Come Together: The Student Affairs/Academic Affairs Partnership in Learning Communities

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Come Together The Student Affairs/Academic
Affairs Partnership in Learning Communities

International First Year Experience
Conference Toronto, Canada July 2006
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Who We Are

• Scott L. Johnson
• Assistant Dean for First-Year and Academic
  Support Programs
• Heather D. Maldonado
• Assistant to the Dean for Academic Standards and
  Intervention
• Joseph J. Marren
• Assistant Professor, Communication Department

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Session Agenda

• Hello Goodbye Introductions
• Help! Overview of the Buffalo State Learning
  Community Program
• Ticket to Ride Where the Partnership Began
• We Can Work It Out How We Achieved Buy-In
• From Me to You Making It Work on Your Campus

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Help!

• What are you trying to accomplish
  programmatically?
• What does partnership between academic affairs
  and student affairs look like?
• What are the obstacles to partnerships between
  student affairs and academic affairs on your
  campus?

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Learning Communities at Buffalo State

• Goals
• Student success and retention
• Intellectual climate
• Sense of community and connection

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Learning Communities at Buffalo State

• 2006-07 is the 6th year of the program
• 4 to 5 courses with up to 25 students per LC
  students must take all courses in LC (can take
  additional courses as well)
• Students are required to participate in both
  curricular and co-curricular events
• Students have option of living on campus or off
  there is an LC floor for residential students
  off campus students have 24-hour access to the LC
  residence hall
• 20 faculty 5 student affairs liaisons 3
  librarians
• Budget 20,000 per academic year for the entire
  program
• Some have added a part-time spring component to
  their community

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Buffalo State Learning Community Model
Jazz/Rock Foundations 3 credits
History of American Life 3 credits
Underground America F. I. G.
Introduction to Sociology 3 credits
College Writing I 3 credits
Integrated Hour 1 credit
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Themed Communities
Example Underground America Its Heart and
Soul Behind Elvis Presley's 1955 recording of
Mystery Train beats an old, weird America
filled with ghosts, beat up Ford trucks,
contracts with the devil, small town hucksters
with dreams of the big time, and the Mississippi
River strung like a guitar string from New
Orleans north into Chicago. It's the world that
haunted Bob Dylan, Richard Wright, Bonnie and
Clyde Barrow, Robert Johnson, and Tom Joad. This
community will look at popular music, people's
history, and the outlaws and heroes traveling the
lost highways like Route 66 of American culture.
Highlight a trip to the Rock-and-Roll Hall of
Fame in Cleveland.
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Examples of Themes

• Wasnt That A Time Pop Culture, Music and
  Protest
• Escape the Matrix Free Your Mind
• The Birth of the Vampire Slayers Origins of
  Modern Thought
• Others for 2006
• Be a Hero, Be a Teacher Creating Change in Urban
  Schools
• And Justice For All
• Explore New Worlds Discover Ideas
• Buffalos Urban Environment

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How Does It All Come Together?

• Courses
• HIS 107 History of American Life II
• MUS 206 Jazz and Rock Foundations
• SOC 100 Introduction to Sociology
• ENG 101 College Writing I
• LIB 100 Introduction to Library Research
• INS 189 Integrated Hour
• Out-of-Classroom Activities
• Trip to Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• Attendance at the theater production STOMP
• Viewing of Apocalypse Now

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Examples of Other Co-Curricular Activities

• Attending a Buffalo Sabres Game
• A walking tour of Torontos ethnic neighborhoods
• Attending the musical 42nd Street
• Underground Railroad Tour
• Meals together

• Toronto City Hall/ Courthouse
• Trip to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• Viewing the re-released version of Apocalypse Now
• Bob Dylan concert
• Tour of U.N.

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Why Partnership Made Sense

• Where were the bridges that could be built?
• Residence halls for learning community students
• Co-curricular learning opportunities
• Integration of student development theory into
  faculty development
• Designated student affairs liaisons

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Residence Hall Space

• Two residential floors were dedicated to support
  learning communities. The goals of this
  integration were
• Residence halls for learning community students
• Students making deeper connections with faculty
• Faculty office
• Commuter students see college campus as home
• Computer lab
• Kitchen
• Lounge

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Student Development Theory

• Psychosocial theories focus on the personal and
  interpersonal aspects of students lives as they
  accomplish various developmental tasks or resolve
  the inevitable crises that arise. (e.g.
  Chickering, Erikson, Cross, Heath, and Marcia)
• Cognitive-Structural theories focus on the
  intellectual development of students-how they
  think, reason, and make meaning of their lives.
  It addresses a sequence of meaning-making
  structures through which students perceive,
  organize, and make sense of their experiences.
  The stages are hierarchical and each successive
  stage incorporates and builds on previous stages.
  (Moral e.g. Piaget, Kitchener King, Kohlberg,
  and Gilligan) (Intellectual e.g. Perry, and
  Belenky et. al.)
• Person-Environment theories address
  conceptualizations of the student, the
  educational environment and the degree of
  congruence that occurs when the student interacts
  with the educational environment. Behavior is
  looked at as a function of the interaction
  between the person and the environment. Many
  person-environment interactive theories are used
  in career planning. (e.g. Astin, Moos, and
  Strange Kings)
• Student development theory synopses taken from
  the University of Calgarys Student and Academic
  Services website http//www.ucalgary.ca/sas/sas_s
  ite/student_dev.html

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Outcomes of Student Development Theory (SDT)
Integration

• Informed practice
• Better learning
• Smoother transition
• Less faculty frustration

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Hard Days Night

• In what ways do student affairs professionals
  work with faculty directly? (e.g. what is the
  role of student affairs, if any, in your learning
  communities?)
• Would you consider your campus culture more
  instruction centered or learning centered?
• Can you name some academic goals in the first
  year that student affairs could help achieve?

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Achieving Faculty Buy-In

• We demonstrated that it was about quality
  academic performance.
• We showed how it made the job easier.
• We demonstrated that this was legitimate research
  in a complementary discipline outside their own.
• We presented the material as tools for their
  tool kits as opposed to marching orders.

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From Me to YouMaking It Work On Your Campus

• Goals
• What are you really trying to make happen?
• What will partnership look like?
• Partnerships
• Who are the stakeholders needed to create change
  on your campus?
• How will your partners benefit from the
  collaboration?

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From Me to YouMaking It Work On Your Campus

• Obstacles
• How will this initiative be perceived in your
  institutional culture and its subcultures?
• How can you motivate colleagues to participate,
  then reward them for participating?
• How will you demonstrate that the initiative and
  the partnership support the institutional mission
  and strategic plan?

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Making It Work On Your Campus

• Strategies
• Test the water for receptivity
• Learn what the needed ally values and speak to it
• Reciprocity

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Hello Goodbye

• Any Questions?
• Thank you for choosing our session! Good luck in
  your attempts to make partnerships on your
  campus.
• Additional reading about the BSC Learning
  Community experience Frazier, Nancy E. In the
  Loop One Librarians Experiences Teaching
  within First-Year Learning Communities, College
  Undergraduate Libraries, Vol. 13, no. 1, 2006.
• Contact us
• Scott Johnson, Assistant Dean for First Year and
  Academic Support Programs, johnsosl_at_buffalostate.e
  du
• Heather Maldonado, Assistant to the Dean for
  Academic Standards Intervention,
  maldonhd_at_buffalostate.edu
• Joe Marren, Assistant Professor of Communication,
  marrenjj_at_buffalostate.edu