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Session 1
10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Serving the Non-Traditional Adult Collegian – Benefits to Student, Institution and Employer
Todd Siben, Thomas Edison State College
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This presentation offers a perspective on serving non-traditional adult students including distance education, degree completion planning, the assessment of prior learning, military training and other issues that tend to be of concern to the non-traditional, adult student, but not uniquely. Attendees will gain a greater understanding and appreciation of options available to adult students in contemporary higher education. There will be place for participants to offer thoughts on how programs have been or could be implemented on your own campus. No previous knowledge of distance, non-traditional education or adult students is needed, only a willingness to consider that this presentation may offer new options that addresses enrollment, retention, satisfaction and motivation – issues related to institutional and employer benefits.
Rider Achievement Program: A Student Centered Progression
Mary Beth Carstens, Rider University
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The Rider Achievement Program, an academic support program for specially admitted Rider University first year students, has undergone many changes in the past 4 years. The program currently has 4 main components: Summer Bridge Program, Linked Community of Learners, Success Coaching and Peer Assistance Program. In this presentation, the student centered progression will be shared, highlighting successes and challenges. Anyone interested in creating or revamping a first year academic support program may find this presentation useful.
Advising Beyond Requirements: Pathways, ePortfolio, and Integrative Learning
Rebecca Reynolds, Abigail Sara Lewis, Rutgers University
In 2003, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) launched a project to promote “integrative learning,” “fostering students’ abilities to integrate learning—across courses, over time, and between campus and community life. An “integrative learning” approach assumes that today’s students need to gain competency in multiple contexts; become attuned to an increasingly global and technology-driven world; transfer competencies across fields, and be prepared to relate social complexities (e.g., gender, class, race) to lived experience.
Presenters will describe projects at Douglass Residential College that support integrative learning: the development of Pathways, or thematic clusters of concentration (e.g. leadership, global education) that incorporate co-curricular experience; use of ePortfolio for reflecting on skills acquired across contexts; and peer advising, in which upperclass students model an engaged approach to learning and involvement.
The Learn and Earn Program: Teaching Students with Disabilities Job Skills Training
Michele Sartori, Michelle Campbell, Sean Cruse, Hudson County Community College
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The Learn and Earn Program provides an opportunity for students with documented disabilities to bridge the gap between their high school and college experience. Members of the program acquire job skills one can not learn in a classroom alone! The Learn and Earn program is an academic support service to assist students with physical and learning disabilities, to gain job skills training and to obtain part time or full time employment. The program is comprised of a vocational class, internet-research class, and individual counseling. Currently the Learn and Earn program exists on three community college campuses; Nassau County College, Queensborough Community College, and through funding from Kessler Rehabilitation, now at Hudson County Community College, in Jersey City, NJ. Please join us today as we share our experiences in trying to increase the self advocacy skills of our students and their employment opportunities.
Embracing a Culture of Intentional Intervention to Enhance Student Advisement and Retention
Kareen Odate, Medgar Evers College of The City University of New York
In an effort to continue to improve the advisement and retention of its students, Medgar Evers College (MEC) has taken strides to more effectively address the various academic needs of its student body. Areas housed in MEC’s College of Freshman Studies (CFS) include Freshman Year Program (FYP), Search for Education, Elevation, and Knowledge (SEEK), Second Year Transition (SYT), Office for Academic Transformation and Success (OATS), Student Advocacy Support Services Center (SASSC), and Testing. To that end, CFS has become a one stop center that aims to take students through a seamless transition from their point of entry to degree completion at MEC. The objective of this presentation is to demonstrate how adopting a culture of intentional intervention has enabled these areas to enhance student advisement and retention, discuss strategies they have implemented, and their efficacy.
Session 2
1:15 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.
The Transfer Student Seminar: Providing a “Global” Introduction to Success
Dr. Thomas Grites, Richard Stockton College
Over half of American college students are transfer students, who oftentimes feel overwhelmed by the amount of new information presented to them their first semester. They may not connect to the right student support services, navigating the new environment on their own. At Stockton College, the presenter has taught his own regular courses as a “transfer student seminar” in order to aid in a smooth transition for transfer students. He will show how currently existing courses such as Contemporary American Education and Research Design and Methods in Criminal Justice have been successfully tailored for new transfer students. He will share course requirements, special components, and successes with this approach.
