When it was originally released, Thriving in Transitions: A Research-Based Approach to College Student Success represented a paradigm shift in the student success literature, moving the student success conversation beyond college completion to focus on student characteristics that promote high levels of academic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal performance in the college environment. The authors contend that a focus on remediating student characteristics or merely encouraging specific behaviors is inadequate to promote success in college and beyond. Drawing on research on college student thriving completed since 2012, the newly revised collection presents six research studies describing the characteristics that predict thriving in different groups of college students, including first-year students, transfer students, high-risk students, students of color, sophomores, and seniors, and offers recommendations for helping students thrive in college and life. New to this edition is a chapter focused on the role of faculty in supporting college student thriving.
“As an archetypal student success higher-educator myself, I did not enter this profession intentionally....But my life experiences did prepare me to be very successful at this work. So, what are those experiences, and types of knowledge, insight, skills that equip one to do this kind of work? This book is about encouraging the next generation of successors to use their experiences to become equity warriors within the system.” - John N. GardnerThis book argues that today more than ever we need new and more student success leaders to step forward to make the changes that students need, and it offers the story of one such leader in the belief that it will help others see how they can make their own contribution to this movement. The author relates a story about events and individuals that launched a national and international movement to enable many more college students to proceed beyond the beginning college experience and complete the credential they are seeking. It is also the author’s personal history – how he ended up spending his whole life in college, and how college can make us wiser and more successful than when we started the journey. John Gardner brings 55 years of professional experience to telling this story. He begins with the story of how colleges can and do introduce students to life changing perspectives and ideas. In Gardner’s case it was a matter of being introduced to the question: “what is justice?” and then spending his entire professional life seeking ways to bring justice to underserved college students by making changes from the inside of the higher education system.An on-line compendium accompanies this book, which includes prompts for guided reflection and questions and topics for discussion, as well as additional material on the author’s background and personal philosophy.
The 2010 edition of this monograph addresses many topics (e.g., administration of orientation programs, family involvement, student characteristics and needs, assessment, and orientation for specific student populations and institutional types) that were included in previous editions but approaches them with new information, updated data, and current theory. However, this edition also takes up new topics in response to the "opportunities and concerns" facing orientation, transition, and retention professionals such as collaborations among campus units in the development and delivery of orientation, the increase in nontraditional student populations, the need for effective crisis planning and management in orientation programs, new technologies, and even the challenge of making the case for orientation in an era of diminishing resources. The authors have carefully penned chapters incorporating contemporary information, ideas, and concepts while being reflective of traditional practices. Following a preface by Margaret J. Barr and a foreword by Jennifer R. Keup and Craig E. Mack, chapters in this edition include: (1) Brief Overview of the Orientation, Transition, and Retention Field (Craig E. Mack); (2) Theoretical Perspectives on Orientation (Denise L. Rode and Tony W. Cawthon); (3) Making the Case for Orientation: Is It Worth It? (Bonita C. Jacobs); (4) Administration of a Comprehensive Orientation Program (April Mann, Charlie Andrews, and Norma Rodenburg); (5) Community College Orientation and Transition Programs (Cathy J. Cuevas and Christine Timmerman); (6) Channeling Parental Involvement to Support Student Success (Jeanine A. Ward-Roof, Laura A. Page, and Ryan Lombardi); (7) Extensions of Traditional Orientation Programs (Tracy L. Skipper, Jennifer A. Latino, Blaire Moody Rideout, and Dorothy Weigel); (8) Technology in Orientation (J.J. Brown and Cynthia L. Hernandez); (9) Incorporating Crisis Planning and Management Into Orientation Programs (Dian Squire, Victor Wilson, Joe Ritchie, and Abbey Wolfman); (10) Orientation and First-Year Programs: A Profile of Participating Students (Maureen E. Wilson and Michael Dannells); (11) Creating a Developmental Framework for New Student Orientation to Address the Needs of Diverse Populations (Archie P. Cubarrubia and Jennifer C. Schoen); (12) Designing Orientation and Transition Programs for Transfer Students (Shandol C. Hoover); (13) Nontraditional Is the New Traditional: Understanding Today's College Student (Michael J. Knox and Brittany D. Henderson); (14) Building the Case for Collaboration in Orientation Programs: Campus Culture, Politics, and Power (Beth M. Lingren Clark and Matthew J. Weigand); (15) Assessment and Evaluation in Orientation (Robert Schwartz and Dennis Wiese); and (16) Reflections on the History of Orientation, Transition, and Retention Programs (Jeanine A. Ward-Roof and Kathy L. Guthrie). (Individual chapters contain references.) [For the 2nd Edition (2003), see ED478603.].
