about where we are and where we should be going. The need for inclusive excellence will, therefore, be a topic for conversation among many diverse groups.
Our First Year Seminar (FYS), a course that is required of all incoming students, provides an avenue for pilot activities and dissemination. This course consists of shared learning outcomes achieved through small, topic-driven seminars. All FYS sections should introduce students to the importance of liberal learning and a liberal arts curriculum. In addition, they should help students adjust to college expectations in terms of study habits, time management, critical thinking, communication skills, and learning from diverse points of view. FYS faculty know their students well through classroom interactions. They know their backgrounds, skill levels,
2 and aspirations, and they serve as the students’ academic advisors. In other words, they are well positioned to help students unlock their individual potential.
In preparing for this institute, Mellon Fellows have been meeting bi-weekly to discuss research they have done, to explore data on diversity, and to digest the ideas from outside speakers. Our most effective visiting expert has been Tia Brown McNair, who not only spoke to faculty, staff, and students in a large group, but talked with a small group of students and provided a full-day workshop for the Mellon Fellows. The ideas she brought to campus are beginning to percolate through the community.
Before attending this Institute, our Mellon Fellows and Student Life staff will discuss the extensive quantitative and qualitative evidence we have gathered about our students’ experience of diversity and inclusion (or lack thereof) on our campus. These discussions will help us to formulate the specific problems to be addressed.
Through the Institute, the team will subject our identified problems to careful scrutiny and begin to develop strategies to address them. They will be charged with creating a plan for stimulating on-going community reflection as well as piloting activities and demonstration sections of FYS, using appropriate practices. As part of our assessment activities, all faculty have written learning outcomes for their individual courses and their departments as a whole. It is our hope that, as part of this community reflection, these outcomes will be re-examined in terms of student- centeredness
In short, the Institute should lay the groundwork for essential campus change.
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AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Weber State University Ogden, UT
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: Master's L: Master's Colleges and Universities (larger programs) Affiliation: Public
Enrollment Undergraduate: 26,113 Masters: 696
Team Leader: Dr. Brenda Kowalewski, Associate Provost for High-Impact Programs and Faculty Development Discipline/Office: Provost's Office - Academic Affairs 2) Dr. Jessica Oyler, Director of Student Affairs Strategic Initiatives: Student Affairs 3) Dr. John Cavitt, Director of Undergraduate Research and Professor of Zoology: Office of Undergraduate Research 4) Dr. Melissa Hall, Executive Director of Center for Community Engaged Learning: Center for Community Engaged Learning 5) Dr. Cliff Nowell, Dean of International Programs: International Programs and Study Abroad
Additional Team Members(s): 1 Dr. Therese Grijalva, professor of Economics Department of Economics
This team member is faculty who utilizes HIPs as part of her curriculum and she represents the School of Business & Economics, which is currently making an effort to write HIPs into their college level strategic plan.
Summary of Goals: The primary goal for Weber State University is to engage all students in at least two high-impact practices before they graduate. The HIPs Summer Institute will be used to outline the steps, stages and phases necessary for accomplishing this goal within the next three years. The WSU Summer Institute Team would like to leave the Institute with a well-defined process and detailed plans with action steps in five key areas: (1) communicating HIPs principles and vision to internal and external audiences; (2) designating and tracking HIPs; (3) establishing outcomes and assessment; (4) embedding HIPs into curriculum and co-curriculum; and (5) designing and implementing faculty and staff development opportunities in HIPs.
What you would like to see from the institute: ŏ Designating and tracking HIPs ŏ Assessing HIPs – learning outcomes as well as retention and graduation ŏ Models for embedding HIPs in curriculum and co-curriculum ŏ Models for recognizing student, staff and faculty participation in HIPs ŏ Successful organizational structures for supporting both curricular and co-curricular HIPs Application
I. Narrative Statement A. Need
In the last several decades, Weber State University (WSU) has promoted and developed support around particular high-impact practices (HIPs) without shared agreement about what constitutes a HIP or how they should be implemented, tracked or assessed. These HIPs exist in a variety of areas on campus and across Student Affairs and Academic Affairs divisions. Learning outcomes and assessment occur within individual departments/centers/offices regarding their own practices. In essence, the conceptualization and implementation of HIPs at WSU is not being guided by a shared vision or guiding principles. Without a coordinated approach to HIPs, it is difficult to ensure student participation in these experiences, especially for student populations who could benefit most from participation in them. Furthermore, it is incredibly difficult to track and measure the outcomes associated with these HIP experiences, which makes it difficult to understand the role HIPs play in promoting student success at WSU for all students and especially students who have been historically underserved in higher education.
