Megan Tucker



CTCH 644 Final Exam

Megan Tucker

#G00577139

George Mason University

Question #1

You are the chief student affairs/student services officer at a four-year university. A new president of the university begins work over the summer. Like many new presidents, she has a strong academic background and has most recently been the dean of the graduate school at another university. She is skeptical about the need for student affairs/student development beyond some basic services (residence halls, counseling, health services, the fitness center), but expresses a willingness to hear what you have to say. In three pages or less, make the case for the necessity of student affairs/students services being a priority of the institution. (15 points)

Madam President,

Thank you for your willingness to consider ideas for prioritizing the sustainment and development of student services on our campus. Student affairs often work in tandem with the academic needs of students. In order to fully benefit from their education and feel a sense of belonging in school, students must have access to various services and facilities to assist them in their day-to-day development. Our student services enable students to extend beyond their academic potential to personal growth and maturity. As such I would like to take this opportunity to express to you why student services should be a priority at our university.

While some basic student affairs services are indeed housing, counseling, health and fitness, there are many others which are vital to a four year institution such as ours. At the core of student affairs is that of recruitment, enrollment, financial aid, assessment and leadership. Without these services, we as a university would be lacking in resources to find and assist students who would benefit greatly from what the campus has to offer. Retention of our students is vital to the overall success of our school. As such, student affairs must be able to research what students’ needs are, and be able to deliver on these needs. Students must be able to find a sense of responsibility, belonging and comfort now that they are emerging adults.

These contemporary college students face many challenges in their transition from home to school. These challenges are compounded when the student comes from a diverse culture. As such, student services has focused on the development of international student needs, multicultural groups, as well as spirituality and religious services. When students are enrolled at school, especially as a residential student, they should feel comfortable with their surroundings and find some connection to their university. These services may begin to ease some initial tensions that incoming students may feel.

Another vital aspect of our services are first year orientation courses and programs. In this case, student affairs can work hand-in-hand with faculty and academic advisors to develop a curriculum to introduce students to a college environment and assist them in navigating through the university and its offerings.

Finally, students’ involvement on campus not only increases their connectivity to the university, but also enhances cultural learning and exposure to new experiences. As such, Greek Life, student clubs, sports, and other campus sponsored associations add appeal to our university because of how inclusive it is of different opportunities and organizations.

My suggestion is that we work together to assess the needs and utilization of our student services. In that way the university will be able to make any necessary changes and streamline what our student affairs has to offer here. Each sub-group of student affairs can take part in an outcomes-based assessment (OBA) to address any concerns you may have for the necessity and importance of each of these groups. Student services are a vital part of a campus community and they provide our students with opportunities for learning and personal growth.

Warm Regards,

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Megan H. L. Tucker

Chief Student Affairs Officer

University of Arbys at McDonalds

KFC Campus

Question #2

A university is concerned that the experiences of Hispanic students is less than optimal, as the retention rates of these students is lower than other racial minority students on the campus and lower than the retention rates of Hispanic students at “peer” institutions. What 10 strategies would you recommend to address this issue? Please give 3 or 4 lines of explanation for each strategy you would recommend. (5 points).

Retention is a highly visible issue in current higher education institutions. The following is a list of options for the university to consider addressing issues regarding Hispanic student retention:

1. The first step to recognizing a need for change and/or accommodation is to identify prejudice and stereotyping within the university. Student affairs professionals must be able to effectively manage and respond to diverse groups in order to understand the culture and respond to needs (Schuh, Jones & Harper, 2011, p.337).

2. Assess Campus Ecology. A direct way to address concerns is to approach the source. Student affairs employees can first hold focus groups for the Hispanic student population to gauge their satisfaction with the university and services offered. From there student affairs workers can ask for specific grievances against the university and address needs that are not met (Schuh et al., 2011, p. 244).

3. Contact the “peer” institutions that have higher Hispanic student retention rates to gauge what services they offer. Compare findings from these institutions with what the university does not offer.

4. Financial burden is a prominent issue for college students and the Hispanic population is not immune to that (Schuh et al., 2011, p. 75). Student affairs professionals should make student funding (financial aid) options clear to Hispanic students and promote researching grants, scholarships and loans.

