News

Note

James J. Annarelli, interim president of Eckerd College, in Florida, has been named to the job on a permanent basis. Sonya Christian, chancellor of the Kern Community College District, in California, has been chosen as chancellor of the California Community Colleges system. Laurie M. Joyner, president of Saint Xavier University, in Illinois, has been selected as president of St. Norbert College, in Wisconsin. Gregory J. Meyer, former interim president and interim provost at Blackburn College, in Illinois, has been named president there. Linda G. Mills, vice chancellor and senior vice provost for global programs and university life at New York University, has been appointed president there. Joseph M. Roidt, provost at Dakota Wesleyan University, in South Dakota, has been chosen as provost and vice president for academic affairs at St. Ambrose University, in Iowa. Alan R. Shoho, dean and professor emeritus of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, has been selected as provost and chief academic officer at New Mexico State University. Editorial Tags: College administrationNew presidentsIs this diversity newsletter?: Newsletter Order: 0Disable left side advertisement?: Is this Career Advice newsletter?: Magazine treatment: Trending: Display Promo Box: Live Updates: liveupdates0Most Popular: 6In-Article Advertisement High: 9In-Article related stories: 12In-Article Advertisement Low: 15Include DNU?: YesIn-Article Careers: 3

Image: The University of South Dakota’s TRIO Student Support Services is like all other federally funded TRIO SSS programs in that it serves low-income, first-generation or disabled students. Similarly, it offers tutoring and assistance with choosing courses, applying for financial aid, building financial literacy and applying to graduate programs. But an innovative first-year experience program is central to USD’s TRIO approach. Impact on persistence: Beyond the basic TRIO requirements, USD’s SSS program offers an original first-year experience, which staff members say contributes to program participants’ high persistence rate. How high? Ninety-four percent, compared to 69 percent for USD students with similar backgrounds who are not enrolled in TRIO. Staff members also say TRIO program participants’ good academic standing rate is 96 percent, compared to an institutional baseline of 82 percent. “TRIO SSS is a federal program, so many projects exist nationwide,” explains Dallas Doane, USD’s TRIO SSS director. “Our first-year experience program really is unique, though. It gives us a common intellectual experience and academic component in providing our services. Additionally, we know for the students we serve—first-generation, income-eligible and students with disabilities—that feeling a sense of belonging can make or break their persistence.” TRIO Trivia The federally funded TRIO program, which offers programs beyond Student Support Services, considers itself the originator of the first-generation concept. In a 2021 interview published in the Journal of First-Generation Student Success, council president Maureen Hoyler and Arnold Mitchem, president emeritus, say that the term has its roots in the 1980 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. Ahead of that legislation, Mitchem says, TRIO educators were asked to put together recommendations, including TRIO eligibility criteria. Income alone proved problematic given differing costs of living across the country, they say, and educators rejected the loaded terms “culturally disadvantaged” or “rurally isolated.” “First-generation” was suggested, and it stuck. Hoyler adds, “The term was introduced to promote change and to produce equity and to produce a recognition of individuals’ potential that may not have had their potential recognized without the term.” What the experience includes: Supports for this population of students cover a number of areas within the first year. Early orientation: As part of the first-year experience, USD TRIO SSS students arrive on campus three days early for what Doane calls a “college boot camp.” The goal? For students to “connect with each other, learn about college success, learn about resources and engage with the community.” (TRIO SSS at USD also partners with an orientation program from the university’s Native Student Services.) Registration: USD TRIO students register for classes with a program staff member on their first day on campus. First-year experience course: In addition to the boot camp, TRIO staff members meet with students weekly throughout the fall semester as part of a first-year course. Topics include study skills, mental health, financial literacy and embracing their strengths, and students attend a financial aid workshop and volunteer with USD’s on-campus food pantry. Fundamentals of communication course: In the spring semester, the communication studies department offers a TRIO-specific section of a required speech course. This continues the cohort-based learning from the fall, Doane says. A second chance: Last spring, TRIO at USD offered for the first time a course for students who underperformed academically during the fall term. The idea is to focus not only on academics but also on student well-being, and the course includes three individual success meetings with staff members. Peer education: All these supports are enhanced by a peer educator program—upper-class students paired with a first-year student, Doane says. The need: Kimberly Jones, executive vice president of the Council for Opportunity in Education, says research shows that “for all students, regardless of what income you’re coming from, the first few weeks of your experiences of undergraduate are determinative of whether you're going to sink or swim. And so TRIO especially makes it a priority to grab ahold of those young people, and sometimes not-so-young people, early.” Jones’s favored analogy for TRIO? “You can give a 16-year-old a pair of car keys, but if you don’t give them driving lessons, they’re not going anywhere,” she says. So by supporting new college students “intentionally, aggressively and early on, we’re helping give them the tools to succeed.” Another benefit of TRIO is community. Jones explains, “For students, especially if you're first gen, no one else in your family can tell you what it's like to be on a college campus and talk to professors, or about the syllabus and the registrar’s office. So TRIO gives you a community that’s going through that experience with you. It gives you a home base on campus where you can just go and feel safe for a minute.” Jones adds that because the federal guidelines for a what a TRIO program must include are somewhat limited, it becomes “incumbent upon the project directors and their staff to be innovative.” Does your campus have an innovative approach to federally funded TRIO programs? A notable first-year experience program? Tell us about it. Student SuccessEditorial Tags: Student SuccessImage Source: University of South Dakota TRIO Image Caption: The University of South Dakota’s TRIO Student Support Services’ first-year experience starts with early orientation.Is this diversity newsletter?: Newsletter Order: 0Disable left side advertisement?: Is this Career Advice newsletter?: Magazine treatment: Trending: Display Promo Box: Live Updates: liveupdates0Most Popular: 0In-Article Advertisement High: 0In-Article related stories: 9In-Article Advertisement Low: 0Include DNU?: NoIn-Article Careers: 3

