Category Archives: higher education

Transition to College

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Jacques Steinberg shared gems of wisdom for soon-to-be first-year college students in The Choice column with Advice on the Transition From Applicant to College Student. It included a recommendation from my friend, W. Houston Dougharty, who advises students to live in the moment and less in their social media updates.


As frequently happens in columns such as this, the best words of counsel came from experienced students who remind first-years to treat college like a full time job and learn to do their own laundry.


Tornado Watch: Assessments for Student Retention

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As a resident of tornado alley, there is a summer tradition of dusting off the Twister DVD while scanning the afternoon skies for possible wall clouds. The film takes place in Oklahoma, but was filmed near my current home in central Iowa. The story follows a team of meteorological students and scientists as they attempt to place weather sensors in the path of a tornado to measure readings inside of the storm. After many failed attempts, injuries, and even fatalities, our protagonists successfully launch the sensors and save humanity. Err, save their research. As the flick can also be caught at least three times a week on cable during the summer, I catch up on all of my favorite lines.

Jo: [cow flies by in the storm) Cow.
[cow flies by in the storm]
Jo: ‘Nother cow.
Bill: Actually, I think it was the same one.
Watching the segment as the sensors rise into the F-5 tornado and begin generating data, I am reminded of our students, particularly those in the first-year. If we could read their minds and extrapolate the whirlwind of thoughts and emotions, surely we could develop better methods for student success and retention. Fortunately, there are a variety of assessments to assist in this process.

The College Student Inventory™ (CSI) from Noel-Levitz allows students to answer questions regarding their strengths and challenges before they even arrive on campus. I ask my incoming students to complete this assessment after summer orientation and use the information to frame our beginning of the year 1:1 appointments. The student and advisor reports are handy for discussion and the group summary reports provide great information for planning our first-year seminar course and programming topics.

MAP-Works® offers a similar tool to discover student transition issues early in the semester. Students develop a personal profile based on their initial campus experience that is measured for potential barriers to success. A web-based report is generated immediately for students and faculty or staff advisors that compares with all first-year students on our campus. Campus resource services are suggested where needed.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) helps demonstrate theory that there are distinct patterns to individual psychological types even though persons exhibit these patterns in different ways. Helping students to understand their type preferences and how they affect personal learning styles provides a common ground for understanding differences and the transition to college. I provide an MBTI learning styles assessment for each student in our first-year seminar each fall. Students do not always grasp the type concept, but do find meaning from discussion of the transition to university style learning.

It is common knowledge among student affairs practitioners that students enter the college or university with varying degrees of emotional intelligence. Additionally, those familiar with retention issues will cite non-academic challenges as the frequent impetus for student attrition. Assessing emotional intelligence using the EQ-i® allows students to see potential areas for growth that may enhance adaptation and coping skills leading to academic achievement. I find the EQ-i particularly helpful for students seeking direction in their academic or life plan.

While no assessment tool can foresee every difficulty faced by our students on the path to graduation, I have found these tools to be helpful for communication, planning, and advising. Not a certified MBTI or EQ-i user? Check with your human resources office for recommendations.

Have you tried these assessments? Other tools you suggest?

Enjoyed Twister and need a good summer read? Check out The Stormchasers.

Tortoise and the…Tortoise

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Unlike the hare of Aesop’s Fable lore that mocked and ridiculed the slow tortoise before losing a race to him, the tortoise featured in this video knows what it means to help someone when they are feeling down. Or upside down.

Our work in student affairs, particularly in the first-year, is about up righting students when they need it and giving them a nudge in a new direction. Some days it is not about the race, but instead it is about the journey and who we can help along the way.

Be a tortoise today.

First-Year Experience Prep: The Quiz

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Our dean of students office contributes to sessions throughout the university’s fifteen summer orientation programs including a welcome, faculty panel, family program and resource fair. Prior to the faculty panel that I facilitate most mornings, our orientation staff shares a list of discussion questions, a quiz of sorts, for parents and families to share with their student on the ride home from orientation. This quiz is a handy tool for any prospective first-year student and for the families they leave behind.

What is something you learned at orientation that surprised you?

What are your academic and social expectations for the first semester of college?

How will you handle things if your expectations aren’t met?

How often do you think we’ll talk and communicate during your first semester? What
will be the best times for us to connect?

How do you feel about your class schedule? Are you excited about your major?

What will you do if you get yourself into a jam?

How we should approach discussing money while you’re at school?

What information will we share through third-party access at the university?

What kind of meal plan do you think will be best for you?

How will we prepare for move-in day?

What will it be like to say goodbye?

When you think about beginning your first day at the university, what are you most excited about? What are you most nervous about?


What other topics should first-year students and their families discuss before the fall semester?

Oh, The Places You’ll Go

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Congrats to our new Hixson Scholar graduates and everyone else celebrating their academic achievements this month. Special props to one of our 2004 award recipients, Tyler Dohlman, who just completed his DVM.



But the unfortunate, yet truly exciting thing about your life, is that there is no core curriculum. The entire place is an elective. The paths are infinite and the results uncertain.

~Jon Stewart (2004 commencement address to The College of William and Mary)



So…get on your way!




photo credit Christopher Gannon/TheRegister

I’ve gotta feeling…

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There was a day last week when my work day began at 5:45 a.m. with a two and a half hour drive to a meeting and concluded fifteen hours later in a final class meeting with our very talented peer mentors. And I was smiling. Because on days like that, I’ve gotta feeling that I have the best job in the world.