Freshman Intensive Studies: A Unique Freshman Experience Program for At-Risk Learners
Mark Sapara, Mary Ford, Fairleigh Dickinson University
Now in its 25th year at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Freshman Intensive Studies (FIS) is a student-centered, academic support program that strives to help conditionally-admitted first-year students reach their full potential. Through a comprehensive array of advising and learning services, students learn to become self-advocating, active learners.
In 2006, the FIS program underwent a major revamping, including changes to the delivery of academic advising, academic skills workshops, and supplemental instruction. As a result, freshman to sophomore retention rates have increased from 69% in 2005 to 79% in 2008. Workshop attendees will learn more about the key elements to the FIS program’s success, including details about how we reduced the involvement of “helicopter parents.” Institutions that are developing their own special-admit programs and those that are struggling with changing demographic of student learners will find this session especially useful. Discussion items will include developmental advising, active learning, supplemental instruction, learning communities, learning assistance and program outcomes assessment.
Electronic Portfolios: A Reflection of the First Year Experience
Elizabeth Cappelluti-Sheehy, Hezal Patel, Seton Hall University
This session will provide an overview of the use of electronic portfolios as a course requirement for first year students enrolled in University Life, a required course for all freshmen at Seton Hall University. The value of ePortfolios as a vehicle to increase student engagement by fostering a stronger connection between students and their mentor/advisor will be discussed. Examples of student ePortfolios will be viewed throughout the session.
The presenters will share their experiences in supporting the ePortfolio initiative at Seton Hall and demonstrate evidence that ePortfolios can foster stronger relationships between first-year students and their instructors/advisors. The presenters will also highlight how the ePortfolio assignment has changed throughout each semester, based on student feedback and instructor observation.
Creating Communities of Learning and Advising for Women in STEM fields
Dr. Regina Riccioni, Elaine Zundl, Rutgers University
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Universities all over the country are pursuing initiatives from the National Science Foundation to promote and retain women and minorities in STEM majors. Douglass College, now Douglass Residential College, created a program to foster women in the sciences over 20 years ago. This tremendously successful program, the Douglass Project, initiated the first living/learning community for women interested in the sciences, a pre-college summer science program, and a NSF funded Project SUPER enrichment program. The DP is a testament to the importance of single-sex programs for cultivating leadership skills for women in the sciences. This presentation will concentrate on best practices for advising and mentoring women in STEM. It will include discussion of professional development, networking, improving faculty involvement, career workshops, one-on-one advising, and enrichment programs that engage women in the sciences.
Generation Y: Implications for Advisement Practice and Strategies for Success
Dr. Simone Rodriguez-Dorestant and Dr. Claudia Schrader, Medgar Evers College of The City University of New York
Historically, higher education categorized students into one of two groups, “traditional” and “non-traditional”. However, recent literature also increasingly use sociological terms to describe and ascribe generationally based characteristics to students. Research describing Generation Y, individuals born at the onset of the 1980s, categorizes them as technologically proficient, ethnically diverse, financially and goal oriented, idealistic and impatient. The purpose of this presentation will be to discuss how characteristics ascribed to Generation Y affect advisement practices and to provide strategies for ensuring effective advisement practices and positive outcomes for academic advisors as well as Generation Y students. The objectives of the presentation are to broaden participants’ understanding of students’ characteristics; increase participants’ understanding of how students’ characteristics may affect advising practices; and provide participants with strategies to meet the needs of students.
WELCOME HOME! Understanding the Unique needs of our Disabled Student Patriots!
Kathy Loder-Murphy, Rutgers University
Disabled student veterans are returning home to our universities. Their combat experiences have provided them with leadership skills and abilities quite different than the typical college student. Unfortunately, their experiences have also had lasting psychological, emotional and cognitive consequences. Through case studies and video interviews, the participant will gain an understanding of the needs of the disabled student veteran and will learn the language of PTSD and TBI. A Model Program for welcoming the disabled student veteran to the college environment will be outlined.