A bit of background about Weber State’s approach to student success and HIPs provides context for best understanding our need to attend this particular AAC&U Summer Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success.
Background
Weber State University is an open enrollment institution serving a dual mission as the local community college for Northern Utah and the regional university awarding bachelors and masters degrees in over 200 programs. Over the past 15 years, the university has been guided by a vision centered on three core themes – access, learning, community – all of which have played a significant role in shaping the university’s approach to student success.
Student success has been heavily characterized by making sure that all students, regardless of socioeconomic, ethnic or educational backgrounds, can access higher education. Scholarship programs (Dream Weber) were created to provide full financial support to any student whose household income is $40,000 or less. Outreach offices were reorganized to extend the reach of the university into local high schools and middle schools to ensure greater pre-college preparation, especially for students of color, students who would be the first in their family to attend college, and students who are from lower socio-economic backgrounds. The first step to student success is giving them access to higher education.
Ensuring students have an enriching learning environment at Weber State has also been an integral component of our approach to student success. Teaching and learning has been at the core of Weber’s mission since the inception of the university over 125 years ago. Weber State prides itself on maintaining small class sizes and high-quality teaching, providing students with opportunities to develop meaningful mentoring relationships with faculty and staff, and supporting a culture of caring. WSU’s commitment to facilitating high-quality high-impact experiences to promote student learning has been institutionalized through the development of entities on campus responsible for facilitating these experiences for the last several decades. For example, the Career Services Center has been facilitating internships for the last 30 years and the Teaching and Learning Forum has been providing faculty development opportunities to support excellence in the classroom for the past 25 years. Within the last 15 years, WSU has formalized its commitment to high-impact practices even more so by developing centers and offices focusing on specific HIPs, including: Office of Undergraduate Research; First-Year Experience; Center for Community Engaged Learning; and Study Abroad. More recently, peer- mentoring and on-campus student employment programs have emerged as high-impact learning environments primarily as part of the co-curriculum.
WSU’s third core theme, community, has also contributed to student success primarily through the work of the Center for Community Engaged Learning. This HIP has been woven into both curricular and co- curricular experiences across campus. It has a set of criteria for identifying and designating community engaged learning (CEL) experiences, student learning outcomes with assessment mechanisms, a system for tracking CEL experiences across co- and curriculum, and a rewards structure to recognize the CEL experiences of students, faculty, staff, community partners and alumni. The Center for Community Engaged Learning is beginning to explore how best to utilize the pedagogy to promote students success among historically underserved student populations. Given the alignment of this particular HIP with the university core theme of community and WSU’s Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement earned first in 2008 and reclassified in 2015, CEL is a well-recognized, supported and employed HIP at WSU.
All of these high-impact entities mentioned above align with the university’s core themes that have been guiding our approach to student success for the last decade and a half. However, each office/center has been operating separately without: (1) an agreed upon set of guiding principles to identify what is meant by high-impact practices at WSU; (2) a shared vision for the role of HIPs in promoting student success; (3) shared designation, tracking, assessment and outcomes; (4) a common recognition and rewards structure for students, faculty and staff engaging in HIPs; and (5) articulating an approach for making HIPs accessible to historically underserved students that ensures their participation.
B. Goals
The primary goal for Weber State University is to engage all students in at least two high-impact practices before they graduate. Therefore, WSU’s Summer Institute Team will focus on developing a process for accomplishing this goal within the next three years.
Currently, a High-Impact Practices Taskforce, including the members of WSU’s Summer Institute Team and faculty and staff representatives from all HIPs currently supported at WSU, is meeting during the spring 2017 semester to develop HIPs guiding principles for our campus. WSU’s HIPs Summer Institute team will use the agreed upon guiding principles as foundational knowledge for designing a system with measureable outcomes that supports all students participating in at least two high-impact experiences before graduating from WSU.
