Focusing - Orientation & First-Year Programs (OFYP) · the Clifton StrengthsFinder and the Clifton...
Transcript of Focusing - Orientation & First-Year Programs (OFYP) · the Clifton StrengthsFinder and the Clifton...
Learn Change
Develop
Expe
rien
ceon the
First Year
Focusing
February 16, 2011
A campus-wide discussion for faculty, staff, and administrators
Conference LogisticsSessions: Feel free to attend any sessions
offered. All are held on the third floor of Coffman
Union. Presenters are encouraged to send
session materials to [email protected] following the
conference. These materials will then be posted
on the conference website for all participants to
access.
Lunch: If you pre-registered for lunch, the
conference name tag you received at check-in
serves as your lunch pass. If you did not pre-
register, but would like to stay, ask about space
availability at the registration table.
Restrooms: Men’s and women’s restrooms
are on the west and east ends of each floor,
respectively. They are also located at the north
end of the Great Hall. A gender neutral restroom is
located on the west end of the second floor.
Evaluations: An overall evaluation will be
emailed to you after the conference. The presenters
will distribute session evaluations in their session.
Return session evaluations to the presenters before
leaving the breakout room.
Conference Reading Material: All conference participants have access to three
articles provided by keynote and guest Shane
Lopez. The articles, The Economics of Wellbeing (Rath and Harter), Hope and Academic Success in College (Snyder, Shorey, Cheavens, Pulvers,
Adams, and Wiklund) and The Principles of Strengths-Based Education (Lopez and Louis) are
available online on the conference website.
Throughout the day please stop by the information
table in the Great Hall for additional materials
provided by the National Orientation Directors
Association, National Resource Center for the
First-Year Experience and Students in Transition,
The Global Community for Academic Advising,
and Gallup. Following the conference materials
provided by conference presenters will be available
on the conference website.
www.ofyp.umn.edu/fyconference
Schedule at a Glance8:00 – 8:30 a.m. Great HallCheck-In & Continental Breakfast
8:30 – 10:00 a.m. Great Hall Welcome and Keynote
10:15 – 11:05 a.m. Third FloorEducational Session I
11:15 a.m. – 12:05 p.m. Third FloorEducational Session II
12:10 – 1:15 p.m. Great HallLunch
1:20 – 2:10 p.m. Third FloorEducational Session III
2:20 – 3:10 p.m. Third FloorEducational Session IV
3:20 – 4:30 p.m. Theater
Discussion with Shane Lopez and University of Minnesota Representatives*Refreshments served
Learn Change
Develop
Expe
rien
ce
8:00 – 8:30 a.m. Conference Check-In & Continental Breakfast Great Hall
After you receive your materials at conference
check-in, enjoy the continental breakfast before the
conference begins.
8:30 – 10:00 a.m. Conference Welcome & Keynote Address Great Hall
CONFERENCE WELCOME
Beth Lingren Clark, Director, Orientation & First-Year Programs
Thomas Sullivan, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost
James Liberman, Coordinator, Orientation & First-Year
Programs
MAkiNG RippLES: HOW HOpE AND WELLBEiNG pROMOTE ACADEMiC SuCCESS
Shane J. Lopez, ph.D.
Shane J. Lopez is research director and a member of
the Board of Directors for the Clifton Strengths School.
He is an architect of the forthcoming Gallup Student
Poll, and he directs the annual Gallup Well-Being
Forum, which convenes scholars, leaders and decision-
makers to discuss topics such as global well-being,
human strengths and health care.
Dr. Lopez leads the research on the links between
hope, strengths development, academic success
and overall well-being. He collaborates with scholars
around the world on these issues, and he specializes
in hope and strengths enhancement for students from
pre-school through college graduation, advocating
a whole-school strengths model that also builds
the strengths expertise of educators, parents and
youth development organizations. He has provided
strengths mentoring to thousands of college students,
including academic, career and life planning, and
he advises schools, colleges, and universities on
these issues. He co-wrote the statistical reports for
the Clifton StrengthsFinder and the Clifton Youth
StrengthsExplorer.
Dr. Lopez has
published nearly
60 peer-reviewed
articles, 34
chapters and 7
books, including
Positive Psychology: Exploring the Best in People and The Encyclopedia of Positive Psychology.
With C.R. Snyder, he
published Positive Psychology: The Scientific and Practical Explorations of Human Strengths, which
won the Sage Press Book of the Year Award; Positive Psychological Assessment: A Handbook of Models and Measures and The Handbook of Positive Psychology.
With Cynthia Pury, he also co-edited the book
Courage, which was released in 2009.
Dr. Lopez is the past associate editor of the Journal
of Social and Clinical Psychology, editorial board
member of the Journal of Positive Psychology, and an
ad-hoc reviewer for numerous psychology journals. He
is a licensed psychologist, a Fellow of the American
Psychological Association and educational advisor for
Discovery Television.
Strengths: Futuristic, Maximizer, Arranger, Ideation,
Strategic
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10:15 – 11:05 a.m.
