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Institutional Collaborations: A Unique Residence Life and Career Services Partnership
By Beth Dinslage Medley, Associate Director of Career Services, University of Evansville
At both small and large colleges and universities, partnerships are efficient approaches to shaping educational environments in the residence halls. As a career development professional at the University of Evansville, I have had a unique opportunity to launch a student-centered initiative with my colleagues that established a career outreach office in the residence halls. For the past three years, the outreach office has both directly and indirectly impacted students’ development and learning. In this article, I will outline one of the direct programming outcomes of the increased collaboration between Residence Life and Career Services– the Amazing ACE Challenge.
Program Description
Since more than half of the student population lives on campus at the University of Evansville in six traditional residence halls, Career Services and Residence Life recognized a need to; develop a comprehensive initiative to increase participation in career development initiatives, provide structured support for resident assistants’ implementation of the Residence Life programming model, improve the quality of students’ educational interactions in their residence hall community and encourage students’ active engagement and personal reflection of service to their community.
The initiative emerging from the planning was a 15-week collaborative program, which is held every fall semester, called the Amazing ACE Challenge (AAC). AAC is a competition divided into three rounds: Know Yourself, Know Your Campus, and Know Your Community. During each of the rounds floor communities receive points for their participation in the targeted activities and events sponsored by Student and Academic Affairs. All of the 39 communities begin the challenge one week after classes begin and the contest continues until five communities compete in the final round at the end of the semester.
The first round, Know Yourself, focuses on career development themes such as major exploration, experiential education, interviewing skills and full-time job search strategies. Before the AAC began, Career Services struggled to increase the number of career-related workshops in the residence halls and had tried several approaches to increase the number of RAs requesting programs for their communities. For example, during fall 2004 nine RAs had requested a total of nine programs in the residence halls over the course of the semester. With the implementation of the AAC in fall 2005, a total of 19 RAs coordinated 10 career-related workshops with their residents during the month of September alone. Fall 2006 has seen the same participation rates in career-related events showing a clear increase in awareness and use of the Career Services office by students on campus.
The second round, Know Your Campus, focuses on events and opportunities happening on campus to facilitate participation in the campus community. While RAs have always planned and promoted campus events, they needed assistance in finding ways to address student apathy. Having the communities earn points for participating in such activities as guest lectures, campus events and dinner with faculty, provided RAs with an opportunity to create an instant and common goal among the residents. In its second year, the AAC continues to result in an increase of participation in campus events.
The third round, Know Your Community, is intentionally aligned with the university’s mission of developing civic-minded leaders who are informed, ethical and engaged adults in society. As part of the final round, 10 communities complete an original service project with a community organization. This service project must be planned and coordinated by the residents and cannot be part of an existing service initiative. After completion of the project, the final 10 floors create a poster display communicating to faculty judges the meaning the project had for them personally and for the floor community. Faculty judges review the poster presentation and select the final five floors. Then the final five floors present the project to the university president and representatives from Academic Affairs, Student Affairs and the Evansville community.
Program Outcome & Assessment
Having just completed its second year, the program continues to be a success for RAs and their residents; designed to help them explore career and major options, get involved on campus and complete a community service project. The AAC has made a significant and almost immediate transformation in the university’s perspective of the role of student life in engaging students in the educational process.
Residence Life and Career Services staff identified key learning outcomes and a process to provide seamless connections of programming support for resident assistants. The intended learning outcomes of the program included: community interaction and interpersonal relationship building, self-exploration and awareness of career resources and a purposeful connection of campus resources/activities. A key component of the program was to mobilize the communities to work together to reinforce active learning behaviors, such as problem solving, goal setting and accountability to the residence hall community.
To assess the programs’ effectiveness, Residence Life and Career Services created assessment processes. To address the initiative’s impact on providing seamless programming support, both departments have focus groups during Spring RA training. As a result, the RAs are able to provide direct feedback and suggestions for what worked well and what did not. Additionally, the Director of Residence Life created and sent an electronic survey to all residents at the end of the fall 2006 semester to assess how well the initiative addressed the goals of the program.
For example, more than half of the students living in the residence halls are recognizing how the AAC encouraged community building. As part of the survey comments, one student stated the following “[the program] helped the guys establish a strong sense of involvement on campus, offered a volunteer service opportunity, and provided chances to develop interpersonal relationships with each other”. In fact, 80% of the residents who completed the survey see their floor as a healthy and supportive community; 74% report that they have developed meaningful relationships with other on their floor. As Residence Life and Career Services review the feedback from the focus groups and survey, the AAC committee will evaluate how well the program is accomplishing the established learning outcomes.
Furthermore, as student affairs practitioners, we can appreciate the fact that a resident is able to appropriately describe and demonstrate the reasoning and impact of programming in their community. This is an important signal for our committee that our active collaboration is fostering the type of residence life environment where those conversations are occurring where they may not have previously occurred.
Unexpected Outcomes
In its second year, the AAC has successfully accomplished its intended goals and has also created unexpected outcomes such as the building of a partnership with Academic Affairs in the second year of the “Amazing ACE Challenge” and the development of a tradition in the residence halls.
Awareness by the president of the university, vice-president of Academic Affairs and key faculty members of the program has paved the way for the Division of Student Affairs to be recognized by the university community for fostering collaborative initiatives. As the University of Evansville continues to look for ways to foster faculty interaction with students in the residence halls, the AAC provides a tangible opportunity for meaningful interactions between faculty and administration.
Additionally, both student staff members and residents have caught the competitive spirit and look for the AAC to continue each fall. A traveling trophy for the winner was purchased in 2005 and goes to the hall that wins each year. Community pride and lasting tradition in the halls has been a worthwhile outcome of the start of this program.
Conclusion
It is my hope that reading this brief programming description and outline will inspire you to look for collaborative partners in your Student Life department or elsewhere in your campus community. As responsible stewards of the University’s educational mission, Residence Life and Careers Services has made a significant and almost immediate transformation in the University’s perspective of the role of student life in engaging students in the educational process. As you look for opportunities for active partnerships in your own university community, I recommend looking for collaborative colleagues with a shared need. The result at the University of Evansville has had a profound effect.
About the Author
Beth Dinslage Medley has served as the Assistant Director of Career Outreach since June 2004 and is now the Associate Director of Career Services, both at the University of Evansville. Medley earned a B.A. in Communication and a M.A. in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from the University of Missouri-Columbia. While at the University of Missouri, Medley was a graduate student Career Specialist at the MU Career Center and as an undergraduate student served as both a Peer Advisor and Student Coordinator of the Freshman Interest Group Program.