WSU’s HIPs Summer Institute Team will focus on developing the following key elements of this process: ● Communicating HIPs guiding principles and a shared vision for the role of HIPs in promoting student success. ● Designating and tracking HIPs in a consistent manner across campus. ● Establishing and assessing outcomes of HIPs, especially in terms of institutional level student success metrics broken down by cohorts of interest (historically underserved populations). ● Strategically embedding HIPs in curricular and co-curricular experiences ensuring participation by all students and especially historically underserved student populations. ● Designing and facilitating comprehensive faculty and staff support programs to create high- quality effective HIPs grounded in evidence-based best practices that include incentives, recognitions and rewards.
In the first year, the HIPs Taskforce will implement a communication plan to raise awareness about the guiding principles of HIPs and the shared vision broadly across campus. Additionally, the team will refine and implement a plan for designating and tracking HIPs. Finally, faculty and staff development opportunities will be created and implemented to foster greater use of HIPs in both curricular and co- curricular experiences.
C. Team
WSU’s Summer Institute Team consists of the following individuals holding various positions across campus: John Cavitt, Director of Undergraduate Research & Professor of Zoology Therese Grijalva, Professor of Economics Melissa Hall, Executive Director of the Center for Community Engaged Learning Brenda Kowalewski, Associate Provost for High-Impact Programs and Faculty Development Cliff Nowell, Dean of International Programs Jessica Oyler, Director of Student Affairs Strategic Initiatives
Three individuals on the team represent the most institutionally supported HIPs on campus – undergraduate research, community-engaged learning and study abroad (international programs). One team member is faculty who utilizes HIPs as part of her curriculum and she represents the School of Business & Economics, which is currently making an effort to write HIPs into their college level strategic plan. Another member is a Student Affairs professional who is interested in designating and recognizing HIPs in the co-curriculum, as well as assessing impacts of HIPs on student success, especially for historically underserved student populations. The Academic Affairs administrator responsible for HIPs and faculty development at the university fills the last position on the team. This administrative position is new at the university and will play a key role in communicating a shared vision and guiding principles for HIPs as well as coordinating HIPs initiatives across campus.
All WSU’s Summer Institute Team members participate on the currently existing HIPs Taskforce and share a desire to align the already existing HIPs initiatives across campus into a more cohesive coordinated effort to positively impact student learning, retention and graduation, especially for historically underserved students.
AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications West Virginia Wesleyan College Buckhannon, WV
AAC&U Member: no Carnegie Classification: Master's S: Master's Colleges and Universities (smaller programs) Affiliation: Independent
Enrollment Undergraduate: 1,397 Masters: 146
Team Leader: Dr. Susan Aloi, Director, School of Business & Associate Professor of Business Discipline/Office: School of Business 2) Dr. Molly Clever, Assistant Professor of Social Justice: Sociology 3) Dr. Lynn Linder, Assistant Profess of English & Gender Studies: English 4) Ms. Katie Loudin, Associate Director of the Center for Community Engagement and Leadership Development: Center for Community Engagement 5) Ms. Jill Okes, Experiential Learning Coordinator: Student Success Center
Additional Team Members(s): 1 Ms. Alisa Lively, Director of Campus Life West Virginia Wesleyan College
Ms. Lively has experience in residential life and other aspects of student development. She currently supervises the areas of community engagement, leadership development, and co-curricular activities. Ms. Lively has been working on a pilot for learning communities. Her insights and knowledge would be invaluable in developing our high-impact practices plan.
Summary of Goals: Our team’s goal is to develop a comprehensive plan to integrate HIPs across the institution that increases student participation, ensures that students fully understand how these practices can positively impact their learning and future career goals, and empowers them to take ownership of these practices.
What you would like to see from the institute: Integration of practices across campus Needs Our assessment of West Virginia Wesleyan College’s High-Impact Practices (HIPs) and their contribution to student success was based on student responses from the 2016 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). In the majority of areas, students indicated that their participation rates met or exceeded those of students at benchmark schools. However, notable exceptions included: 1) nominal participation in learning communities; 2) minimal interest or engagement in study abroad; and 3) first-year students with low expectations of participating in research.