Educational Session I
Third Floor
uSiNG STRENGTHS WiTH STuDENTS: WHAT’S HAppENiNG HERE AT THE uNivERSiTY OF MiNNESOTA, TWiN CiTiES Location: Mississippi Room
Robin Stubblefield, Director, Student Engagement and Co-Curricular Learning
Grant Anderson, Program Director, Housing & Residential Life
Linnette Werner, Coordinator, Office for Student Affairs
Chad Ellsworth, Program Director, Office for Fraternity and Sorority Life
Anna Mraz, Assistant Academic Adviser, College of Education and Human Development
katy Hinz, Coordinator for Student Programs, College
of Science & Engineering
Student Learning and Development Outcomes provide
a common guiding framework for the undergraduate
experience. The specific curricular and co-curricular
paths students will take towards achieving these
outcomes will vary widely. No two paths will look the
same as each student is unique in their backgrounds,
interests, values, behaviors, strengths, personalities and
experiences.
A research based program, StrengthsQuest™ is an
online assessment tool that helps students increase
their awareness of their talents so that they can further
develop those talents into strengths. StrengthsQuest™
has been used by over 850,000 students at 600
campuses in North America; thousands of those
students are right here at the University of Minnesota,
Twin Cities.
Students on our campus have had opportunities to
discover and apply their strengths, both inside and
outside the classroom, in areas including leadership,
conflict resolution and interpersonal relations, team
building, career and internship exploration and
planning, and major exploration and planning. They are
learning about themselves and others around them, a
part of progressing towards successful achievement
of outcomes as self-awareness, appreciation of
differences, and independence and interdependence.
During this session, panelists representing various
colleges, Housing & Residential Life, Office for
Fraternity and Sorority Life, Career Services and
other areas will discuss how they have integrated
StrengthsQuest™ and strengths-based approaches into
their curriculum and/or programming.
THE ROLE OF COMMuNiTY ENGAGEMENT iN ENHANCiNG OvERALL ACADEMiC ENGAGEMENT AMONG FiRST-YEAR STuDENTS Location: President’s Room
Andrew Furco, Associate Vice President for Public
Engagement, Office of Public Enagagement
The findings from recent research reveal a positive
link between student community engagement
experiences and their overall academic success. For
example, students who participate in service-learning,
internships or study abroad activities are more likely
to persist to graduation and be more motivated to
involve themselves within the academic environment
(Astin, 2000; Astin and Vogelgesang, 2001; Gallini and
Moely, 2002; Bringle, Hatcher, and Muthiah, 2009).
For first-year students, community engagement
experiences often provide opportunities for them to
build important relationships with peers, to establish
relationships with faculty and other adult mentors, to
examine more fully their own talents and interests, and
to situate themselves as a citizen of the institution and
community (Eyler and Giles, 1999; Boyle-Baise, 2002;
Moely, McFarland, and Miron, 2002).
This session will explore the latest research on
students’ community engagement experiences
and implications of this research on the first-year
experience. The session also explores the public
engagement agenda at the University of Minnesota
and the ways this agenda promotes the engagement
of students in community-focused issues from the
time they enter the University as first-years students.
Included in this portion will be a description of the
University’s student community engagement.
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Following the presentation, participants will have
a dialogue about how the University can create
intentional pathways for students’ engagement during
the first-year as a means for enhancing students
success at the University. Participants will also have a
chance to react to and discuss the recent results from
the community engagement section of the University’s
Student Experiences in the Research University
(SERU) survey. The survey provides responses from
over 1,100 undergraduate students at the University
of Minnesota, Twin Cities, regarding their attitudes
toward community engagement and the role that it
plays in their overall educational experience.
FACiLiTATiNG STuDENT DEvELOpMENT iN 30-MiNuTES OR LESS Location: Room 303
Lisa Novack, Academic Adviser, College of Biological Sciences
Nikki Letawsky Shultz, Director, College of Biological Sciences Student Services
Stefanie Wiesneski, Academic Adviser, College of
Biological Sciences
Like many colleges, the College of Biological Sciences
requires a 30-minute first-year checkback appointment
with an academic adviser. In this session we will review
best practices with required first-year appointments
and discuss strategies for assessing and enhancing the
appointments to ensure student needs and institutional
goals are being met.
SuppORT AND OuTREACH FOR FiRST-YEAR STuDENTS: LiBRARiES BEYOND THE BOOkS Location: Room 319
kate peterson, Information Literacy Librarian, University Libraries
Jody Gray, Diversity Outreach Librarian, University
Libraries
One role of the University Libraries is to support the
academic growth of first-year students. Two major
trends facing Minnesota colleges and universities are
changing student demographics and a decrease in
funding and librarians.
The percent of Minnesota’s population that is non-
white or Latino is projected to grow from 14 percent
in 2005 to 25 percent in 2035. The numbers of Latino,
black, and Asian Minnesotans are projected to more
than double over the next 30 years. According to the
Minnesota State Demographic Center, all regions of
the state will continue to become more racially and
ethnically diverse than they are now.
Due to ongoing decreases in school funding, an
increasing number of schools in Minnesota have lost
librarians--a quarter have lost their jobs in the past
decade. These disparate but related trends result in
many incoming University of Minnesota, Twin Cities,
students unprepared for academic research in their
first-year courses. The identity and experiences of
this group have a major impact on outreach efforts
and services provided. In this interactive session, you
will learn more about the research challenges facing
first-year students and the libraries efforts with First-
Year Writing and Student Excellence in Academics
and Multiculturalism (SEAM) courses, Peer Research
Consultants, partnerships with the Multicultural Center
for Academic Excellence (MCAE), and more. You
will leave with ideas and strategies to apply in other
campus programs and outreach efforts.