Session 3
2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Students in Transition - Enhancing the First Semester Transfer Student Experience
Dr. Robin Diamond, Dana Frasca, Matthew Winkler, Rutgers University
Transfer students in their first semester at a large four-year research institution can be a vulnerable population often subjected to academic and social challenges not previously experienced at two-year and smaller 4-year colleges. Find out how the staff of the Rutgers University School of Arts & Sciences Transfer Student Center, following best practices and national research recommendations, combats these concerns with a one-credit “Students in Transition” seminar and a dedicated group of undergraduate Transfer Mentors. Join us for a lively discussion about transfer students, the challenges they present, and ideas for enhancing their transitional semester.
Just ASC: Academic Coaching as a Retention Initiative
Bernadette Manno, Elizabeth Cappelluti-Sheehy, Elizabeth Hoehn, Hezal Patel, Seton Hall University
The Academic Success Center at Seton Hall University is a new retention initiative that began in the Fall of 2008, which focuses on specific populations in order to improve retention. The ASC targets students who are undecided about their major, fail to achieve sophomore status at the end of their first year, are not succeeding in their choice of major, are in jeopardy of losing their University scholarship, and transfer students. Our purpose is to advise, coach, and to bring students to an “aha” moment while providing academic support and guidance. In collaboration with other resources on campus, we hope to see these students through to their goal of commencement.
Increasing efficiency and collaboration with GoogleDocuments: while saving time and avoiding frustration
Alexandra Yanovski, Parsons New School for Design
How do we use new technology to organize multiple versions of documents, develop research projects and work collaboratively while miles or offices away from one another? Technology is quickly changing how we communicate and advise students, it is also changing how we interact with co-workers and colleagues from other universities. The focus of this workshop is a new function available through Google: Google Docs. GoogleDocs is a free business application, which allows one to share and collaborate online. It can be easily adapted for use in advising and higher education settings. We will discuss functions of the program that can help save time, organize documents, and provide a forum for immediate peer feedback. We will also discuss privacy issues and limitations.
Advising Students of Asian/Asian American Backgrounds: Intercultural Perspectives
Dr. Hui-Min Kuo, Rutgers University
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Given that student populations in higher education have become increasingly integrated with diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds, advisors face constant challenges in handling advisement issues, such as, how to offer guidance effectively to students who come from underrepresented cultures, how to motivate those students to seek consultation timely, and how to develop trust and understanding with them. In the context of intercultural advising, this presentation attempts to address these issues by exploring practices and challenges of advising students who are mostly from Asian/Asian American backgrounds. Applying a case study approach, the session will briefly introduce Asian American student body in a large university; examine the impact of converging cultures, shifting identities, and ideological differences on advisement; propose appropriate advising strategies; and discuss competencies projected for advising locally, thinking globally.
Preparing Students for the Job Search Process: Career Development Embedded in the College Classroom
Carol A. Eigenbrot, Harold Thompson, Rowan University
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What can students do to validate their major and career choices? What steps should they take to position themselves to secure rewarding and high paying employment opportunities when they graduate? From freshman year to degree completion, students participate in career development opportunities including self-assessment, major exploration, resume writing, networking, career exploration, job searching, and interviewing.
Through a collaborative approach, advisors, faculty and staff at Rowan University conduct a successful program to guide students through the career development process. Without incurring extra costs, we’ve built connections, increasing student participation in career events and on-campus recruitment, renewing faculty/advisor interaction and encouraging employer involvement. Want to start a similar program at your two or four year institution? Come learn more.
Making Every Moment Count: Providing Advisement in a School Specific Advisement Center
Rosemary Schultz, Nicole Martin, Hudson Valley Community College
Over the years there has been much discussion concerning which advisement model works best; professional advisors, faculty advisors, centralized advisors, etc. We, in the School of Business Advisement Center at Hudson Valley Community College believe that we have a system that works wonderfully for us and we would like to share what it is and why it works so well.
The School of Business Advisement Center provides academic advisement to over 1500 matriculated business students at HVCC. Our center is staffed by a combination of dedicated education specialists (faculty) and non teaching professional staff. In this program we will present how the School of Business has used specialization, teams, and shared decision making to provide high quality advisement to students when and where they need it. We will also present how our advisement center has used our limited resources to meet the growing demand for advising services over the past decade.
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