Our team’s evaluation of these survey results suggests that participation rates likely were skewed based on student misinterpretation of HIPs. We suspect that students do not have a clear understanding of what HIPs are and how these fit with their educational plans or what value and benefits may be incurred. In example, a learning community is described in the NSSE as “a formal program where groups of students take two or more classes together”. There have not been formal learning communities present on our campus during the 2016 seniors’ tenure, and yet 29% reported on the NSSE that they participated in one. This led us to conclude that our institution requires a campus-wide initiative to educate students, as well as staff and faculty advisors, concerning the meaning and purpose of these practices.
Although we have taken initial steps and made progress in all areas of HIPs, we have encountered barriers to further improvement because of the unique institutional context of our school. As a rural, Appalachian, liberal arts school in a high poverty region, intersections of race, class, and gender do not fit conventional paradigms. Existing frameworks for addressing the needs of nontraditional students have yet to be adapted to this particular context, and we are seeking new avenues and innovative mechanisms for creating pathways to success for all of our students.
In addition to identifying the need for an awareness and education campaign, we assessed the current status of the following individual HIPs:
First Year Experience A topics-based first year seminar is an established requirement. Individual courses are assessed, but the overall program has not been critically analyzed recently. Learning Communities Prior attempts resulted in affinity groups rather than true learning communities, but two are planned for Fall 2017, including the second year of a First-Generation learning community and the first year of an Undecided Major learning community. Research There remains a need to incorporate authentic research into the classroom that encourages students to engage in independent research. Certain academic programs have several students involved in research, but there are impediments to increasing participation beyond these experiences. Lack of time and financial compensation are a deterrent for faculty involvement. Few disciplines outside of the lab sciences offer research opportunities for students. Service-Learning In 2009, a detailed plan to qualify for Carnegie community engagement classification was devised; however, implementation was stalled due to lack of a dedicated coordinator and community capacity. Currently, student-reported service-learning varies in terms of depth and breadth of participation. There is a lack of campus-wide understanding of the benefits of service-learning, and few faculty are knowledgeable about best practices for implementing service-learning in their courses. Lack of time and financial compensation are also a deterrent for faculty here. Internships or Field Experience Several programs have requirements embedded; however, goal-focused planning, reflection, and faculty support varies among programs. Timing and financing are barriers for students. Students completing non-credit experiences often lack a focus on learning outcomes and the benefit of developing those outcomes. A dedicated coordinator for experiential learning is working on these issues. Study Abroad We currently offer a variety of courses that include faculty-led trips abroad, as well as a few semester-long opportunities for students. Higher student participation is limited due to cost, the logistics of fitting such studies into a four-year plan, and ignorance of resources. Outside commitments of faculty members continue to be a challenge and the construction of meaningful experiences for students varies among courses. A faculty member was given release time to work on these issues. Progress is being made, but the need currently exceeds the time allotted. Culminating Senior Experience This research-based project is a requirement in nearly all academic programs. Most enable students to produce comprehensive research projects, but some fall short of providing such an opportunity for students.
Goals Our team’s goal is to develop a comprehensive plan to integrate HIPs across the institution that increases student participation, ensures that students fully understand how these practices can positively impact their learning and future career goals, and empowers them to take ownership of these practices. We seek to create more transparency in the outcomes of each practice, to articulate the role of these practices as part of an educational plan, and to devise strategies for including multiple HIPs in every student’s program of study. Our goals include the creation of models for students to not only keep a record of experiences, but also to document and effectively communicate the skills and abilities gained in HIPs. Our efforts must include professional development to encourage and support faculty and staff in the implementation and assessment of these programs. The plan will address the deficiencies outlined in the previous section to ensure our efforts are inclusive and promote equity for all students.