MAkiNG SpACE FOR MAkiNG MEANiNG: DEvELOpMENTAL REFLECTiON CuRRiCuLuM iN THE COMMuNiTY ENGAGEMENT SCHOLARS pROGRAM Location: Room 323
Laura Dammer Hess, Coordinator, Community Engagement Scholars Program, Community Service-Learning Center
katie peacock, Service-Learning Coordinator, Community Service-Learning Center
Lolla Mohammed Nur, Undergraduate Student
Whitney Weber, Undergraduate Student
Reflection is the act of making meaning from our
lived experiences and is critical to best practices in
community engagement.
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The Community Engagement Scholars Program is a
co-curricular experience for undergraduate students
committed to working with community-based
organizations to the meet needs of the community.
Students in the program complete 400 hours of
community work, eight credits of service-learning
coursework, a capstone project and seminar, and
six reflection assignments on a variety of themes
important to community work.
This presentation focuses on the reflection curriculum
that is woven throughout the program from when
the student joins (freshman or sophomore year) to
graduation. Over the last year, we have designed and
implemented a reflection curriculum to respond to the
wide range of developmental levels, academic interests
and passions for community work that students bring
to the Scholars Program. The curriculum is based on
a year-long research project done in conjunction with
the Center for Writing. This session will briefly describe
that research project, its findings, best practices in
designing and leading reflection assignments and
activities, and how we have implemented these in the
Scholars Program. We will also discuss how we created
developmental entry points into the curriculum so that
first-year students can access the content without
being overwhelmed, while more experienced students
can still be challenged and supported.
The session will then engage conference participants
to think about the variety of factors in the student
population they work with, how to create assignments
appropriate to their developmental level, and how
to support and encourage students to create a
reflective practice that can be carried throughout their
undergraduate careers and beyond.
MAppiNG THE ACADEMiC AND SOCiAL ENGAGEMENT OF FiRST-YEAR uNDERGRADuATE STuDENTS AT THE uNivERSiTY OF MiNNESOTA, TWiN CiTiES Location: Room 324
krista Soria, Administrative Fellow, Office of Institutional Research
Michael Stebleton, Associate Professor, Postsecondary Teaching and Learning
Ronald Huesman, Associate Director, Office of
Institutional Research
Nationally, student attrition is more likely to occur
in a student’s first-year of college (Pascarella &
Terenzini, 2005). Retention literature often points to
the importance of academic and social engagement
of students in their persistence and completion
of college (Kuh, 2009). This study examines the
academic and social engagement of first-year students
at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Academic
engagement factors, such as preparedness for
class, time spent reading and studying for class, and
contributions to classes will be explored. Additionally,
social engagement factors, such as participation in
clubs or organizations, time spent socializing with
friends or partying, and sense of social belonging will
also be examined. The data is drawn from the 2010
Student Experience in the Research University (SERU)
survey, which was completed by approximately 2,000
first-year students in spring 2010.
In addition to developing a picture around first-year
students academic and social engagement, this study
further explores the relationship between academic
and social engagement and students’ cumulative
grade point averages. For example, preliminary
findings indicate that academic disengagement
behaviors, such as turning in assignments late and
skipping class, have a negative relationship with
grade point average, while positive engagement
behaviors, such as revising papers before submission
and contributing to class discussions, have a positive
relationship with grade point average. Finally, this
study will examine the extent to which University of
Minnesota, Twin Cities, first-year students may differ
from other first-year students from other Association
of American Universities institutions on related factors.
This presentation will provide participants with an
enhanced understanding of the academic and social
engagement of first-year students at the University of
Minnesota, Twin Cities.
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HELpiNG STuDENTS ACHiEvE HEALTHY LivES Location: Room 325
Jolynn Gardner, ph.D., Faculty Instructor, Epidemiology
Tayne DeNeui, MpH, Director of Outreach and
Operations, Epidemiology
The School of Public Health’s Division of Epidemiology
and Community Health is launching a new initiative,
The Rothenberger Institute for Innovative Health
Education. The Rothenberger Institute was established
in memory of James H. Rothenberger III, Morse Alumni
Teaching Instructor of Public Health, to continue his
legacy of providing students with knowledge and
skills to lead healthy, productive and balanced lives. A
healthy life is a key component of a successful college
career.
The ultimate aim of the Institute is to provide a
suite of innovative courses that address a variety of
important health issues faced by college students.
For example, the Institute staff is currently working
on the development of a course on healthy stress
management. Other courses will be created in the
future.
The Institute currently offers two successful one-credit
on-line courses to the students at the University of
Minnesota, Twin Cities, and seven partner campuses.
These courses, Alcohol & College Life and Sleep, Eat,
and Exercise, are highly interactive and engaging.
Information in each is based upon current research
and students are encouraged to apply the information
to their own lives. Each course employs a peer-
education model in which certified peer educators
serve as teaching assistants. Thus, the students receive
feedback, suggestions, and encouragement from
someone with whom they can relate. They also receive
instruction and guidance from a faculty instructor.
