ASCEND Podcast

FACULTY OFFICE HOURS - WHO ARE THEY FOR?

One of the things that has always surprised us was the unwillingness of first-year students to visit faculty during office hours. After talking to many students, we realized the unwillingness was not intentional and that they thought that professor office hours were times faculty were NOT to be disturbed. They thought these hours were similar to the listed hours of their high school teachers, a time set aside to do projects and work.

To combat this, we launched a campaign to help students understand that office hours are the posted times professors will be available in their offices to meet with students. We inform students that they paid for these hours; therefore, they need to feel free to use them. However, we also remind students that this is not a social open house. Most professors expect that students who show up for office hours have specific questions or concerns related to the class. The purpose of office hours is to give busy students access to busy professors.

Dr. Amber Williams joins co-hosts Jared Tippets and Eric Kirby to share her knowledge, wisdom, and insights on how campuses can increase their retention and student success efforts!

Dr. Amber Williams is the Vice Provost for Student Success at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville where she provides oversight to various departments, encompassing Academic Advising, Career Development, First-Year Programs, and Undergraduate Research, among others. Under her astute leadership, UT has observed notable improvements in retention rates, persistence, graduation outcomes, and subsequent career trajectories. Leveraging her extensive experience in the field of higher education, Williams has implemented innovative, data-informed strategies and personalized programs and services, tailored to accommodate the distinctive narratives of individual student scholars. Driven by an unwavering commitment to the well-being and triumph of students, Williams is resolutely dedicated to cultivating a transformative and meaningful educational experience for all members of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and surrounding communities. 

Campuses that have great success in increasing their retention and completion rates have faculty who are actively engaged in this student success effort. In fact, there is substantial evidence in the literature that faculty may be the strongest influencers in helping students persist and graduate. And, it is easy to see why, because they spend significantly more time with the students than anyone else on campus. In any given semester, a faculty member may see a student three times a week for an hour for 15 weeks, which is 45 hours in a semester. During that same semester, an academic advisor may meet with that student for one hour or a peer mentor may check in with that student a couple of times.

The challenge, however, is that it is nearly impossible to get ALL faculty involved in retaining students. For many, they simply (and maybe rightfully so) do not see it as part of their core job duties. So, rather than getting frustrated or spending an exorbitant amount of time trying to get all faculty involved, we recommend simply working with those faculty who do have a natural interest in the work of retention and completion. Finding this “coalition of the willing” is as simple as asking students who their favorite faculty are or talking with deans and department chairs. Once we have our list of faculty allies, we can work closely with them throughout the school year to help us reach out to students in their majors.

A favorite way that we have identified our faculty allies is through an initiative we call “Campus Influencers.” Each spring, just after commencement, we ask all graduating students to complete a survey about their experience at our institution. One of the questions we ask is, “Please tell us the one person on campus who had the greatest influence on you during your time here.” From this exercise we create a Campus Influencer certificate and present it to every individual on campus who was identified by a graduating student. These awards have become coveted on our campus and have been a great way for us to identify faculty (and staff) who are actively engaged in the success of our individual students.

Dr. Amelia Parnell joins co-hosts Jared Tippets and Eric Kirby to share her knowledge, wisdom, and insights on how campuses can increase their retention and student success efforts!

Dr. Amelia Parnell is vice president for research and policy at NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, where she leads many of the Association’s scholarly and advocacy-focused activities. Amelia writes and speaks frequently about topics related to student affairs, college affordability, student learning outcomes, and institutions’ use of data and analytics. Amelia’s policy and practitioner experiences include prior roles in association management, legislative policy analysis, internal audit, and TRIO programs. Her research portfolio includes studies of leadership in higher education, with a focus on college presidents and vice presidents. She is the author of the book, You Are a Data Person: Strategies for Using Analytics on Campus, and host of the podcast, Speaking of College. Amelia currently serves on the board of directors for EDUCAUSE and is an advisor to several other higher education organizations. She holds a Ph.D. in higher education from Florida State University and masters and bachelor’s degrees in business administration from Florida A & M University.

We recognize that it is critical for incoming students to feel supported. Therefore, from the time a student commits to our institution (through the paying of their enrollment deposit) to the start of fall semester, we have 38 points of contact with each incoming student. These forms of communication include a welcome letter; outreach through phone, text, postcards, handwritten letters, and social media; placing them in interest-based Facebook groups; an online orientation process; mailing them a welcome packet and other handwritten notes; providing Personalized Visits; and through Facebook live chats. These points of outreach ensure students start school on the right foot and allow each student to develop relationships with key personnel on campus. 

Dr. Beth Lingren-Clark joins co-hosts Jared Tippets and Eric Kirby to share her knowledge, wisdom, and insights on how campuses can increase their retention and student success efforts!

Beth Lingren Clark is the Associate Vice Provost for Retention and Transition Programs in the Office for Undergraduate Education at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities.  She is responsible for leading the U’s retention strategy including many retention outreach efforts, co-leading APLUS governance and influencing its priorities and functions both locally and for system campuses, as well as co-leading international fee grant process to support international student success.  She also oversees and supports those who manage the processes for Orientation, Welcome Week, Transfer initiatives and other transition and first-year programs. Her legacy is around creating a common campus culture for assessment. Over the years, Beth has taught the College of Science and Engineering First-Year Experience course for 7 years and in the Leadership Minor program for 3 years.