As part of our integrated plan, we hope to build capacity on the programs we already have in place within the following areas:
First-Year Experience Perform a program assessment to evaluate overall effectiveness and to target deficiencies. Incorporate a component to foster students’ understanding of and participation in HIPs. Learning Communities Conduct program evaluation on the effect of communities for first-generation student retention and learning outcomes. Develop additional learning communities to address the particular needs of our students. Research Devise strategies to incorporate research requirements in all 300-level courses. Create opportunities and funding for faculty-led and independent student research beyond the lab environment. Service-Learning: Implement sessions into our faculty colloquia series focused on training faculty and athletic coaches to implement service-learning practices and learning outcomes into existing curricula. Focus curriculum development within the Social Justice program on service-learning, field-based experiential learning. This academic program is serving as a pilot, to ultimately model the way for other areas of study. Develop a timeline of incremental steps to reach the goal of service-learning or community engagement designated class for every student, revising and implementing the 2009 plan to work toward Carnegie classification. Internships or Field Experience Implement an Experiential Learning Certification program for a non-credit internship with no cost to students that provides guidance on developing student learning outcomes. Develop more connections to companies and alumni who host internships opportunities outside of Appalachia, in larger metropolitan areas, and potentially closer to home. Study Abroad Generate more funding opportunities and continue current programming that informs students of available resources. Create partnerships with study abroad programs to provide outside funding for faculty. Culminating Senior Experience Ensure students from every academic program engage in independent research.
Team Our team consists of faculty from various disciplines and staff from across campus, which reflects our efforts to target as many HIPs as possible. We have brought together a broad and diverse cohort with even representation of faculty and co-curricular leaders. The individuals listed have been recognized as leaders in specific areas and have demonstrated a willingness to collaborate beyond their assigned roles.
Team Leader: Dr. Susan Aloi, Director of the School of Business and Associate Professor of Business Dr. Molly Clever, Assistant Professor of Social Justice Dr. Lynn M. Linder, Assistant Professor of English and Gender Studies Ms. Alisa Lively, Director of Campus Life Ms. Katie Loudin, Associate Director of the Center for Community Engagement and Leadership Development Ms. Jill A. Okes, Experiential Learning Coordinator AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications Worcester Polytechnic Institute Worcester, MA
AAC&U Member: yes Carnegie Classification: DRU: Doctoral/Research Universities Affiliation: Independent
Enrollment Undergraduate: 4320 Masters: 1631 Doctoral: 365
Team Leader: Dr. Chrysanthe Demetry, Director Discipline/Office: Morgan Teaching and Learning Center 2) Ms. Julia Sorcinelli, Associate Director, Coordinator of Women’s Programs: Office of Multicultural Affairs 3) Dr. Elisabeth Stoddard, Assistant Teaching Professor: Undergraduate Studies and Environmental and Sustainability Studies 4) Dr. Adrienne Hall-Phillips, Associate Professor of Marketing: School of Business 5) Ms. Rita Bagala, Junior Undergraduate Student: Civil Engineering
Additional Team Members(s): We are requesting a sixth team member, Paula Quinn, who is an evaluation expert because we believe she will be instrumental in both deployment and evaluation of the proposed program. Paula Quinn Associate Director, WPI Center for Project-Based Learning
Summary of Goals: WPI has had both successes and failures in transforming its curriculum and co-curriculum to meet the student needs of a diverse population and changing country. While we have increased retention rates to 97% campus wide, only about 84% of URM students are retained. WPI is committed to addressing this issue. We aim to connect students’ academic pursuits with their life passions, as research shows that URM retention rates increase when students can see how their STEM work connects to “real life” problems and passions. Our team’s goal is to expose URM students to research opportunities that have typically been unattainable. We propose a program that will ensure equitable access to undergraduate research by depending on targeted recruitment strategies and mentoring URM students to not only secure, but also maximize the benefits of participating in undergraduate research opportunities.
What you would like to see from the institute: Mentoring (faculty and students), URM retention programming, tips on securing funding for diversity and inclusion efforts from outside funding agencies, tips on executing campus-wide activities that will help encourage D&I dialogue Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has developed a number of curricular and co-curricular programs to support success for students across their diverse and intersecting identities. Curricular programs include the first-year Great Problem Seminar program and the junior-year Interactive Qualifying Project. These are project-based courses run by faculty, who serve as teachers and advisors, to engage students in problem-based and community-connected learning. These high impact practices have been shown to increase learning for all students, particularly women and underrepresented minority (URM) students. WPI also provides a number of opportunities to help faculty “flip” their traditional courses into those that use active learning techniques, as these techniques have been shown to increase retention rates of all students, particularly URM students. These include teaching and learning workshops, as well as yearlong faculty learning communities. In these learning communities, a small group of faculty support and mentor each other through the development of, for example, innovative programs and courses aimed to improve global and multicultural competency among students, faculty, and staff.
