Award Title Peer Involvement Advising: Connecting Student Leaders with Students Seeking Involvement on Campus. Awards Categories Student Union, Student Activities, Greek Life, Leadership and related Executive Summary It s a familiar sight on many college campuses, especially at the beginning of a new term the classic Involvement Fair. For those of us who are driven by a passion for helping students connect and engage with our institutions, there are few experiences that give us such a close and personal view of student involvement. Maybe the reason we all do some version of an involvement fair is because it always seems to work. Perhaps it is that it works so well that we so often fail to ask a very important question, Does it work for everyone? In a recent edition of About Campus, Joseph Murray (2010) wrote, I wonder if the predominant personality traits of those who enter the field have led us to favor forms of campus involvement that advance only a much narrower definition of personal development than we have come to embrace in our rhetoric. Clearly programs like an involvement fair are designed for extraverts; people who aren t hesitant to break the ice with someone they don t know. Perhaps it is as Murray suggests; that it is our own personality types that lead us to design programs of this sort. Perhaps it is the lack of viable alternatives. At Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas we have created a concept called Peer Involvement Advising that may provide just such an alternative. We hope you will agree that it is worthy of your recognition. Another concern expressed by a growing number of Student Affairs scholar-practitioners is whether we are able to deliver the student learning promised through involvement on campus. When students engage in the co-curriculum, a very small minority actually participate in programs that are advised by student affairs professionals. Additionally, most stumble into this involvement in ways that are guided by forces other than a desire for enrichment and learning. In Student Success in College: Creating Conditions that Matter, George Kuh and his colleagues (2005) write, Many colleges claim to provide high-quality learning environments for their students. Too often, however, such experiences are products of serendipity or efforts on the part of students themselves. Moreover, for every student who has such an experience, there are others who do not connect in meaningful ways with their teachers, their peers, or take advantage of learning opportunities. As a result, many students leave school prematurely, or put so little effort into their learning that they fall short of benefiting from college to the extent they should (p. 9 and 10). Put simply, the curriculum of the co-curriculum often lacks the kind of intentionality and coordination of our academic counterpart. The Peer Involvement Advising Program at Stephen F. Austin State University was developed to address these important and persistent problems in higher education. In its third full year of existence, the IC is exceeding expectations and may provide a unique model for deeply engaging
both outgoing and introverted students and providing them with a means to prime future learning through their experiences. Award Description Our Peer Involvement Advising program is housed within our Involvement Center which is completely managed and implemented by student leaders. We liken the Involvement Center to an involvement fair everyday, where students are exposed to a wide variety of opportunities to learn and lead beyond the classroom. The center occupies a small space near the main entrance to our recently remodeled student center. The space isn t much to look at. It contains a front desk and a small adjoining conference room. Students are drawn into the space by sandwich boards advertising daily events, signups for a wide variety of programs and the promise of something called, involvement advising. It is this last piece that has proven most effective in cultivating the engagement of our students. The concept of peer advising is nothing new. And yet, the concept of peer involvement advising appears to be a novel approach. In a fairly comprehensive search of literature and websites, we ve found nothing exactly like our program. In their new book, Students Helping Students Newton and Ender (2010) provide a number of examples of how colleges and universities use peer educators. From peer academic advisors to resident assistants and peer-to-peer health programs, the list seems to be exhaustive. The lack of any discussion of involvement advising both here and elsewhere seems to bolster the claim that this program may be quite unique. Our process is modeled upon the peer academic advising concept. Peer Involvement Advisors are trained to be a resource on any number of programs, not just those within Student Affairs. A typical involvement advising session begins with a discussion guide we call, the menu. It is actually set up like a menu you would see in a restaurant, with opportunities divided into appetizers, main course and desserts. The appetizers are one-time opportunities like a weekend service program or a camping trip sponsored by the Outdoor Pursuits Program. A main course is involvement that continues throughout the year and perhaps even throughout the students time at the university. Examples include a year-long leadership program, a student organization or fraternity/sorority. The desserts section allows students to take the advice of Stephen Covey and Begin with the end in mind. Programs like the service honors and leadership and service awards are listed to let students see from the onset the outcomes they may achieve. As the peer advisor begins their discussion with each advisee, they ask them, What are you looking to get out of your involvement on campus. Typical goals may include meeting people or finding ways to spend their free time. The usual follow up question is, What do you hope to learn? This question often throws new students for a loop. Many have honestly not thought about their involvement outside of the classroom as being a learning opportunity. I think this is one of the most unique potentials of the involvement advising concept, that we are able to catch students at the beginning of their involvement experience and tell them not only that they should expect to learn something from it, but show them our learning outcomes to give them an idea of what they will learn.