5. Establish a Hispanic Student Organization on campus. Many minority groups wish to feel more connected to others in their culture. Establishing a group made for these students may allow for social bonding and a stronger tie to the university.

6. Next, establish a Living Learning Community for residential Hispanic students who wish to live with fellow students of their background. Though socialization outside of their culture is as important, it may increase retention rates if students feel connected to other students with the same background, or have the ability to share living space with students they already identify with.

7. Hire a diversity coordinator for advising and multicultural student organizations. If the current campus groups and advisors have no exposure to Hispanic culture or norms, then they may not be able to work fully with this student group.

8. Consider hiring on more Hispanic or Latino faculty and staff to serve as advisors for this population of students. Once again, though outside socialization and exposure to different cultures is important, if these students feel that they do not identify with any faculty or staff, then they may not feel comfortable at that school. This also sets the groundwork for academic and student affairs partnerships which can improve student retention (Schuh et al., 2011, p. 485).

9. Coordinate with Hispanic alumni and survey them, or use their influence to start a renewable scholarship fund for current Hispanic students.

10. Finally, consider altering the university dynamic to more of a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). This would be typified by an enrollment increase in Hispanic students and half of the student body would come from lower income homes. This is a more radical option for the university to consider, but is still an option nonetheless (Schuh et al, 2011, p. 36).

Question #3

Explain the concept of ‘self-authorship’ and it’s linkage to learning outcomes in a college or university environment. Give an example of an educational program for a college freshman and a program for a college junior that can increase the opportunity for student development in terms of ‘self authorship.’ (5 points)

Self-authorship is a holistic and transformative view of learning. According to Schuh et al. (2011) self-authorship is a slowly developing process in which an individual internally generate their beliefs, values, identity and relationships (p. 210). There are three overarching dimensions that are linked to self-authorship including: epistemological, intrapersonal and interpersonal (Baxter Magolda & King, 2004 as cited in Schuh et al, 2011). Based on these dimensions it has been found that self-authorship is linked to meaning making and learning outcomes for students (Schuh et al, 2011). Self-authorship is simply a way of defining oneself. This, however, is not a simple task. Figuring out who you are and what you believe and value is not something that happens overnight, and cannot be directly taught. It must emerge. Thus, universities have their work cut out for them to create environments and learning communities which promote and guide self-authorship.

Student services and academic departments have an opportunity to collaborate in creating a multi-tiered educational program for college students in each year of their studies. These programs may be sponsored as a credited course series or an extracurricular mentoring and development program open to the student body. I will give some background ideas for each.

If a series of courses were offered to promote self-authorship, they may be considered a leadership special topics class, an interpersonal-based communication or sociology course, or even part of the university transition programs (UTP) which offer University 100 etc. For the sake of a hypothetical situation we will place these courses under the UTP umbrella. As a series of special topics, or integrated into the preexisting courses, the concept of self-authorship must be introduced and re-introduced gradually. Being that these courses are often required, this makes expanding the development of self-authorship easier. Thus, a college freshman may be required to take a UNIV 100 level course to introduce them to life as a college student. Offering some instruction on the idea of self-authorship and promoting long term journaling, reflection and peer interaction will being the student development.

Another idea would be to develop a peer mentoring or student development group with the main goal being the promotion of self-authorship and meaning making. The group would center on the concepts of identity recognition and interpretation, understanding how students make meaning, engagement in diverse relationships, and using evidence and logic when considering new knowledge (Schuh et al., 2011). Groups similar to this idea already exist at GMU including: STEP, Living Learning Communities, LEAD, and PEP. Though the focus of these groups may not specifically be self-authorship, they do concentrate on some of the core goals of self-authorship including, interpersonal development, and student learning.

References

Baxter Magolda, M.B. & King, P.M. (2004). Learning partnerships: Theory and models of practice to education for self-authorship. In Schuh, J., Jones, S. & Harper, S. (2011). Student Services: A Handbook for the Profession. (5th ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Schuh, J., Jones, S. & Harper, S. (2011). Student Services: A Handbook for the Profession. (5th ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

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