WPI’s co-curricular programs aim to create social, emotional, and cultural support networks for all of our students, with specific outreach efforts for particularly underrepresented or vulnerable populations. These include the International House, the Alliance and Safe Zone, and the Office of Multicultural Affairs and OASIS House. WPI also offers two programs that provide support to our incoming students, the Insight Program and the Connections Program. The Insight Program provides all first-year students with academic and social support through a team of advisors. The Connections Program, a pre-orientation program for URM and first generation students, aims to create supportive relationships that students can depend on throughout their college careers.
WPI has had both successes and failures in transforming our curriculum and co-curriculum to meet all student needs in the twenty-first century. The Insight program has helped to dramatically increase the first-year student retention rate; WPI now retains between 95-97% of first year students into the second year. Despite the program’s success in achieving its intended goal, feedback from program leaders indicates low levels of engagement from URMs, whose retention rate is only at 84%. Students in the Connections Program report feeling a stronger sense of belonging, but our data show that there is no statistically significant difference in year-to-year retention or graduation rates between students who participate in Connections and those who are eligible to participate but do not. The Great Problem Seminar (GPS) program has consistently high course evaluations, indicating very good to high marks on our project-based learning outcomes. However, students rate the program as only average to good on the cultural awareness learning outcome. In addition, data on the GPS program’s influence on racial and ethnic minority retention rates reveal that there is a small, but statistically significant, relationship between minorities taking GPS in their first year and their departure from WPI before or during their second year.
We expected greater gains from these programs among all students, particularly URM students, yet the data do not indicate that we are reaching our potential. A review of WPI’s National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) data shows that our students also report being less engaged with issues of diversity in their senior year than in their first year. Consequently, we see room to improve student, institutional, and programmatic literacy of diversity, inclusion, and multicultural competency that will, in turn, foster a stronger climate of inclusion.
WPI’s commitment to addressing this issue is prioritized in the university’s new strategic plan, specifically within the Major and a Mission initiative. This initiative, led by the President and Chief Diversity Officer, aims to connect students’ academic pursuits with their life passions, as research shows that URM retention rates increase when students can see how their STEM work connects to “real life” problems and passions. As part of this commitment, WPI has recently launched the New England Resource Center for Higher Education’s self-assessment for the institutionalization of diversity, inclusion, and equity in higher education, called Project Inclusion. A team of faculty, staff, and administrators is also working to obtain grant funding in order to do a directed assessment of our Insight, Connections, and GPS programs to gain a better understanding of where they need revision.
In line with this initiative, our team proposes a new program that will ensure equitable access to undergraduate research opportunities for URM students. The benefits of such a program are clear in relevant literature: professional development, improved communication, technical, and evidence-based writing skills, development of an identity and confidence as an engineer or scientist, pathways for internships, increased chances of completing a graduate degree, and opportunities to define a student's career trajectory. Student knowledge of, and participation in, undergraduate research opportunities at WPI, and elsewhere, is not equitable across the student population. This proposed program will focus on exposing URM students to research opportunities across campus, by connecting students, faculty and staff across academic departments. A successful undergraduate research program will not only need organized efforts of faculty from various academic departments and university-wide staff, but will also need institutional resources at the administrative level.
Our proposed program aims to offer recruitment strategies and mentoring for both students and faculty engaged in undergraduate research. The program will include faculty training to effectively recruit URM students and serve as mentors, as well as URM student training in seeking out and applying for research opportunities. We also plan to conduct a program evaluation and a needs assessment to understand why URM students don’t pursue undergraduate research opportunities, and what types of research opportunities and supports would be most beneficial and helpful. Program assessments will also include data collection in the form of surveys focus groups, campus forums, journaling and reflection exercises, for students to share their experiences of diversity and inclusion (or lack thereof) across campus, in the classroom, and in interactions with faculty. We hope that this will further the conversation between students and faculty/staff on diversity and inclusion issues and where to begin to improve.