Image: Attracting students to various institutional resources remains a challenge for all higher education professionals. Muhlenberg College’s career center dug through the data to understand which of its students were not visiting the office or attending its programs and adjusted accordingly. “Data is driving 100 percent of the decisions we’re making, and it’s really opening up our eyes to gaps that we didn’t know … existed,” says Sean Schofield, executive director of career services at Muhlenberg. What happened: When Schofield began in his role in May 2021, he first turned to the data. The career center collects all kinds of information from its Handshake platform, including student demographics, major interests, career goals, event or workshop participation, and appointments booked with the center. Surveys, focus groups and interviews also add data to the reports from Handshake. In addition, the center surveys recent alumni to understand their initial postgraduate plans, what Schofield calls their “first destination,” and any experiential learning completed during their undergraduate careers. Muhlenberg’s career center was reaching 62 to 72 percent of its student population annually at the end of the 2021 academic year. “My first question I asked when the team told me that was, ‘Wow, that’s fantastic. Is it always the same, like 30 percent or so that we don’t hit?’” Schofield says. He wanted to understand who was being missed and if there was any connection in who those students were. Schofield and his team realized in their data analysis that students in performance arts majors and those planning on attending graduate school were less likely than their peers to visit the career center or complete their first-destination survey. The solution: As a result, Muhlenberg’s career center staff focused their attention on these groups and how they could enhance outreach and relationships. For performing arts students, the career center established a career coach who would liaise between the departments and increased collaboration with those faculty members. Muhlenberg’s campus is divided by a road, Chew Street, that separates most academic facilities and administrative services from the theater, center for the arts and rehearsal house, so the career center’s goal was to “Cross Chew Street,” Schofield explains. Similarly, the Graduate School Preparatory Program had a new dedicated staff member to support students as they applied for programs and considered options in continuing their education. Both career coaches had personal and professional experience in their related fields, Schofield says, making them the perfect fit for the roles and able to gain the trust of faculty and students in their fields. More broadly, the career center changed the language and phrasing on its website to be more inclusive for students and their postgraduate experiences. Instead of marketing a list of employers a student could work with, the center emphasized stories and diverse outcomes following graduation. “We not only tell stories of professional advancement in full-time work but highlight our support structure for students who are applying to graduate and professional schools,” Schofield says. The center also re-evaluated its experiential learning opportunities, and the allocated funding for those programs, to expand its supports for underserviced students. Other uses for data: Besides assisting the center in reaching students, the focus on data is contributing to building relationships with faculty. “One of the things that initially I did was to go around to faculty and introduce [myself] and say, ‘Hey, what data can we provide you?’” Schofield explains. By working with data, the career center is also reconstructing its services more broadly. When hiring new team members, for example, Schofield is intentional in selecting personnel who are comfortable with and have a high aptitude for data synthesis and reporting. Schofield has hired five new faces to his team, strengthening the career center’s data strategies. “Whatever we do, we want to be able to count in some way,” Schofield says. “That doesn’t necessarily mean with numbers, but we have to be able to count it, and what we’re counting has to be learning.” Rather than evaluating participation or utilization, the career center re-established programs to target specific learning outcomes for every year a student is enrolled at the college, creating a phased approach to career development and readiness that it calls the Muhlenberg Action Plan, or MAP for short. Do you have a data success tip that might help others encourage student success? Tell us about it. Student SuccessEditorial Tags: Student SuccessImage Source: Muhlenberg CollegeImage Caption: Muhlenberg College’s career center team uses participation and engagement data to identify underserviced student groups on campus.Is this diversity newsletter?: Newsletter Order: 0Disable left side advertisement?: Is this Career Advice newsletter?: Magazine treatment: Trending: Display Promo Box: Live Updates: liveupdates0Most Popular: 6In-Article Advertisement High: 9In-Article related stories: 12In-Article Advertisement Low: 15Include DNU?: NoIn-Article Careers: 3