This presentation will highlight the mission, goals, and
work of the Rothenberger Institute and provide other
members of the University community an opportunity
to become familiar with our courses. It is our hope to
reach as many students as possible in order to help
them achieve healthy, balanced lives during their time
at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and in the
future.
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NOTES
Study, the action steps we have taken or are planning
to leverage best practices and to address hitherto
unmet first-year student needs, and the general
strategies we have developed for moving more quickly
and effectively from data-overwhelmed to information
and knowledge management.
THE COST OF COMiNG TO SCHOOL AND OF AGE; MYTHS AND REALiTiES ABOuT STuDENT RESpONSiBiLiTiES Location: President’s Room
Mark karon, Director, University Student Legal
Services
University students are adults. They must understand
how poor judgment and bad decisions may impact
them for the rest of their lives.
Those in attendance will learn and understand how
they can assist students in becoming responsible,
involved members of the University community and
how to help them avoid issues that may disrupt their
lives. By minimizing the adverse affects of troublesome
issues and conduct, students will be able to focus on
their educational pursuits.
This program will discuss and explore the legal rights
and responsibilities of students. What they can do as
an adult and what collateral consequences may result
from their decisions and actions. The areas of impact
that will be addressed include: credit card use and
abuse, social networking concerns, Internet fraud,
identity theft, alcohol, drugs and parties, false I.D.’s,
and the impact of criminal convictions on education
and employment.
COLLEGE OF BiOLOGiCAL SCiENCES FiRST-YEAR iNTERNATiONAL STuDENTS: THEMES, TRENDS, AND iMpLiCATiONS Location: Room 303
Diep H. Luu, Academic Adviser, College of Biological Sciences
Beth isensee, Undergraduate Student Services Coordinator, International Student & Scholar
Services
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11:15 a.m – 12:05 p.m.
Educational Session II
Third Floor
BRiNGiNG HOME THE LESSONS OF THE LEAvERS STuDY Location: Mississippi Room
Chris kearns, ph.D., Assistant Dean, College of Liberal Arts Student Services
Colin DeLong, Coordinator of Technology & Analysis, College of Liberal Arts Assistant Dean’s Office
Every student services professional working to
improve support for first-year undergraduates is
confronted with the problem of how to distinguish
facts from lore. In an era of stringent outcomes
measures, rapidly expanding local and national
data resources, and emergent business intelligence
strategies, doing our jobs effectively means that we
have to develop better and more timely ways to
differentiate high-impact practices and innovative
ideas from untested intuitions, institutional myths, and
outright errors in judgment.
Using the Leavers Study as our example, we break the
general question of distinguishing facts from lore into
four components: First, how can individuals and units
choose the right questions or problem to be addressed
by quantitative and qualitative data? Second, how
can we get the right data to answer our questions and
clarify our problems? Third, what pragmatic steps can
we take to adopt the best analytic strategy for working
with data? Fourth, how can data help us design and
implement a more effective, outcomes focused action
strategy?
It is against this background that our session examines
a study of first-year attrition in the College of Liberal
Arts our Leavers Study - from the perspective of a
simple but powerful question: How can we best learn
about first-year students from the data available, and
what are the key lessons that data teaches?
By the end of the session, participants will know the
specific lessons we have drawn from the Leavers
Most international students report some degree of
culture shock when they arrive and begin their studies
(Lewthwaite, 1996; Olaniran, 1996, 1999; Sarkodie-
Mensah, 1998; Wei et al., 2007). That shock is typically
manifested as stress, anxiety, depression and feelings
of powerlessness, rejection, and isolation (Wei et al.,
2007).
First-year students in the College of Biological
Sciences (CBS) at the University of Minnesota, Twin
Cities, are not immune to culture shock. CBS is one
the smallest colleges at the University that enrolls
1800 students. In addition to having rigorous major
curricula, CBS admissions is competitive. As a result,
the academic rigor can be demanding especially for
those students who do not have good study and time
management skills. International students in CBS are
a particularly high risk population not only due to
adjustment issues but also high academic pressure and
demand.
This first of two presentations will examine the data of
the first-year CBS international students collected from
the CBS Office of Student Services. Themes, trends,
and implications will be drawn from advising notes
and academic transcripts. Furthermore, participants
will have an opportunity to share their observations
of themes and/or trends from their own colleges or
departments.
The second part of this session will be presented
during Educational Session III, Room 319.
THE TROuBLE WiTH REWARDS, iNCENTivES, AND pRAiSE Location: Room 319
David Downing, Residence Director, Housing & Residential Life
Juan Wilson, Residence Director, Housing & Residential Life
Jessica Gunzburger, Residence Director, Housing & Residential Life
Participants will actively examine how recognition is
utilized in their environments and what alternatives
they could use by exploring current research and
engaging in discussion. Participants will better
understand the detrimental effects that recognition
can have and how they hinder our efforts to engage
individuals in work that is sustainable.
This program relates to first-year students as
incentives and recognition are a form of motivation
that have been a part of their development.
This program is important to generate thought
and discussion about shifting the paradigm that
recognition, incentives and praise are necessary to
motivate and develop students. This program was first
presented at the Upper Midwest Region - Association
of College and University Housing Officers conference,
a conference for Housing and Residential Life
professionals, this past November.
