Decision Making and Student Affairs

Introduction
One of the primary goals of every educational institution is to ensure a positive development in the lives, mentality, and intellectual capacity of its students. This goes beyond just academic rigour and extends to the incorporation of extra-curricular activities, infrastructure, and other such elements that foster a conducive, friendly, and supportive environment for an excellent learning experience (Commodore, Gasman, Conrad, & Nguyen, 2018. pp.1-2). While the academic affairs unit of an educational institution is responsible for the design and execution of curricular activities, the student affairs units have a better idea of the most effective extra-curricular activities and programmes that can enhance the learning experience of students: student affairs units usually consist of student development professionals, and they also work with organizations focused around that goal (Terri, 2013, p. 139). Considering the impact of these two units and their individual responsibilities, as regards the student learning and development experience in an academic institution, it is imperative for “them” to have an effective collaboration across all facets of academic planning, activity suggestions, and the overall educational experience (Blake, 2017, p.65).
This paper examines a few examples of such collaborations with a focus on two areas: support for a “learning-living environment”, and addressing problems related to poor personal or behavioural problems (e.g. suicide) which impair academic performance. Also, a practical example of an approach to bridge the commonly emphasized gap between academic and student lives/goals on campus is presented.
Literature review
Collaboration between various parts of an institution is usually influenced by the level of bureaucracy, as well as the degree of autonomy of each unit within it. Considering the high segmentation within academic institutions, its is quite common to find units working independently of each other. While this is an intentional design, which achieves the goal of decentralization of resource values and access points for all stakeholders of the institution—especially for the students, the goal of the student affairs unit within an educational institution is better achieved, informed, and reinforced by a direct and strong collaboration with the academic affairs and planning unit (Terri, 2013, p. 144). An example of the positive influence of such a collaboration is seen in the case study described by Blake (2017, p.66-68). Another case study of a Midwestern university business school is described by Terri (2013, pp. 141-143). In that case study, the university faculty decided to integrate the student affairs unit in its study abroad programme for students. This was motivated partly due to the overwhelmed academic staff, who felt incompetent at handling the emotional and extra-curricular needs of the students during the programme. Through the experienced contributions and activity suggestions of the student affairs unit, the students were able to experience a seamless learning environment, which included activities on group formation and cohesion. Also, the student affairs unit helped to mitigate the common risks associated with study abroad programmes. They educated the students on applying risk-assessment methods to their interactions within the foreign environment, and they also acted as first responders to crises or emergencies of the students. Overall, the faculty had a positive feedback about the collaboration—especially as regards the efforts and activities of the student affairs unit—and were interested in such collaborations for future activities.
Having considered general examples of the positive influence of student affairs and academic affairs collaboration, we switch to a more streamlined focus—in line with the aim of the paper—on instances of this partnership/coalition in support of the so called “living-learning environment”.
The “living-learning” community/environment is described by Spanierman et.al (2013, p. 310) as a hall of residence for students with similar learning expectations i.e. the student have at least one course of study in common. The main aim of a living-learning environment is to foster a sense of community, bridge academic and non-academic lives, and enhance overall learning experience in the students. These sorts of establishments are mostly tailored towards first-year students, who benefit from the inclusion within a supportive community during their period of transitioning into college life. Considering the benefit of having a good sense of community on academic involvements and performance (Spanierman et.al, 2013, p. 309), living-learning environments are being adopted more across universities in America. Essentially, living-learning environments are run by personnel staff through the student affairs unit of a university. This cites the positive impact of a collaboration between student-affairs and the academic unit of these universities, and a case study of Louisiana State University is examined in consideration of such a collaboration. Rohli, Keppler and Winkler (2013, pp.1-2) described the scenario of the hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which made an impact around Louisiana State University (a landfall). That kind of event tends to have a direct and significant impact on the cognitive, academic, and social developments of those that experience it. In consideration of this, the study examined the coping mechanism and academic performance of students enrolled in the faculty supported learning-living environments, as opposed to others with contemporary arrangements. The findings of the study points to the positive impacts of learning-living environments on academic performance and student well-being (Rohli et.al, 2013, p.3). It also speculated a relationship between the learning-living environments and improved retention and graduation rates in the school. Another example of faculty support for learning-living environments is seen in the case of the University of South Florida. The university has about 10 LLCs with in-house tutoring and advising, as well as LLC advisors. Also, some classes were incorporated into the residence halls with attendance by the Deans and faculty staff. This fostered an improved access and familiarity between the students and the faculty members affiliated with the LLCs.