High Impact Educational Practices (HIEPs) have been extensively tested as compelling pedagogies for university students from an array of backgrounds, especially for the underprepared, and those with limited opportunity for high-impact learning experiences. This handbook is written with our firm belief that while higher education practitioners around the world are focused on improving student outcomes, not many have access to a better understanding of the conceptual foundations, empirical research and best practices in student engagement and high impact educational pedagogies. In this book, we unpack the essential conceptual constructs around the notions of student engagement to encourage readers to purposefully add HIEPs to their pedagogical repertoire and engage in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) practices.
Developing and Sustaining Successful First -Year Programs First-year programs and interventions have become critical launching pads for student success and retention in higher education. However, these programs often flounder not because of what they are trying to do, but because of the ways in which they are implemented. Developing and Sustaining Successful First-Year Programs offers faculty, academic administrators, and student affairs professionals a comprehensive and practical resource that includes step-by-step guidance for developing new first-year programs and enhancing existing programs. The book explores the key elements that contribute to sustained student success and the programs that have the capacity to continue to meet student needs while making the most of scarce resources. The authors show how to create and sustain critical partnerships, put in place the needed organizational structures, and include strategies for developing effective assessments and evaluations. Developing and Sustaining Successful First-Year Programs is filled with illustrative examples and profiles of successful programs from a range of institutions that vary in size, type, selectivity, and culture. Examples of common programs and interventions include summer bridge programs, student orientation, first-year seminars, learning communities, residential programs, developmental education, and many more. Based in scholarly literature, theory, and practice, the book highlights the initiatives that facilitate the transition, learning, development, and success of new college students.
In an effort to create a more educated workforce in the United States, many community colleges are implementing new practices and strategies to assist under-prepared students. These efforts will ultimately support a stronger and more resilient global workforce. Examining the Impact of Community Colleges on the Global Workforce provides relevant theoretical and conceptual frameworks, best practices, and emerging empirical research about new approaches being employed in community colleges to prepare students for their post-collegiate careers. Featuring recent initiatives in educational settings, this publication is a critical reference source for higher education practitioners, policymakers, and graduate students in higher education administration programs interested in the innovative practices utilized by community colleges to educate underserved students.
This volume is a critical and objective study of the contemporary college student athlete. Framed around the process of recruitment, transition, and support of student athletes in higher education, the volume is a response to societal pressures to reform college athletics. Driven by publicity and the potential for revenue gains, colleges and universities have invested heavily in developing athletic programs, coaches, and facilities. Yet few resources are invested strategically in the personal and intellectual development of student athletes. Written by a team of authors with first-hand experience working with student athletes and transitional programs, the volume argues that institutional attention must be directed at caring for the personal and intellectual growth of student athletes. Highlighting some best-practice curricula and exploring the psychological issues surrounding participating in often highly-competitive athletics, the authors consistently conclude that institutional responsibility is of the utmost and immediate importance. Authors also consider the unique settings of student athletes in community and private liberal arts colleges, demonstrating the broad interest in athletics and institutional competition. The result is an important volume that will be of interest to those who counsel and administer intercollegiate athletic programs, faculty and researchers looking for insightful baseline data on the contemporary student athlete, and those concerned with transitional programs and the future of higher education.
Published in partnership with NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising Academic advisors help students learn to make the most of their college years, not merely by completing requirements toward a degree but also by growing intellectually and developing all aspects of their identity. Yet, many professional and faculty advisors are new to academic advising and may feel ill-equipped to do more than help students register for classes. This new edited collection provides an overview of the theory and best practice undergirding advising today while exploring the transition challenges of a wide-range of first-year college students, including those attending two-year colleges, coming from underrepresented backgrounds, entering underprepared for college-level work, and/or experiencing academic failure.