In the first part of the presentation, participants will
be exposed to research on the negative effects of
rewards, including the harm they do to relationships,
the damage to a person’s intrinsic motivation, and their
negative impact on creativity (Kohn, 1993). During
the second part of the program, participants will be
actively engaged both individually and in small groups
to reflect and examine how rewards are used in their
work environments or how they themselves use them,
and what alternatives they could use to promote more
meaningful work that is sustainable without rewards,
incentives, and praise.
STRENGTHSQuEST™: FROM SkEpTiCS TO ADvOCATES Location: Room 323
Grant Anderson, Program Director, Housing &
Residential Life
In January 2010, Housing & Residential Life
staff participated in a staff development around
StrengthsQuest™. Prior to this, many within the
department were deeply skeptical of this approach.
After going through the development, many
were curious, but took no further action around
StrengthsQuest™ until Gallup did a presentation
on campus in late May. That presentation and a
trip to Gallup headquarters in June sparked a deep
commitment to Housing & Residential Life becoming a
Strengths-based department.
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FRESHMAN SEMiNARS ABROAD: TAkiNG STuDENT LEARNiNG TO NEW HORizONS Location: Room 325
Sarah Tschida, Associate Program Director, Learning Abroad Center
Christine Anderson, Program Director, Learning
Abroad Center
Freshman Seminars on campus have already
demonstrated that they are an integral first-year
experience. Study abroad research illustrates that
students increase their global perspective, world
mindedness and cross-cultural awareness while
overseas. Furthermore, Study Abroad for Global
Engagement (SAGE) found that study abroad was the
most impactful of college experiences. It is with this in
mind that the Office of the Senior Vice President for
Academic Affairs & Provost and the Learning Abroad
Center have partnered to create Freshman Seminars
Abroad. Together these powerful experiences,
freshman seminars and study abroad, have the
potential to enrich University of Minnesota, Twin
Cities, students, faculty, and the institution itself.
In this presentation, the Freshman Seminar Abroad
program model will be outlined. This model has an on
campus portion and an abroad piece during winter or
spring break, or May session, with logistical support
from the Learning Abroad Center. In addition, a priority
of these new programs is to reach non-traditional
students in study abroad. This includes students of
color, parents, males, athletes, and STEM students.
This presentation will outline the benefits of Freshman
Seminars Abroad to these three groups. Students can
increase their learning and developmental outcomes.
Faculty has the potential to enrich their intercultural
competence and international contacts. The University
of Minnesota, Twin Cities, benefits from student
retention, engagement, and increases its international
profile.
The international component of these programs
could include various characteristics such as: service-
learning, guest lectures, mini-research projects, study
tours, and interactive experiences with local students.
Locations include: Rome, Accra, Buenos Aires, Seoul
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This session will explore why we were skeptical, what
changed our minds, the fact finding that was done,
how we are using Strengths now, and the benefits we
have seen with our students.
SERvE TO LEARN: HOW COMMuNiTY SERviCE AND vOLuNTEERiSM MAY iMpACT ACADEMiC ACHiEvEMENT FOR COLLEGE FRESHMEN Location: Room 324
Daniel Jones-White, Analyst, Office for Institutional Research
krista Soria, Administrative Fellow, Office for Institutional Research
Ronald Huesman, Jr., Associate Director, Office for Institutional Research
Min Young Cha, Administrative Fellow, Office for
Institutional Research
Even though there is existing evidence which supports
the notion that public engagement opportunities (e.g.
service-learning, volunteerism) provide meaningful
contributions to the student experience, there is
currently no consensus on the impact of engagement
on academic achievement indicators, such as grade
point average (Eyler, Giles, and Gray, 1999). Utilizing
data from the Student Experience in the Research
University (SERU) Survey, this study explores whether
there is a relationship between community service and
first-year achievement at the University of Minnesota,
Twin Cities.
Descriptive results suggest that first-year students
tend to participate at levels comparable to their upper-
level peers with just under 50% of those responding
to the survey responding that that they participated
in community service or volunteerism within the
academic year. While the largest single percentage of
students reported to have found their service activities
on their own, nearly half first-year students in the
sample reported to have gotten involved through an
institutional related activity (e.g. student organizations,
related classes, or through an academic department
or program) suggesting that the University may serve
an important role in introducing students to civic
engagement opportunities.
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or London. This session will be interactive with
participants brainstorming their own freshman seminar
abroad as well as ideas for reaching non-traditional
students in study abroad.
ENGAGiNG FiRST-YEAR STuDENTS THROuGH LEADERSHip EDuCATiON: AN upDATE ON THE CBS DEAN’S SCHOLARS pROGRAM Location: Room 326
Meaghan Stein, Coordinator of Student Engagement and Retention, College of Biological Sciences
The College of Biological Sciences Dean’s Scholars
Program facilitates student leadership development
and prepares students to be active citizens in their
chosen professions and communities. This session will
explore how engaging first-year students in leadership
education positively impacts personal development,
retention, and timely graduation.
12:10 – 1:15 p.m. Lunch Great Hall
Join conference attendees for a buffet lunch. Keep
your name tag visible as this serves as your lunch
ticket. If you do not have a name tag, see the
conference check-in area.
NOTES
or that they did not feel strongly one way or the other.
Less than a quarter of respondents indicated that they
felt that inclusion of the statement in their syllabi was
inappropriate. The results of this preliminary survey
suggest that a majority of students are either neutral
or are in favor of the incorporation of such a statement
into their syllabi.
