Job Talk: Student Success in the Residence Halls

1. Job Talk:Student Success in the Residence Halls Gina LoSchiavo April 13, 2012

2. Overview • Audience: Residence Life staff and campus partners • Why this issue? • Benefits of living on campus • Benefits of faculty involvement • Suggestions • Questions?

3. What is student success? • “Retention and graduation are best described as partial indicators of student success…the college degree is meaningful but only after it represents forms of learning that are both valued by society and empowering to the individual” (Kuh, 2009).

4. Why this issue? • Many colleges and universities require students to live on campus during their first year of school. • “Living on campus (versus commuting to college) is perhaps the single most consistent within-college determinant of impact” (Pascarella & Terenzini, p. 611)

5. Benefits for students • Pascarella and Terenzini (2005) state that students living on campus report; • Increased independence • More persistent in college • More likely to obtain a Bachelor’s degree • More involved in their major • Achieve academically

6. Why faulty involvement? • Pascarella & Terenzini (2005) indicate that faculty-student interactions in residence halls, community centers, and in the dining facilities provide a bridge between formal academic programs and out of classroom learning and development activities for students. • “Research has shown that on a campus where the average faculty member only somewhat believes that participation in learning communities is important only 3% become involved in this activity. In contrast, when they feel it is very important. 55% of first years participate” (Kuh, 2009).

7. Best Practices • Living Learning Communities • “Being an educated person means being able to see connections that allow one to make sense of the world and act within creative ways…listening, reading, solving puzzles truth seeking, seeing through other people’s eyes, leading working in a community-is finally about connecting” (Cronon, 1999). • Faculty-in-Residence • UCLA • The University of Oklahoma • Georgetown

8. Final Thoughts • “Most institutions can increase student engagement and success by more consistently using what theresearch shows are promising policies and effective educational activities and practices” (Kuh, 2009, p.22). • Starting small • “Faculty Fellows” • Requiring faculty to be part of the Resident Assistant programming model • Inviting faculty to events

9. Questions? • Feel free to contact me at gnloschiavo@gmail.com

10. Works Cited Cronon, W. (2001). “Only Connect…”. In Whipps, J. (Ed.). Education: Power and Choices (pp. 76–83). Acton, MA: Copley Custom Publishing Kuh, G. (2009). High-impact educational practices: What they are, who has access to them, and why they matter. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities. Terenzini, P. T., Pascarella, E. T., and Blimling, G. S. (1996). Students’ Out-Of-Class Experiences and Their Influence on Learning and Cognitive Development: A Literature Review. Journal of College Student Development, 37(2): 149-162.