The advisor walks each student through the full menu of opportunities and provides input on the variety of programs in which the advisee expresses interest. Once they have found a few, they discuss how to balance involvement with their overall responsibilities as a student. There is space in the guide to write in the student s class and work schedule so the student can see how much time they have to devote to co-curricular experiences. As you might guess, while the structure we provide helps us deliver consistent advising, there really isn t a typical involvement advising session. We train our advisors to respond to a wide variety of topics, and over time, we have created a culture where we never pass a student off to someone else or say, That s not our area. If an advisor doesn t know the answer to a question, they may send it out to other advisors or ask a member of the professional staff. Involvement Advisors have connected students to programs as varied as intercollegiate athletics, academic assistance programs and even connected a student displaying some concerning behavior with our counseling services. Articles about the Involvement Center and Peer Involvement Advising Programs have been published in three national magazines including: Peck, A. (July, 2011). Peer Involvement Advisors Improve First Year Student Engagement And Retention, About Campus, 16 (3). Peck, A., Claver, L. and Russel, M. (May, 2010). Engaging Students through a Student Involvement Center, Campus Activities Programming, 43 (1). Peck, A. and Claver, L. (September, 2009). Engaging Spaces: Moving student involvement from a planned expense to an impulse buy. The Bulletin of the Association of College Unions International, 77 (5). Additionally, the concept has been the subject of presentations at national conferences, including the following: Innovative Solutions to Engaging First-Generation Students (2011). Annual Meeting of the National Association for Student Personnel Administrators, Philadelphia, PA. Peer Involvement Advising: A New Approach to Engaging Students, (2011). National Convention, National Association for Campus Activities, St. Louis, MO. Bridging the Academic and Social Integration of Students: The Role of Student Affairs (2010). Students in Transition, Houston, Texas. Peer Involvement Advising: A Strategy for Freshman Engagement (2010). Annual Meeting for the First-Year Experience, Denver, CO. We have been contacted by and met (via phone) with each of the following institutions below. Many are currently working on developing Peer Involvement Advising programs on their campuses.
Dartmouth College University of North Texas McKendree University (Illinois) University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Otterbein College (Ohio) Manchester Community College (New Hampshire) Kent State University (Ohio) University of Central Florida Georgia Southern University Anderson University (South Carolina) Next Steps This year, we are expanding the Peer Involvement Program. We have partnered with 20 sections of our First-Year Seminar course to make Involvement Advising a required element of the class. Additionally, we have opened a second Involvement Center in the lobby of the largest freshman residence hall. As a result, as of October 1, 2011 we had already exceeded the total number of session that was conducted all of last year (nearly 400). Our goal is to advise 1000 students this year. All indications are that we will meet that goal. Assessment Data In the first year, the program conducted more than one hundred peer involvement advising sessions. Among first-year students who participated, the retention rate for fall to spring was 95%. When compared to the university s overall fall to spring retention rate of 89% for first-year students, this was a tremendous success. At Stephen F. Austin State University, first-generation status has been an important variable in first-year attrition. According to the university s One Year Retention Report, there is a strong connection between family degree attainment and a student s likelihood of staying enrolled. Retention rates for first-year; first-generation students were 5.7 points lower than rates for students who were not first-generation. The Peer Involvement Advising Program provides an easy, low-risk resource for helping firstgeneration college students to connect with university resources of which they might not otherwise be aware. It also offers this information peer-to-peer. Students express more comfort with posing these questions to their fellow students than to a professional staff member. Newton and Ender (2010) suggest, At times, students may feel reluctant and even embarrassed to admit they need help. Therefore, peer educators can play a significant role in providing objective and reassuring information about the resources available (P. 249). We have articulated learning outcomes for students who participate in Peer Involvement Advising. 1) The student will feel more connected to the university. 2) The student will be more likely to seek leadership roles on campus 3) The student will demonstrate increased awareness of campus resources 4) The student will be better able to balance their school, work, and co-curricular experiences in balance. 5) The student will become involved in a co-curricular program. Nearly 86% of all students who had a peer involvement advising session we able to connect with a student organization and about 72% were still involved a semester later. Ninety-one percent said that it made them feel more connected to the university. Eighty-two percent said that it made them more likely to seek leadership roles in the future and 92% said that it made them more aware of what they were learning from their co-curricular experiences. Additionally, 87.5 said
that the program helped them keep their school work, social life and co-curricular experiences in balance. These are difficult outcomes to achieve for some very tricky problems in student affairs. Open-ended Feedback from Advisees As a freshman I came into the involvement center out of curiosity, a semester later I was a member of the Traditions Council and thinking about becoming an officer. Interacting with the Involvement Center I have gotten to meet a very diverse group of people and have learned so much from them and from the experiences I have had. I personally think that having an Involvement Center where people can come in to ask just about any question regarding things on campus is wonderful. It is like a gateway to so many more opportunities. The experiences I have had so far by being involved in an organization and by spending time in the Involvement Center has helped me define my goals and at the same time facilitated my achievement of those goals. I can't wait to learn even more things these upcoming semesters. As with other peer advising programs, there are benefits for the advisors as well. In a survey of all seven of our advisors, the students unanimously concluded that they were more likely to seek leadership experiences as a result of serving as an Involvement Advisor. More than 85% strongly agreed (the remaining 15% agreed) that they had an increased appreciation for diversity, improved listening skills and a greater sense of connection between their learning and personal development and their participation in co-curricular experiences. Since many Involvement Advisors are student leaders on campus, this has helped this idea spread to our student organizations. I have been excited to see more and more of our student groups thinking in terms of learning outcomes and coaching each other to make sure their programs are intentional learning experiences. Though there was no way to plan for the synergism that would occur, the impact of peer to peer learning is by no means confined within the walls of the Involvement Center. Open-ended Feedback from Advisors Through this process, I feel more comfortable talking to people who I would not ordinarily talk to and get to know people better before I make judgments about them. I love teaching and showing students how easy it is and how much it will impact their college career and life if they just take that step and get involved on campus. As a sophomore, I wish the Involvement Center was here when I was searching for an organization to get involved in my first year. Coming from a small high school with only a few organizations to a school with over two hundred organizations, it was initially overwhelming. The creation of the Involvement Center benefits not only incoming students, but current as well.