STuDENT SERviCE’S ROLE iN FACiLiTATiNG A STRENGTHSQuEST™ CuRRiCuLuM AS pART OF A COMpREHENSivE FiRST-YEAR ExpERiENCE iNiTiATivE iN THE COLLEGE OF EDuCATiON & HuMAN DEvELOpMENT Location: Room 303
Anna Mraz, Academic Adviser, College of Education and Human Development
Anthony Albecker, Academic Adviser, College of Education and Human Development
Carole Anne Broad, Academic Adviser, College of
Education and Human Development
For the past two years, Student Services has
incorporated a StrengthsQuest™ curriculum as part
of a comprehensive First-Year Experience initiative
in the College of Education and Human Development
(CEHD). In collaboration with the Department of
Postsecondary Teaching and Learning, and, as part
of a required First-Year Inquiry course, student
service professionals (academic advisers and career
counselors) facilitated a StrengthsQuest™ curriculum.
This presentation focuses on student service’s role
in the development and implementation of this
StrengthsQuest™ curriculum model. Key themes that
will be addressed in this presentation include: student
services, department, faculty, and central university
collaboration, strengths based advising, assessment
results of student and staff feedback on this initiative,
and, benefits, limitations and challenges of maintaining
this particular model.
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1:20 – 2:10 p.m. Educational Session III Third Floor
WORkiNG TOGETHER FOR STuDENTS’ FiNANCiAL FuTuRES Location: Mississippi Room
Julie Selander, Associate Director, One Stop Student
Services
“Live Like A Student Now, So You Don’t Have To
Later” is an outreach campaign with the goal to
raise awareness of the financial concerns unique to
campus life, and to remind students that smart money
decisions during college will benefit them for years to
come. First-year students, in particular, are in a time
of transition toward independence and are becoming
more self-reliant and self-sufficient. We all have a
role in helping to provide these students with the
tools, resources, and support to make sound financial
decisions. Learn more about the campaign and be
a part of the discussion on how we can expand and
improve the financial literacy of our students.
STuDENT OpiNiONS OF A MENTAL HEALTH SERviCES STATEMENT Location: President’s Room
Will Menzel, Junior Scientist, Microbial and Plant Genomics Institute and Department of Horticultural Science
Ashley Brueske, AmeriCorps Benefits and Employment
Coach, Rise, Inc
We present the results of a survey of 400 university
students regarding the incorporation of a mental
health services statement into course syllabi. The
statement directs students to relevant mental health
resources on campus. The survey was a poll of
undergraduate and graduate students at the University
of Minnesota, Twin Cities, enrolled in classes ranging
from nursing to electrical engineering. A total of 88.7%
of respondents indicated that they were either glad to
see the mental health services statement in their syllabi
iNTERNATiONAL uNDERGRADuATE STuDENTS’ CLASSROOM ExpERiENCES AND iMpLiCATiONS FOR pRACTiTiONERS Location: Room 319
Beth isensee, Undergraduate Student Services Coordinator, International Student & Scholar Services
kate Martin, Education Specialist, Center for Teaching and Learning
Mike Anderson, Director, Minnesota English Language
Program
Join us as we share survey results from 232
international undergraduate students regarding
their academic experiences in their first year at the
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Additionally, a
discussion will be facilitated around how these results
inform our work and strategies for assisting students in
a successful first year.
DEvELOpiNG STuDENT LEADERS iN SuSTAiNABiLiTY (OR OTHER SuBSTANTivE AREAS) Location: Room 323
Beth Mercer-Taylor, Sustainability Education
Coordinator, Institute on the Environment
How do we expand students’ substantive opportunities
for leadership, in areas such as sustainability and
the environment, starting in the first year? Join
a conversation on answers and ideas. We know
that some students find meaningful involvement
in policymaking and advocacy through student
organizations like MPIRG, Campus Beyond Coal and
EcoWatch. Other students find hands-on projects,
trips abroad and opportunities to engage with new
technology through Engineers Without Borders,
Active Energy Club and the Acara Challenge. Many
student organizations and departments involve
students in communications, event planning and in
research projects on sustainability. Some students
become sustainability leaders who truly drive change
on campus and beyond, but at the same time wish
that opportunities for leadership had been available
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at earlier stages in their academic career. What
program and activity models on campus help students
achieve leadership earlier? How could we collaborate
to support even more leadership opportunities, in
substantive areas like sustainability, for first year-
students?
NEW STRATEGiES FOR iNTRODuCTiON TO CLA STuDENT LiFE COuRSE Location: Room 324
Carl Brandt, Director, College of Liberal Arts Student Services
Meaghan Thul, Coordinator of Engagement, College of Liberal Arts
kathleen peterson, Academic Adviser, College of Liberal Arts
Jennifer Endres, Academic Adviser, College of Liberal Arts
Madhu Bhat, Academic Adviser, College of Liberal Arts
Wendy Nicholson-kotas, Academic Adviser, College
of Liberal Arts
For several years the College of Liberal Arts has
offered multiple sections of CLA 1001, “Introduction
to CLA Student Life.” These are one-credit courses
that have typically been offered as part of various
First-Year Interest Groups, and thus closely aligned
to existing academic programs. This year, however,
we piloted five stand-alone sections of the course,
targeted at particular groups of students we believed
would benefit from extra support. We offered sections
for students interested in Nursing, Health Sciences,
Business, and Engagement and, finally a section for
international students. The sections filled very quickly,
leading us to conclude that we had identified areas
that were indeed relevant. We present our results and
lessons learned and invite discussion on what others
are doing in this arena and what new possibilities
might be pursued in the future.