Over the next year, while collecting more data on our existing retention-focused and first year student programs, we will develop the undergraduate research program, starting with securing support from across campus and funding and developing the mentoring program and recruitment strategy. Part of this first year will also be spent researching universities who have a successful similar program (i.e. Bridgewater State University and University of Massachusetts Amherst). The first rollout will take place in year 2, starting with a goal of 5 interested URM students, 3-4 committed faculty to offer projects, workshop series educating faculty and students (with different elements offered separately and together), and program assessment. After post- assessment and a review of lessons-learned in year two, in the third year, we plan to scale our efforts to reach 10 students and 6-8 committed faculty, while also continuing to offer the workshop series.
Rolling out a program of this magnitude requires a cross-discipline, cross-functional team of individuals who are not only driven by passion, but who also carry the appropriate skills. Our team is composed of a mix of an administrator, two staff, two faculty, and one student who are critically engaged in work on diversity and inclusion at WPI, who have a wide reach of networks across the campus, and who have leadership and influence in the university. We believe that these individuals represent the core of WPI’s campus culture, spirit of inclusion, and commitment to education. AAC&U 2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24-27, 2017 | Boston University Applications York College of Pennsylvania York, PA
AAC&U Member: no Carnegie Classification: Master's S: Master's Colleges and Universities (smaller programs) Affiliation: Independent
Enrollment Undergraduate: 4,288 Masters: 205 Doctoral: 10
Team Leader: Dr. Joshua Landau, Associate Provost Discipline/Office: Student Success Division 2) Mrs. Cynthia Crimmins, Director: Center for Academic Innovation 3) Dr. Jessica Nolan, Associate Professor: Biology 4) Dr. Gabriel Cutrufello, Assistant Professor: English & Humanities 5) Ms. Renee Sefton, Coordinator of Student Success: Academic Advising
Summary of Goals: Our College mission is to provide a high-quality, private education that emphasizes personal development, close mentoring relationships, and real-world experiences. Historically, the majority of York College learners were full-time, traditional-age students from suburbia. However, we are working hard to attract a more diverse group of learners, and soon a “typical” York College student’s identity will no longer fit the profiles that we are accustomed to serving. We want to build capacity for all students to learn successfully in a fashion that crosses the curricular and co-curricular divide. While our faculty and staff work hard toward the same goals, we often work in a parallel fashion that is not within an inclusive, systematic framework to enhance student success. Our goal for attending the Institute is to create a plan for generating a cohesive culture that integrates the curricular and co-curricular programs to advance student engagement in high impact practices.
What you would like to see from the institute: We like the ideas you shared in the Institute Curriculum section, and are particularly drawn to topics such as -- fostering a HIPs culture on campus that is sustainable -- integrating HIPs into curricular and co-curricular -- assessing the scope and quality of our HIPs programming -- measuring student engagement (& correlating levels of engagement with retention and other data) -- aligning courses and programs with guided learning pathways, ensuring equitable access for all students -- supporting all faculty with their teaching goals, especially with connecting inclusive, student-centered pedagogies to equitable outcomes -- bridging divides and building collaborations to ensure that campus programs work cohesively toward equity goals
2017 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success June 24, 2017 to June 27, 2017 at Boston University Application Narrative
The York College of Pennsylvania mission is to provide a high-quality, private education that emphasizes personal development, close faculty/student mentoring relationships, and real-world experiences. We partner with our community for the benefit of both our students and the broader region. Recently we established a Center for Community Engagement that promotes the College's positive relationship with the local community and is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life in York County. In terms of the student academic experience, we have small class sizes and recently introduced an innovative general education curriculum known as “GenNext,” which is designed to meet the changing demands for learning in the twenty-first century. The learning outcomes for GenNext align with the AACU Essential Learning Outcomes. Historically, the majority of York College learners were full-time, traditional-age, residential students from suburban neighborhoods. Fewer than 20% of our student population was comprised of part-time, non- traditional, or students of color. As we strive to be inclusive and provide a diverse group of learners with access to a liberal, comprehensive education, we have increased our efforts to attract students from varied backgrounds, such as returning adults, under-served high school students, and students from around the globe. Recently we have developed articulation agreements with local community colleges, offered more scholarships for students from urban high schools, and recruited cohorts of international students. Soon a “typical” York College student’s identity will no longer fit profiles that our faculty and staff have been accustomed to serving. Our curriculum and first-year