Little Engine That Could

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April is what it is in Student Affairs.
Without doubt, it is one of the most challenging thirty day stretches
that those of us in the field face annually.



A holiday, one campus festival, and an out of town soccer tournament.


I think I can, I think I can.


57 graduation notes to send.


I think I can, I think I can.


Three budget forecasts to review.


I think I can, I think I can.


Two graduate assistants to hire.


I think I can, I think I can.


Two annual reports to complete.


I think I can, I think I can.


One birthday party to plan.


I think I can, I think I can.


562 scholarship applications to read.


I think I can, I think I can.


One research paper to write.


I think I can, I think I can.

April is the cruelest month?

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In the next thirty days, I will read more than 550 scholarship applications and help 100 students afford a college education. April is my busiest month, and by awarding nearly $1.5 million in scholarship dollars, also the most significant. We find students who wish to fulfill their dream of a college education. Every minute counts as we finalize application files, review FAFSA information, and crunch through committee reviews, all before May 1.

Ancient Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu has a good reminder for me this time of year.

Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.


Finding your Student Affairs compass

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We speak a lot about the meteoric rise of student affairs professionals communicating on Twitter. Within #SACHAT, our participant numbers have grown 500% since our October 2009 debut. We have so many colleagues engaged that we had to add a second chat time three months into the venture. Our #SACHAT meet-ups are occurring around the spring professional conferences and organically as our student affairs family find themselves in similar locations.

I had an opportunity to meet several of our #SACHAT friends in conjunction with the ACUI conference and spent some time exploring New York City with one of those friends. We made a day of it, walking and sharing stories, stopping for lunch, shopping a bit, and before you knew it, found ourselves uncertain how to make our way back to the car. We stood at a busy street corner, attempting to get our bearings. We asked a passerby for directions and then headed off to find our way. After covering quite a few more blocks and not yet seeing any landmarks leading to the car, it dawned on me that I could use the map function on my phone to aid our quest. This handy little GPS tool is not essential for navigation in my small Midwest city, so I had forgotten that I had it.

We determined our present location, entered an address for the parking garage, and lo and behold, walking directions were magically provided. So, we started out again in the direction of our vehicle, enjoying the city scenery, chatting, and enjoying the day. Only to miss a turn and get off track, again. Ah, but this time we had the map and directions. We backtracked, paid more attention to our map, and finally made our way back to the car.

Early in my student affairs career, I found easy ways to network with colleagues. I joined professional organizations, served on committees, and chatted regularly with colleagues at other institutions as we planned trainings and conferences. As I advanced in my career, it seems that I lost some of those opportunities, as my own work required more of my time and focus. At some point along the way, I lost track of most of my network, also losing the community that helped me brainstorm and recharge with energy and new ideas.

Then along comes a social networking tool like Twitter and fun little communities such as the Student Affairs Blog and #SACHAT. Once again, I am linked with other professionals, sharing ideas, and learning new ways to do things. I am engaged in building a community that challenges and inspires me. It is a community that grew through social network technology and like a GPS, helped me find my way.

Triple Lutz Scoring in Student Affairs

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It’s Winter Olympics time and we in the U.S. cheered as Evan Lysacek won the gold medal in men’s figure skating. The reigning gold medalist challenged him in this event, a Russian skater that burst onto the ice with a dynamic performance that included several complicated jumps. In the end, it was Lysacek, with a clean, consistent skate, who earned the most points. Juliet Macur explains that Lysacek used a new scoring system to his advantage, while his major competitor did not. The new figure skating scoring rewards bonus points for any jumps landed in the second half of the program. Lysacek landed five of his eight jumps in the second half of his program, while the Russian skater landed the bulk of his jumps in the first half of his program. This gave Lysacek an edge in points and ultimately the gold medal.

Institutions of higher education are facing critical financial situations and are changing the scoring as well. The University of Nevada Reno absorbed $33 million in budget cuts in the past year and is facing more. The Louisiana Community College System has lost $24 million in funding in the last two years. A $100 million budget gap is being faced at Dartmouth University. Very few colleges or universities have been unscathed in our recent recession. Institutions are revising budgets, raising tuition, eliminating staff, faculty, and programs. A new scoring system is at hand.

What is the new scoring reality in student affairs?

Think about your school’s strategic plan. When was the last time you read it? Does your program or unit align with the goals and desired outcomes of the plan? Find it, read it, know it. Your program mission statement should reflect the goals of your college or university. Use citations in your annual reporting to demonstrate how the work that you do meets these goals.

Think about how you measure success. How do you determine productivity? Do you collect student evaluations? Do your students achieve higher grades, improved retention, or higher graduation rates? Is your institution getting a return on investment from your salary, benefits, and program dollars? Programs that survive the next round of budget cuts are the ones able to show clear data supporting their value to the institution.

Think about why you are where you are. What service or leadership do you provide? Is it being provided elsewhere on your campus? Is someone else doing similar work better, stronger, faster? With whom do you collaborate? Be certain that you know your allies for support and funding. Build your community. Be certain that you are not the only one who can provide positive public relations for your programs.

There is a new scoring system throughout student affairs and higher education. Make certain that just like a new generation of Olympic athletes, you are using the scoring to your advantage.