Embracing Relapse: For College Students, Consider it a Gift

The transition from high school to college can be an awesome experience. In addition to establishing independence from parents, students need to learn how to negotiate the norms of new social groups, set healthy boundaries, and make decisions about finances, academics and career planning. Other more personal decisions include whether to engage in sex or substance use. Faced with these kinds of decisions, many of which have serious consequences, students can easily become overwhelmed

Outstanding Student Retention and Graduation: The Peer Advisors and Mentors Program at the University of Richmond

Today’s colleges and universities continue to face the challenges of retaining and graduating their students. Historically, peer-mentoring programs have helped to successfully meet these challenges. The Peer Advisors and Mentors (PAM) program has assisted in the retention of students, all while giving students opportunities that develop and hone their leadership, academic, and personal skills. Over the course of 22 years, PAM has evolved into a program that touches on significant facets deemed important by experts on the matters of retention and graduation. Such factors include mentoring, advising, integration, and engagement. This article gives an historical perspective on how a peer-mentoring program has assisted in the retention and graduation of first-year student mentees through mentoring and leadership

African-American Women on Predominantly White College Campuses: In the Shadows of Eating Disorders

Existing literature on Black women and body image often addresses the misconception that these groups are well-protected from eating disorders (EDs). The misconception can be attributed to sociocultural models of eating pathology, clinical approaches to classification, conflicting research results, and the extant measures for assessing ED symptoms and risk factors

Beyond Intent: Technology Adoption and Appropriation by University Staff

In this paper, we propose a model for understanding adoption and appropriation of technology. We describe a university-wide system that is designed for faculty and students, but which has been adopted by staff, followed by a survey study and some preliminary results

Learning from peers. Online professional development for university staff

Professional development has long been associated with the provision of events or alternatively of accredited courses, often supplemented by texts or websites. At the same time we are aware that much of what is learnt about university teaching happens 'on the job' as staff try out new approaches, or meet each other for a chat in the corridor. In a distance environment such ad hoc arrangements are less likely to take place particularly for part-time staff, and both online courses and informal communities have a particular role in joining staff who otherwise have little opportunity to meet. We have been exploring the opportunities for harnessing the potential of peer learning in two online professional development courses at the Open University (UK) both of which are concerned with the adoption of new online tools for teaching and learning. This paper describes a case study of the two initiatives which deliver professional development at scale: some 2000 staff have undertaken the courses to date, including an astonishing 1000 staff over the last 12 months. We discuss some of the lessons we have learnt on the reasons for the widespread success of these initiatives and some of the factors influencing effective engagement on the courses. We have demonstrated the value of a near-synchronous strategy in a small cohort which enhances a sense of presence, while providing sufficient flexibility to accommodate working practices. An experiential approach which gives participants the opportunity to experience first hand the sense of being an online student is valued by many staff who are new to it, and it provides a safe environment in which to try out new techniques and tools and to reflect on what is a pressing concern for many staff. The affective, confidence building aspects of this experience seem to have been important to many participants. At the same time we have also found that a self study route can work for some individuals who value the added flexibility to work on their own. Further work will be needed to establish the extent to which the courses have resulted in new or enhanced working practices. But if we have succeeded in helping staff to develop the confidence to experiment for themselves, then this will have been a worthwhile endeavour

6th Annual Chapman Staff Art Exhibition

The Leatherby Libraries Hall of Art was established to showcase the creativity of the Chapman community. It was dedicated for this purpose in 2014 although the space has been available for staff and student exhibits since 2011. The Hall of Art is devoted exclusively to the display of student work during the academic year, and to staff art during the summer. While past staff art exhibits featured work by Leatherby Libraries staff members only, this is our fourth year opening up the exhibit to any interested staff member of Chapman University. The fifteen artists represented here demonstrate the wide variety of talent at our university. From photography to painting, mosaics to film, the works you see here provide a unique opportunity to view and appreciate the diverse creative gifts of Chap-man staff. For many of the artists this exhibit allows them the first opportunity to display their work publicly and has been a rewarding experience for them. We invite you to participate in future staff exhibits

7th Annual Chapman Staff Art Exhibition Program

The Leatherby Libraries Hall of Art was established to showcase the creativity of the Chapman community. It was dedicated for this purpose in 2014 although the space has been available for staff and student exhibits since 2011. While past staff art exhibits featured work by Leatherby Libraries staff members only, this is our fifth year opening up the exhibit to any interested staff member of Chapman University. The 21 artists represented here demonstrate the wide variety of talent at our university. From photography to painting, mosaics to film, the works you see here provide a unique opportunity to view and appreciate the diverse creative gifts of Chapman staff. For many of the artists this exhibit allows them the first opportunity to display their work publicly and has been a rewarding experience for them

3rd Annual Chapman Staff Art Exhibition Program

The Leatherby Libraries Hall of Art exists to showcase the creativity of the Chapman community. It was dedicated for this purpose in 2014 but has exhibited staff and student art since 2011. The space is devoted to student work during the academic year and staff art displays during the summer. While past staff art exhibits displayed work by Leatherby Libraries staff members, this year for the first time we have opened the exhibit to any interested employee of Chapman University. The eighteen artists represented here demonstrate the wide variety of talent at Chapman. From photography to painting, needlepoint to mixed media, the works displayed provide a unique opportunity to view and appreciate the diverse creative gifts of Chapman staff

Fourth Annual Chapman Staff Art Exhibition

The Leatherby Libraries Hall of Art was established to showcase the creativity of the Chapman community. It was dedicated for this purpose in 2014 although the space has been available for staff and student exhibits since 2011. The Hall of Art is devoted exclusively to the display of student work during the academic year, and to staff art during the summer. While past staff art exhibits featured work by Leatherby Libraries staff members only, this is our second year opening up the exhibit to any interested staff member of Chapman University. The sixteen artists represented here demonstrate the wide variety of talent at our university. From photography to painting, ceramics to jewelry, the works you see here provide a unique opportunity to view and appreciate the diverse creative gifts of Chapman staff. For many of the artists this exhibit allows them the first opportunity to display their work publicly and has been an rewarding experience for them

A comparison of staff perceptions and student experiences of issues associated with university

A significant body of research (Yorke, 1999a; 1999b; 2000a; 2000b) has examined difficulties experienced by students who withdraw from university. However, less work has been undertaken around students who experience difficulties but choose to remain in their studies. Similarly, limited work has addressed how tutors and university support staff perceive difficulties associated with the student experience and whether these are in line with student accounts. The lack of research around university staff perceptions is surprising given that tutors must have a good knowledge of the student experience in order to be able to understand and support learning. The purpose of this study was twofold. Firstly, to examine what difficulties students reported experiencing during university and secondly, to ascertain if university staff knowledge of student difficulties were in line with student accounts. Using semi-structured interviews and an online questionnaire, staff and student perceptions of university difficulties were examined. Results showed that all students experienced difficulties whilst studying. It was generally found that university staff had a good knowledge of student difficulties. However, two types of difficulty were identified (related to university systems and experience of teaching) of which staff were less aware. Possible explanations for findings are offered along with recommendations as to how findings might influence a learning developer.