2016-2017 Campus Reading of The Undergraduate Experience
During the 2016-17 year, faculty and staff members across campus engaged in a conversation about how we can focus on what matters most here at SFA.
More than 550 individuals from across campus received a copy of The Undergraduate Experience - Focusing Institutions on What Matters Most; many individuals took part in small group discussions during their reading.
All readers were invited to help in forming action recommendations for the university. In a series of sessions during the academic year, Dr. Bob Szafran led attendees in exercises designed to identify the most useful ideas in the book and convert them into concrete, achievable initiatives for SFA.
The outcomes of those sessions are listed below.
Wednesday, October 26th in the Campus Recreation Center Gym
Chapter 1 (What Matters Most) & Chapter 2 (Learning Matters)
All questions asked and answers collected during the session | Top suggestions from each carousel | Voting results of which suggestions are most supported
Thursday, December 1st in the Campus Recreation Center Gym
Chapter 3 (Relationships Matter) & Chapter 4 (Expectations Matter)
All questions asked and answers collected during the session | Top suggestions from each carousel | Voting results of which suggestions are most supported
Wednesday, February 8th in the Twilight Ballroom
Chapter 5 (Alignment Matters), Chapter 6 (Improvement Matters), & Chapter 7 (Leadership Matters)
All questions asked and answers collected during the session | Top suggestions from each carousel | Voting results of which suggestions are most supported
Thursday, February 23rd in the Twilight Ballroom
Table 1 Proposal | Table 2 Proposal | Table 3 Proposal | Table 4 Proposal | Table 5, Group 1 Proposal | Table 5, Group 2 Proposal | Table 6 Proposal | Table 7 Proposal | Table 8 Proposal | Table 9 Proposal | Table 10 Proposal | Table 11 Proposal | Table 12 Proposal
Tuesday, March 28th in the Twilight Ballroom
Vice presidents reported on the feasibility of suggestions from previous meetings.
Outcomes
Efforts are continually underway to advance the proposals put forth at the February 23 meeting (also listed below):
Academic Primacy
- The "message" prospective and current students receive has to more strongly emphasize academics as the core of the undergraduate experience.
Connecting College Learning and Readiness for Career Success
- The connection between classroom learning and work/life skills needs to be stronger.
- More students need to participate in high-impact practices (e.g., research, study abroad, internships, experiential learning).
- Departments need to create more campus programs that enable their majors to do things similar to what they will do in their intended careers.
Student Success
- Admissions, Financial Aid, Housing, Academic Affairs, and the Student Success Center need to work together more closely in assisting incoming first-year students.
- The Admissions Office needs to work with academic advisors and transfer students making sure there is complete understanding of what hours/classes transfer.
- The "message" prospective and current students receive is that the university has high expectations and will help you achieve them.
- What the university provides time for, recognizes, and rewards needs to be adjusted to reflect a greater emphasis on student learning and high impact practices.
- All funding decisions should hinge on if/to what extent the expenditure will impact student success.
- Mentor programs on campus need to be broadened to include more students.
Culture Matters
- Develop a more supportive university culture in which it's safe to ask questions/make observations and in which administrators respond to those questions/observations.
Evidence of Impact
- Review assessment processes, findings and disseminate information and implement actual changes. (Don't collect data for sake of collecting data-use it.)