experience program promotes student success and allows students to explore personal interests, as well as to enhance and strengthen the skills and abilities valued by scholars and employers. First-year students enter GenNext by engaging in a Freshman Seminar course that offers creative, interdisciplinary, and rigorous modes of inquiry. In our Foundations and Disciplinary Perspectives courses, students learn ways that knowledge is constructed in various academic disciplines, followed by Constellation courses, which are developed around broad themes that prompt students to use multi- and interdisciplinary perspectives and apply higher-level thinking and communication skills. Our general education curriculum is new, and we have only just begun to assess the impact on student learning that our curriculum reform is generating. In addition to redesigning our general education curriculum and creating a comprehensive first-year experience program, we engage undeclared and less-prepared students in focused advising services and we offer robust academic support resources. Our Center for Academic Innovation offers substantial programming for faculty to consider, implement, and assess evidence-based pedagogies, as well as provides resources for advancing high impact practices. This year the Academic Affairs Division is focusing on advancing undergraduate research and digital pedagogy initiatives. In fact, our Provost, Dr. Laura Niesen de Abruna, was recently awarded a large grant to create a digital fellows program. York College faculty and staff work very hard toward the same goals, but often members of our different administrative units and academic departments work in a parallel fashion that is not designed within an inclusive, systematic framework to enhance high-quality learning and student success. Our goal for attending 2017 AACU Institute Application York College of Pennsylvania the Institute is to create a plan for generating a culture that integrates the curricular and co-curricular programs to advance student engagement in high impact practices. Our work toward this goal might begin with making a curriculum map of the high impact practices happening on campus. We could disaggregate the HIP engagement data we collect (as well as our retention and graduation rate data) by ethnicity, socio-economic status, and parents’ education level so we can learn more about our students and ourselves. The Equity Scorecard from the Center for Urban Education would be a useful tool to initiate institutional change that leads to equitable outcomes for students from diverse backgrounds. If we see disparity in engagement that can be identified by characteristics of race, gender, social status, or other identities, then we should make those inequities visible, conduct inquiry into our own practices, and make changes in our institution. We wish to build capacity for success for all students to achieve our learning outcomes in a fashion that crosses the curricular and co-curricular divide at York College. One key to connecting faculty and staff from a range of campus sectors to larger institutional efforts for equity-mindedness, high-quality learning, and student success could be fostering team-designed learning experiences like those Randy Bass suggests in “Disrupting Ourselves: The Problem of Learning in Higher Education” (2012). Bass says that in traditional models of course design, the instructor plans the course and then talks separately with the teaching center staff, technology team, librarians, writing center director, tutoring center professionals, center for community engagement, study abroad, and/or service learning coordinators. Then, when the course is implemented, Bass says that the instructor is often alone teaching the students. However, the students may go back for help from the technology staff, librarians, or writing center folks—completing the cycle, except in a disconnected way. Bass proposes a team-based design model where learning experts from Academic Affairs, Academic Services, and Student Affairs collaborate with faculty on course and program designs, and where staff members are sometimes embedded in a course. For York College, developing a team-based design for learning could become the framework we use to promote increased implementation of HIPs, integrated learning, and equity-minded reform of our curricular and co- curricular learning opportunities for all students. York College has already taken steps towards this goal with a recent re-organization of our Academic Services area. To improve the student experience, we recently created a Student Success Division that united our advising services and career development center with our tutoring services and writing center. Another significant change is that this division is now housed in the Academic Affairs area. The combination of the academic area with student support services provides us with the exciting opportunity to collaborate with faculty members as we shape new support services aimed at increasing student success. Given that this structure is still in its infancy, we believe that the educational opportunity provided by the Institute is exactly the type of experience we need to create the best structure possible. We have ideas about what we can do in each administrative division and academic department, but we want to connect our goals and move forward with an integrated action plan. Our team will be led by Associate Provost of Student Success Josh Landau. Other members of the team will include our faculty development director, coordinator of student success, and two key faculty from different disciplines who lead general education courses. All members of the Institute team are devoted to advancing HIP initiatives at York College and equity-minded teaching and learning.
2017 AACU Institute Application York College of Pennsylvania