The next consideration is about a faculty-student affairs coalition which promotes student wellness/health by addressing behavioural issues linked to suicide. The case study for this is the “Emory cares 4 U” coalition at Emory University. As illustrated by Kaslow et.al (2012, p.123), the coalition members get to collaborate with the dean of the graduate school on matters concerning mental health of the students. The office of the dean provides financial support and offers the coalition autonomy to incorporate self-care culture and plan academic programs in conjunction with faculty staff (academic unit). This coalition is also designed to promote the mission and vision of the school: to be an internationally recognized university for its ethically engaged, inquiry-driven, and diversified community, whose members collaborate on activities for positive transformation in the world. To promote this vision at the collegiate level, the coalition employs members that are passionate about transforming mental wellness within the campus environment of Emory University. The coalition addresses its audience (the students) through seminars, symposiums, courses, etc. It is also good to note that, prior to this coalition, Emory University had been in partnership with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). Considering all these activities within the school, the study finally evaluated the effectiveness of these integrations into the school experience. It was found that most of the students were able to recognize signs of suicidal behaviour. Also, most of the students acknowledged that they would intervene in an instance of suicidal activity within their vicinity etc. This shows the positive impacts of the coalition as regards education and improvement in mental wellness and behavioural patterns in the students of the university.
A final example of collaboration between faculty and student affairs is illustrated by Commodore, Gasman, Conrad, and Nguyen (2018, pp. 5-6) in the case study of Norfolk university. There are many other possible case studies, but this paper draws a few effective planning strategies from those earlier enumerated.
Development of an effective strategy
In developing a strategy, one must first consider what works and what does not work.
· In the case study of Norfolk University Nguyen (2018, p. 5), the approach taken to bridge the gap between the academic life and student life involved the “bridge” program; the program worked and can be adopted. In this program, faculty members that shared the program’s values of mentorship—in both an academic and personal setting—were selected to be the faces of the collaboration. This ensured that the participating students were only exposed to the most caring teachers or faculty members, which ensured the success of the collaboration.
· The next element within the strategy is availability of funding. This is considered in the case study of Emory university, where the dean’s office supported the financial involvements of the coalition across its activities: seminars, courses, symposiums, etc.
· In the case of learning-living environments, the faculty should have an overwatch of the programme. In this supervisory role, the faculty can integrate academic involvements in the LLCs, as done in the University of South Florida. The collaboration or coalition design should have an aim that is consistent with the vision and mission of the institutions.
· As in the case study described by Terri (2013), graduate students can easily be integrated into the student affairs programme as faculty staff. When dealing with issues concerning the undergraduate students, graduate students have first-hand and recent experiences of these same issues and can better inform of the solutions or consequences of inaction. Furthermore, their engagement in such activities helps the professional development of such graduate students, while absolving busy faculty staff of the extra work. Things like planning and executing study abroad programmes, advising study options, and other extra-curricular activities that enhance overall student experience.
Conclusion
This paper has considered various cases of collaborations and coalition between faculty staff/academic unit of educational institutions and the student affairs division of the same institution (and external ones). The positive outcomes of these studies further reinforce this paper’s original stand on the necessity for this partnership. The focus of these programmes is on the student’s experience within these institutions, and it is highly contingent on the degree of integration between these two independent units. Bridging the student academic-social life gap has been found to foster improved retention rates of students in their programmes, increase graduation rates, and offer the students more than a learning environment. It is expected that every University will aspire to provide for its students, this supportive environment for positive development.
References
Blake, J. H. (2007). The crucial role of student affairs professionals in the learning process. New Directions for Student Services, 2007(117), 65–72. doi:10.1002/ss.234. Retrieved from: https://sci-hub.tw/https://doi.org/10.1002/ss.234
Commodore, F., Gasman, M., Conrad, C., & Nguyen, T.-H. (2018). Coming Together: A Case Study of Collaboration Between Student Affairs and Faculty at Norfolk State University. Frontiers in Education, 3. doi:10.3389/feduc.2018.00039. Retrieved from: https://sci-hub.tw/https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2018.00039
Kaslow, N. J., Garcia-Williams, A., Moffitt, L. B., McLeod, M., Zesiger, H., Ammirati, R., Berg, J.P., & McIntosh, B. J (2012). Building and Maintaining an Effective Campus-Wide Coalition for Suicide Prevention, Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, (26)121–139. DOI: 10.1080/87568225.2012.659160. Retrieved from: https://sci-hub.tw/https://doi.org/10.1080/87568225.2012.659160
Rohli, R.V., Keppler, K.J., & Winkler, D.L. (2013). Academic Development of First-Year Living-Learning Program Students before and after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita of 2005. Learning Communities Research and Practice, 1(3), 1-16. Retrieved from: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1112658.pdf
Spanierman, L. B., Soble, J. R., Mayfield, J. B., Neville, H. A., Aber, M., Khuri, L., & De La Rosa, B. (2013). Living Learning Communities and Students’ Sense of Community and Belonging. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 50(3), 308–325. doi:10.1515/jsarp-2013-0022. Retrieved from: https://sci-hub.tw/https://doi.org/10.1515/jsarp-2013-0022
Terri, F. B. (2013). Utilizing student affairs professionals to enhance student and faculty experiences and mitigate risk in short-term, faculty-led study abroad programs. Journal of International Education in Business, 6(2), 136-147. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JIEB-05-2013-0019. Retrieved from: https://sci-hub.tw/10.1108/JIEB-05-2013-0019