ENGAGiNG STuDENTS iN THE FiRST YEAR: A MuLTiDiSCipLiNARY AppROACH Location: Room 325
Murray Jensen, Associate Professor, College of Education & Human Development
Michael Stebleton, Assistant Professor, College of Education & Human Development
Brady Johnson, Graduate Research Assistant, College of Education & Human Development
Allison Mattheis, Graduate Research Assistant, College of Education & Human Development
As faculty members from three different disciplines, we
inevitably have varying viewpoints about pedagogical
philosophy, curriculum design processes, and student
assessment and evaluation. We intend to talk about
how we made decisions, compromises, and maintained
a sense of independence while working collaboratively
together. Decisions about texts, evaluation of written
projects, and topics will be included.
We intend to share content-related details about
the course, but the ways in which we designed this
collaborative process for students will likely be of more
interest to participants. How did we make decisions
about content? How did we create an interdisciplinary
activity focused on a central topic? What did we do
when disagreements surfaced in the planning process?
Sharing the development, implementation, and
evaluation of the capstone project and the intended
outcomes will be discussed.
Any sustainable program needs to have ongoing
evaluation. We will highlight the features of our FYE
assessment and evaluation process. In particular, we
will share results from an evaluation of the group
capstone video project that was conducted in light
of the U of M’s Student Learning and Development
Outcomes. The project required groups of students
to make a short public service announcement video
informing the public one of Michael Pollan’s food rules
(e.g., eat food, mostly plants, not too much).
We intend for this program to allow some time near
the conclusion for participant dialogue and exchange
of best practice ideas. We would like to hear from
other participants.
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MuLTiCuLTuRAL kiCkOFF: FOCuS ON BuiLDiNG COMMuNiTY, CONNECTiONS, AND ACADEMiC SuCCESS FOR MuLTiCuLTuRAL FiRST-YEAR STuDENTS Location: Room 326
Ah vang-Lo, Coordinator for Academic Support Initiatives, Multicultural Center for Academic Excellence
Multicultural first-year students typically are the first in
their family to go to college, attend orientation alone,
and are left to navigate the University on their own in
hopes to complete the next four years as a successful
college student. The Multicultural Center for Academic
Excellence (MCAE) was able to identify the need of
this specific population of students by creating what is
now known as MCAEs signature welcoming event, the
Multicultural Kickoff (MKO).
By connecting with upperclassmen peers who
also represent their population, known as the MKO
Ambassadors, the students are given the opportunity
to build a sense of community with each other. The
MKO Ambassadors undergo an intensive leadership
training in order to provide these first-year students
a strong sense of community and trust. In addition,
the first-year students are introduced to the diverse
faculty of color on campus across disciplines as well
as given opportunities to build their leadership skills
by connecting with the MCAE program and academic
support offering. MCAE provides a much needed
connection and builds a sense of community for these
students as they prepare for the start of their college
career.
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NOTES
14
BiG CHANGES iN AiD ON THE WAY! Location: Room 303
kris Wright, Director, Office of Student Finance
Significant changes will be made to student financial
aid awards in fall 2011. The changes will affect
incoming freshmen, transfers and continuing students
differently. Be sure you understand the changes and
the reasons behind them, so you talk to students
knowledgeably. In addition, get a first look at what
financial aid packages will look like for freshmen and
transfers for fall 2011.
CHOOSE YOuR MiNDSET: CuLTivATiNG FiRST-YEAR STuDENT SuCCESS Location: Room 319
phoebe Smith, Academic Adviser, College of Biological Sciences
Suzi pyawasay, Transfer Coordinator, College of Biological Sciences
Psychologist Carol Dweck, Ph.D., believes everyone
has two mindsets: fixed mindset (belief that talents
and abilities are predetermined) and growth mindset
(belief that talents and abilities can be developed and
cultivated). By understanding and identifying student
mindset patterns, we can improve our interactions with
them.
pEER iNFLuENCES ON WEiGHT GAiN: A NEW LOOk AT THE FRESHMAN 15 Location: Room 324
Jhon Wlaschin, Ph.D. Candidate and Graduate Instructor, College of Liberal Arts
Young adults are vulnerable to rapid weight gain and
have recently experienced the greatest increases
in obesity prevalence. Obesity may be spreading
among the population through social contact that
reinforces norms of unhealthy eating and sedentary
behavior. This study investigated how newly formed
relationships might influence three specific behaviors
that could lead to weight gain: snacking after dinner,
2:20 – 3:10 p.m. Educational Session IV Third Floor
uNDERSTANDiNG THE uNivERSiTY OF MiNNESOTA, TWiN CiTiES, TRANSFER STuDENT Location: Mississippi Room
katie Granholm, Assistant Director, Orientation & First-Year Programs
Transfer students make up approximately one-third
of all undergraduates on the University of Minnesota,
Twin Cities campus, yet little is known about the
transfer student experience. This session will provide
an overview of national trends relating to transfer,
share findings from recent University of Minnesota,
Twin Cities, surveys, and present best practices when
working with transfer students.
