Bridging Engagement and Retention Practices for Student Success

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Bridging Engagement and Retention Practices for
Student Success Presentation at MnSCU Student
Affairs Conference Focus on Access and
Opportunity February 22, 2008
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Our vision All students will experience
post-secondary success and participate in
building a vibrant democracy.
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• National Campus Compact - three themes
• Embedding civic and community engagement into
  higher education at all levels
• Bridging the opportunity gap by improving
  educational access and success
• Educating students for global citizenship

Nearly 1,100 college and university presidents
representing some 5 million students!
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Minnesota Campus Compact is the network and
platform for colleges and universities to work
together for common community goals.
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Working collaboratively to achieve common goals
HOPE Increasing access to post-secondary
education OPPORTUNITY Achieving post-secondary
success RESULTS Building a vibrant democracy
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• Hospitality to the stranger is our greatest
  political asset it makes democracy possible.
• Parker Palmer

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Civic Engagement

• The act of building relational trust between two
  culturally different units, whether
• Individual to individual
• Individual to institution
• Institution to institution

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Civic Engagement Gets Results

• Citizen-Scholar Fellows had a GPA of .25 higher
  than the comparable Pell Grant recipients.
• Citizen-Scholar Fellows persisted at a rate
  nearly 18 higher than Pell Grant recipients.
• For more information visit www.M3CFellows.org

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Why Navigating College?

• Our results dont match our aspirations.

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What Is Navigating College?
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Navigating College

• Old Model
• Only one path
• Narrow expertise
• Separate worlds

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We honor many roads to many goals

• New Models
• Student-centered
• Expanding knowledge
• Multiple pathways

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Early Adopters

• Augsburg College
• Capella University
• Hamline University
• Inver Hills Community College
• Minnesota State University, Mankato
• North Hennepin Community College
• University of Minnesota, Crookston

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3 Key Concepts

• 1. If civic engagement and retention are more
  intentionally connected, all students,
  particularly underrepresented students, will
  succeed at higher levels.

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3 Key Concepts

• 2. If peer mentoring is instituted, student
  retention levels rise for both mentors and
  mentees.

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3 Key Concepts

• 3. If the campuss hidden curriculum or unwritten
  rules for success are uncovered and
  systematically taught to all students, then
  differences in social capital are diminished.

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Student Outcomes

• Through this program, students will find
• relevance in their learning,
• belonging on campus and in the community,
• meaning in the daily effort leading to a
  life-long democratic participation and
• purpose for their lives in service to others.

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What Will We Create Together?
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Power of Critical Mass

• Navigating College brings together campus teams
  from different types of institutions from
  different regions to share expertise, outcomes,
  insights, and best practices with each other on
  what would otherwise be scattered or disparate
  efforts.

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"We must love our kids more than we love the
system that they must navigate to get to their
future." Joe Graba
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• Transformation needs a container.
• Peter Senge

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What does it mean to be a Navigating College
pilot campus?

• Leadership
• Access
• Research
• Best practices

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Invitation to Change

• Elements in Successful Change Processes
• Committed to new outcomes
• Be curious, experiment, dare to dream and laugh
• Learn from those who have gone before us
• Focus on Strengths
• Personal
• Institutional
• Expect a positive future
• Give yourself permission to take risks

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Post-Secondary Success
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Anticipated Results

• Integrate campus retention staff and engagement
  staff in deliberate, collaborative program design
  and service delivery
• Improve student engagement with the
  culture/environment of the college campus
• Increase student engagement with campus peers
• Increase student participation in civic
  engagement, particularly in the first semester
  when most community college students are likely
  to drop out
• Increase retention among students who have
  historically been under supported and under
  represented

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Anticipated Results

• Stronger retention of transfer students
• Strong transfer process, particularly among pilot
  campuses
• New financial models for programs that are more
  sustaining
• New ways to build communityonline, in residence
  halls, in courses, across campus, among faculty
  and staff as well as students
• New ideas for outreach to families and
  communities which lack an historic connection to
  higher education in general and these
  institutions in particular
• Publication of knowledge and promising practices
  in multiple media
• New model of collaborative leadership developed
  with team leaders

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Thank You!

• Contact
• Catherine Reid Day, Executive Director
• catherine_at_mncampuscompact.org
• 651-603-5087
• JoAnn Campbell, Associate Director
• joann_at_mncampuscompact.org
• 651-603-5088