To provide support services to faculty and staff engaged in student success activities.
Evaluation Plan and measures:
Attendance of faculty and staff at outreach opportunities
KPIs:
Attendance of faculty and staff at outreach opportunities
Baseline measure (for each KPI):
Attendance of faculty and staff at outreach opportunities
In 2022, 110 faculty participated in instructional development (i.e. Growth Mindset Faculty Learning Community - 20 faculty/instructors; Small Teaching Faculty Learning Community - 30 faculty/instructors; HIPS - 20 faculty/instructors; Study of Teaching and Learning - 20 faculty/instructors; Transparency in Learning and Teaching - 20 faculty/instructors).
Current/most recent data (for each KPI)
This year, in alignment with the Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) plan, we initiated the Undergraduate Student Success Committee. This group is designed to engage faculty and staff in the implementation of the goals and tactics embedded in the SEM. Over the previous year, we have had four site visits from retention consultants from Ruffalo Noel Levitz and monthly meetings with the Undergraduate Student Success Committee and staff members. This has led to the identification of Faculty Champions, a group that will collaborate with leaders from Faculty Affairs and Student Success to generate and support faculty engagement with student success inside and outside the classroom.
The Center for Instructional Innovation continues to support faculty across the University to develop interactive content and leverage technology to engage students and promote academic success. They recently developed a new position and identified a Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning.
Goal or targets (for each KPI):
All academic support staff to attend at least one training opportunity
Time period/duration
2023-2024
Each college has identified one or two faculty champions. This group will promote faculty awareness and engagement of student success, including but not limited to, data utilized for retention and progression programming, progress reports and alerts, connecting student success to faculty promotion and tenure guidelines, and advocating for student success opportunities.
As second, related initiative is the Provosts Learning Communities. These are small groups of faculty members (8-10) who explore teaching and learning topics with colleagues from across campus. Together, in a supportive and non-evaluative community, members will meet regularly throughout the academic year to discuss a topic of interest.
A team headed by Faculty Affairs and Student Success will guide the faculty group in student success related activities. They will be meeting over spring 2024 to outline the plan and prepare for fall 2024 implementation.
One option in the final planning stages is a series of professional development opportunities related directly to specific populations classroom engagement and performance. The three-part process includes outlining the target population demographics at the institution and some research background more broadly, moving down into the group’s academic performance overall then in the faculty courses, with information from IE regarding class performance, and finally pedagogical strategies to improve outcomes, such as syllabus review, assignment review, and how to collect classroom data to support student success goals. Faculty could include this type of information in their promotion and tenure process as well.
Challenges:
Faculty promotion and tenure changes to integrate student success into the documentation process are still in refinement stages at the institution. Defining student success, different college promotion and tenure requirements, and the education of faculty on how to integrate the relevant data and information into this process, is a significant enterprise, but important.
Supports:
Clarity and policy to inform faculty about how student success impacts their annual evaluation or tenure and promotion.