RESOuRCES FOR uNDECiDED FiRST-YEAR STuDENTS: A TRAiN THE TRAiNER SESSiON Location: President’s Room
Center for Academic planning & Exploration (CApE) Staff
Most first-year students begin college without a clear
idea of their academic major. Within our own entering
class of 2009, 59% stated they had no idea what to
major in or intended to do more exploring. To help
students find their academic home at the U, we need
staff and faculty across campus to have the tools and
resources necessary to assist these students.
Over the past year, the Center for Academic Planning
& Exploration (CAPE) developed resources to guide
students through the major and career exploration
process. This interactive session will introduce you to
CAPE resources and how you can use them in your
own work with exploring students. CAPE coaches will
highlight several of our most useful and popular Action
Guides. By the end of the session, you will come away
with knowledge of accessible, online CAPE resources
for you and your students.
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skipping breakfast and sedentary behavior. Two
hundred previously unacquainted college roommates
reported their diet and sedentary behavior at three
monthly intervals during their freshman year.
A student’s perceptions of how much his or her
roommate valued healthy eating and regular exercise
predicted changes in after dinner snacking and
skipping breakfast. Specifically, beliefs that one’s
roommate valued eating healthy predicted significant
reduction in one’s own after dinner snacking over
time. Changes in a student’s sedentary behavior
was predicted by his or her roommate’s amount of
weekly moderate exercise. Many of these effects were
moderated by gender such that women were more
likely to be influenced by their roommate than men.
At the beginning of the academic year roommates
showed a high degree of concordance in their snacking
which subsequently declined over time suggesting an
impression management effect. Skipping breakfast
became strongly congruent for roommates who
were dissimilar in body size. Skipping breakfast was
likely viewed as an effective means to lose weight
and to reduce weight related discrepancies between
roommates. Sedentary behaviors were not correlated
at baseline but concordance increased significantly
at subsequent time points suggesting a socialization
effect.
Overall, freshman roommates were motivated to
change their weight related behaviors to the extent
that it benefited the relationship.
ExCELLENCE FOR ALL: STuDENT LEARNiNG AND DEvELOpMENT Location: Room 325
Rhiannon D. Williams, Research Associate, College of Education and Human Development
Rashne Jehangir, Assistant Professor, College of Education and Human Development
As retention efforts focus on institutional design,
one example of a first-year experience program
designed to support all students in their learning and
developmental growth in the College of Education &
Human Development will be presented. The audience
will be presented results analyzed from a diverse group
of students showing growth in university learning and
development outcomes.
One such initiative is the First-Year Experience (FYE)
in the College of Education and Human Development
at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. FYE has
two required components, a first-semester freshman
seminar, First-Year Inquiry (FYI), and a second-
semester learning community (LC). All incoming
students are required to enroll in both an FYI and LC
course their freshman year.
“Research is increasingly attentive to the positive
impact for all students of conceiving diversity as
a process toward better learning rather than as an
outcome a certain percentage of students of color,
a certain number of programs to be checked off a
list” (Bauman et. al, 2006, p.iv). As a result of this
shift in attention, faculty and practitioners within
postsecondary institutions are increasingly attending
to how specific curriculum design and pedagogical
practices support and benefit under-represented as
well as majority populations within the classroom as
well as within the larger institution. The main question
that was asked of the data was, broadly, how did these
two populations of students express their growth and
struggles with respect to university student learning
and development outcomes?
At several different points in the semester of fall
2008, fall 2009, and spring 2010, first-year students
were required to respond to questions in reflective
journals. The questions were informed by the research
which suggests the intersections of interdisciplinarity,
active learning pedagogy, and explicit support for
academic and social integration, when implemented
in an intentionally reflective manner, can foster deep,
integrative learning, and, ultimately, support retention.
These sets of reflective questions were subsequently
collated, cleaned and analyzed.
In this session, we will give a brief overview of the FYE
model. The remaining portion of the time will be spent
on discussing the findings with audience members.
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3:20 – 4:30 p.m. Discussion with Shane Lopez and University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Representatives Theater
Join us for a panel discussion with Dr. Shane Lopez and members of the University community as we explore the well-being of first-year students on our campuses. Light refreshments will be provided.
panel Representatives:
Shane Lopez, Special Guest and Keynote
Ronald Huesman, Associate Director, Office of Institutional Research
Robert McMaster, Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education
Jerry Rinehart, Vice Provost for Student Affairs
Moderator: Laura Coffin koch, Associate Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education
NOTES
www.ofyp.umn.edu/fyconference
For more information regarding first-year programs at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, check out www.ofyp.umn.edu.
The University of Minnesota is committed to the policy that all persons shall have equal access to its programs, facilities, and employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, disability, public assistance status, veteran status, or sexual orientation.
This publication is available in alternate formats upon request. Please call 612-624-1979.
A special thanks to those who helped make this conference possible:
• All Session Presenters and Panelists
• Special Guest and Keynote: Dr. Shane Lopez
• Co-Hosts from OFYP: James Liberman Nicole Grosz
• Office of Undergraduate Education
• Office for Student Affairs
• University of Minnesota Bookstores