Image: Messina’s Hotel Riviera, which has seen better days, is now part of Italy’s bid to brace against domestic demographic decline by attracting more international students. The hotel is now university-owned thanks to the nation’s slice of E.U. pandemic recovery funding. “About 10 years ago, universities began to feel the impact of shrinking domestic student populations, constant brain drain and diminishing funding for core programs,” Salvatore Cuzzocrea, rector of the University of Messina and president of the Conference of Italian University Rectors, told Times Higher Education. “Until then, the only real influx of international students came from privileged backgrounds, who came to study Italian art, language and culture,” he said. Thanks to more than 12 million euros ($12.9 million) in public funding, the Hotel Riviera is now university property and set for a total revamp into a hall of residence. Together with the nearby Hotel Liberty, which has been leased to the university for 15 years, there will be space for an extra 408 beds for out-of-town students—both international students and those coming from other parts of Italy. Sixty-five percent of the funding comes from Italy’s share of the E.U.’s post-pandemic recovery fund. More widely, the government has set aside €960 million (more than $1 billion) from those E.U. funds, 40 percent of which is intentionally set apart for southern regions, to triple the number of beds available for out-of-town students, bringing the total nationwide from 40,000 to 105,000 by 2026. Messina’s international student population has “skyrocketed” from just 55 in 2018–19 to more than 900 in 2022–23, and they come from more than 70 countries, Cuzzocrea said. Pizza-chewing internationals are a welcome sight around town for the rector, but they are also a necessity in a sector bracing itself for demographic decline. A February analysis by the consultancy Talents Venture said the forthcoming fall in the number of 18- to 21-year-olds and a northward drift within Italy in those remaining “constitutes one of the most serious threats to the sustainability of the Italian university system.” The consultants found that 18 percent of courses had fewer than 20 first-year students last year, with student-linked funding set to fall by more than €600 million ($647 million) between 2020 and 2040, based on population projections. Talents Venture chief executive Pier Giorgio Bianchi said the 15 worst-affected campuses were all in Italy’s south. While southern universities face the most fearful projections, beds for out-of-town students are a prerequisite for growth at many institutions, with those in the north facing steeper costs. The University of Milan is spending €20 million ($21.5 million) on purpose-built accommodation for 258 students, with half the funding coming from E.U. recovery funds. Both Italian out-of-towners and international students will have to apply for a bed in the means-tested rooms, which cost €250 ($270) a month. “In Milan you can’t find a single room for less than €500 or €600. These are new buildings, single rooms, in a good place,” said Marina Brambilla, deputy rector for education and student services at Milan. “Students need accommodation—this is the first need, and Milan is very, very expensive. Without more accommodation we will have problems,” she said. “Particularly when students come from outside Europe, they want a campus—they don’t want to look on their own for an apartment.” GlobalEditorial Tags: ItalyTimes Higher EdIs this diversity newsletter?: Newsletter Order: 0Disable left side advertisement?: Is this Career Advice newsletter?: Magazine treatment: Trending: Display Promo Box: Live Updates: liveupdates0Most Popular: 6In-Article Advertisement High: 9In-Article related stories: 12In-Article Advertisement Low: 15Include DNU?: YesIn-Article Careers: 3