She received her bachelor's degree from South Dakota State University, her master's degree from Western Illinois University, and her Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University – Carbondale.

She has served in various capacities with NODA. She served on the NODA board of directors, a conference co-host, Vice President, NODA President and is currently the co-lead faculty for the Retention Symposium and serves as an Orientation Professionals Institute faculty. She is a past recipient of the Outstanding Research award and President’s award winner, has also co-authored chapters for the NODA Monograph, the NODA Orientation Planning Manuals and has presented countless times at annual and regional conferences including webinars. She has also assisted both NODA and the University of Minnesota in the home office transition in 2007, currently serving as the campus liaison between the University and the NODA Presidents supporting human resource, finance, technology support and other areas outlined in the memorandum of understanding with the University. 

She enjoys her nearly 30 years of work in higher education and supporting student success efforts. She is a proud mom to a ninth grader and her partner of over 16 years also works in higher education.

Generation Z students are highly self-​​directed, demonstrated by a strong desire to work for themselves, study entrepreneurship, and design their own programs of study in college (Northeastern, 2014).    This sense of independence and flexibility also translates into academic and curricular expectations for autonomy and exploration.  Additionally, Gen Z’ers largely prefer a traditional undergraduate experience augmented by innovations that offer hands-on experiences and practical skills.  

Based on this information, it comes as no surprise when we are talking to employers that they often tell us that recent college graduates from across the nation are “too big for their britches.” In other words, college graduates want big paychecks, managerial experience, and to run the office. Gen Z’ers often struggle with understanding that there are entry- and mid-level positions that they often need to fulfill first. In many instances, students need to understand that they must first pay their dues. And, while in college, we find that many students who are looking for employment are unwilling to work in entry-level jobs (e.g. fast food, catering, grounds crew, custodial, etc.). Some students feel that because they want to be a doctor ten years from now, they need to work as a doctor now, during their freshman year. So how do we help Gen Z’ers adjust their expectations, be more agreeable to accepting entry-level jobs, and be more willing to understand the need to earn their stripes?

Join us for this episode where we discuss this topic in more detail.

Dr. Drew Koch joins co-hosts Jared Tippets and Eric Kirby to share his knowledge, wisdom, and insights on how campuses can increase their retention and student success efforts!

Dr. Andrew (Drew) Koch is a husband and father of 6, hiker (when both body and time permit), aging lacrosse player, educator, son of immigrants, and Chief Executive Officer at the Gardner Institute. His 30+ year career in higher education has been dedicated to expanding access and success in both public and private colleges and universities. He has been a PI or co-PI on more than four dozen grants focused on postsecondary education learning and success. His scholarship explores the role colleges and universities play in shaping culture and democracy in the United States with a particular emphasis on students of color, low-income, and first-generation students. His most recent book, co-written and compiled with John N. Gardner and Michael Rosenberg and published by Stylus in 2021, is The Transfer Experience: A Handbook for Creating a More Equitable and Successful Postsecondary System. He also co-authored Talking about Leaving Revisited: Persistence, Relocation, and Loss in Undergraduate STEM Education published by Springer in 2019. Dr. Koch is currently working on a single-author book that exposes and calls for transforming the gateway course experience. That book is scheduled to be published in 2024 by Routledge.

Does your institution have a publicized, stated retention goal? Is the goal realistic? Do you have data that supports your ability to achieve or exceed your retention goals?

We often find campuses, just like ours, who have set lofty retention goals without guiding their aspirations with good data. When we arrived on our campus we inherited a noble, lofty, and catchy retention goal for our campus, “Strive for 85.” This goal of achieving a retention rate or 85% was set by a group of well-intentioned staff who cared deeply for our students and hoped for their success. The catch? The goal was not realistic; at least that is what the data told us.

It is important for campuses to set a realistic retention goal; one that stretches their campus but is also achievable with lots of hard work. To arrive at a realistic retention goal, campuses should analyze institutions from around the state, region, and country that are similar to their institution. As we completed this exercise, we looked at schools with similar enrollments, community size, student profile, degree offerings, reputation, etc. and then compared retention rates. What we typically find is that these types of institutions all have similar retention rates. This data gives us a sense of a reasonable retention goal for our school.

As your campus sets goals for the retention rate you would like to achieve, make sure you take the time to guide your goal setting with good data. This will make sure that members of your campus can believe in your goal and will not get discouraged along the way.

Dr. Terrell Strayhorn joins co-hosts Jared Tippets and Eric Kirby to share his knowledge, wisdom, and insights on how campuses can increase their retention and student success efforts!

Dr. Terrell Strayhorn is Professor of Education and Psychology at Virginia Union University (VUU), where he also serves as Director of the Center for the Study of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Principal Investigator of grant-funded The Belonging Lab. Since 2016, he owns and serves as president of a successful consulting firm that works with hundreds of corporations, colleges, schools, and leaders each year.