Parents & Families: They have your number!

1. Parents & Families: They have your number! Jody Donovan Associate Dean of Students/Executive Director of Parent & Family Programs Kacee Collard Jarnot Assistant Director of Parent & Family Programs PDI – 01.07.10

2. Welcome • Introductions • Family Relationships • Generational Issues & Current Research • CSU’s Philosophy on Working with P&F • Tips & Strategies • Discussion/Questions

3. Your Family Relationships • How was your family involved in your college experience (i.e. academics, finances, personal issues)? • Did your family support you through your first ‘crisis’ in college? If so, how?

4. Know Thyself & Thy Family • Salvador Minuchin’s Family Systems Theory • Detached • Enmeshed • Healthy Boundaries • Examples Minuchin, S. (1974). Families and Family Therapy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press .

5. Generational Issues • Connection & Family Relationships • Problem Solving • Involvement • Assertive Communication Skills • Emerging Adulthood

6. Power of Reframing Analogies • Helicopter = Hovering • Bulldozer = Pushing • Tandem Bicycle = Guiding • Umbrella = Caring

7. Current ResearchHigher Education Research Institute Survey Results on The American Freshmen: National Norms for Fall 2007 Home of the CIRP - The nation’s oldest and largest study of higher education

8. Current ResearchHigher Education Research Institute Survey Results:Percentage of first year students, by race & ethnicity, who see “too little” parental involvement in key areas

9. Current CSU ResearchHow often do you communicate with your student?

10. Current CSU ResearchHow often do you initiate communication with your student?

11. Current CSU ResearchTop 5 Topics of Conversation between Students & Their Parents or Family Members • Classes/Academic Issues • Family Issues • Motivation & Encouragement • Grades • Finances

12. CSU Philosophy & Mission Statement Colorado State University actively partners with students' parents and families to support students' academic success and personal development while also assisting families to become appropriately involved and connected with their students and the University.

13. Tips & Strategies • Before you interact with parents & families: • Know the campus resources available • Understand FERPA and the institution’s approach • Know thyself and thy family • Be aware of your own responses to challenging families • Answer questions instead of forwarding them on- always provide a “soft hand-off” • Return phone calls and e-mails

14. Tips & Strategies • As you interact with parents & families: • Have patience (put yourself in their shoes…) • Know what you say matters • Honor the commitment families make by sending their loved ones to college • Legitimize fears, concerns, and questions • Talk about how their roles and lives have changed • Provide options, problem solve together • Listen to what is both said and not said, document the conversation • Encourage families to have faith in themselves and their students

15. Tips & Strategies • Keep in mind: • Families expect to be involved, we need to define those boundaries • Consistent messages about family collaboration • Help families understand the college experience today • Help families understand that students are working toward becoming adults • Common focus: student success • Honor the needs of families • We are educating the whole family, not just the student anymore • Be sensitive about college as an investment • Inclusive in structures of “families” & family culture

16. CSU Parent & Family Programs’Five Areas of Focus • Awareness • Let parents & families know P&F Programs exists • Education • Appropriate college parenting, family transitions & CSU resources • Development • Increasing financial support for the Parents Fund • On-Campus Outreach • Seamless P&F service delivery across campus • Off-Campus Outreach • Work to be a model program for other campuses

17. Questions, Comments & Discussion