|
Message from the Vice Provost & Dean
As I settle into my second year as Vice Provost for Student Affairs and Dean of Students, I am proud and appreciative of our evolution as a division. During the past year, for example, we have changed our name from the Division of Student Services to the Division of Student Affairs to better reflect the evolution of our profession, emphasize the educational aspect of our work, and align with existing University documents; and our mission, vision, and values have been updated to clarify our aspirations, our purpose, and our behaviors. Thank you for your participation in and contributions to these changes.
In addition, we are already firmly into a new academic year, with new students, new colleagues, new University leadership, and new beginnings. For most students, the first day of class was their new beginning, but I know for many of us the “beginning” started weeks before – preparing, training, planning, and arranging. I’m especially appreciative to those who volunteered to greet our newest students during housing move-in, to those who helped our students acclimate during Transitions, and to those whose work typically occurs behind the scenes, in the evenings, on weekends and in all the ways that are sometimes unheralded but always important. Each of you make this a special place for our students, and I am deeply grateful.
As I shared in our Division Kickoff Meeting last month, although all of our work (mission!) is important (values!) to serving our students’ success (vision!), certain areas of work will serve as primary foci this academic year:
- student early experiences (e.g. building on last year’s EDPAC work to improve success and retention);
- student use of and access to facilities and services (e.g. how our spaces effectively support student needs);
- student food insecurity (e.g. the extent of need among GVSU students)
- student well-being and success (e.g. health promotions and education programming)
In addition, it’s clear that higher education – and GVSU – is in an era of change, even while we embrace our accomplishments and build upon our successful past. To that end, the Division’s leadership is spending time on thinking about adaptive leadership, organizational agility, and change. To meet the aforementioned areas of focus, live into our vision and mission, and achieve our desired future, we will all need to learn and help each other with these skills. I welcome your input and ideas as we move ahead.
As President Mantella suggested - here’s to Chapter V at Grand Valley State University!
Loren
| |
|
mySuccessCheck opens today!
Please encourage all first year undergraduate students (including first year transfer students) to complete the mySuccessCheck early alert survey, September 23-30. Students will receive an email with a link to the survey or they can visit the mySuccessCheck website. This survey helps staff identify students who are struggling and provide appropriate resources, information, and support.
| |
NASPA LEAD
GVSU has again been selected as one of seven institutions in the country to serve as a NASPA LEAD Consulting Institution (LCI). In this role, Grand Valley has the responsibility and privilege to lead a cohort of other colleges and universities in civic learning and democratic engagement work.
Congratulations to Melissa Baker-Boosamra and her colleagues on this national acknowledgement and collaborative effort!
| |
|
Student Wellness - A Laker PriorityBy Kate Harmon, Director of Recreation & Wellness
Nationally
NIRSA, a leader in collegiate recreation, and NASPA, the leading organization for student affairs professionals, have recently endorsed the Okanagan Charter, an international charter for health promoting universities. The Charter focuses on an upstream, strategic, and interconnected approach.
The Okanagan Charter calls for us to “be proactive and intentional in creating empowered, connected and resilient campus communities that foster an ethic of care, compassion, collaboration, and community action” (2015, p. 7). This new approach is more than trying to fix a problem; it involves connected, upstream efforts to create a campus environment that supports health.
Opportunities exist in the social, academic, and learning environments to reorient towards prevention. “Students do not live fragmented lives and must be addressed as whole individuals who interact with the college environment in ways that reinforce or inhibit their abilities to succeed as future citizens, leaders, and thinkers” (Abrams, Andes, DeRicco, Rider-Milkovich, & Wilcox, 2019).
The Charter has two Calls to Action for universities:
1. Embed health into all aspects of campus culture, across the administration, operations, and academic mandates.
2. Lead health promotion action and collaboration locally and globally (Okanagan Charter: An international charter for health promoting universities and colleges, 2015).
At GVSU
We can accomplish the Calls to Action at GVSU by incorporating “health promotion values and principles into our mission, vision, and strategic plans” as well as engaging in a proactive systematic approach that emphasizes societal and environmental interventions that “create and enhance health in settings, organizations, and systems” (2015). GVSU is well positioned for this upstream work and some progress has already been made through efforts of colleagues university-wide. Most recently, the Division of Student Affairs has made the following changes which support these collective efforts:
- A new Student Support Manager was hired within the Dean of Students Office. Welcome Emily First!
- Campus Recreation is undergoing a name change to Recreation & Wellness and a new Student Health Promotions Coordinator will be hired.
- A new Student Wellness website was created and a new 8 dimension wellness model was launched.
- Under the framework of collective impact, a Student Well-Being Steering Committee and Student Well-Being Collective are being formed. These groups will identify and support a common agenda to determine what needs changing to best support student wellness.
- A Student Well-Being Guide for faculty and staff was created.
What can we do to support a healthy campus environment for all students from where we sit?
1. Prioritize your own well-being and those of others.
- When leaders prioritize their own well-being, a trickledown effect positively affects others.
- Setting cultural norms for a health promoting supportive environment must occur at the university leadership and faculty/staff levels if we expect students to prioritize their health and wellbeing.
2. Refocus and provide resources for creating and sustaining conditions that support a healthy campus environment.
- Reorient campus culture, services, and programs to promote a healthy campus.
- Engage faculty and staff to prioritize wellness in their classrooms and workplaces.
- Include health and wellness as a priority within university and department values and strategic plans.
- Provide education and opportunities that emphasize the importance of healthy behaviors.
- Offer a number of resources through websites, programming, and academic classes.
Interested in learning more?
- American College Health Association
- NIRSA & NASPA Health & Wellbeing Thought Leadership Forum Summary
- NASPA Health and Well-Being in Higher Education: A Commitment to Student Success MAY 2019
- Abrams, G. B., Andes, S., DeRicco, B., Rider-Milkovich, H., & Wilcox, D. (2019). CAS cross-functional framework for advancing health and wellbeing. Washington, D.C.: Council for the Advancement of Standards for Higher Education.
| |
|
|
Meet the Division: Sue Smith, Career CenterThis is my 12th year as an Office Coordinator in the Career Center. I supervise the front desk student assistants as well as manage the budget while handling those infinite “miscellaneous other duties.” I am passionate about my job and especially fostering student success in any way possible knowing I am making a difference in the lives of our students. Over the years, I have many fond memories working in the Career Center. I will never forget a co-workers facial expression at our white elephant gift exchange during our holiday potluck where they received my gift of a do-it-yourself pregnancy belly cast kit. We have so much fun in the Career Center.
My husband and I enjoy taking the car we dated in during high school for a drive and are celebrating 40 years of marriage this September. We have two grown children and a granddaughter for which I sewed her a reproduction flower girl dress to copy the bride. We are also blessed with having all our parents in our lives and treasure every moment with them. I enjoy sewing, knitting, and gardening in my “Pinterest” garden. With my green thumb, I have quite possibly grown the biggest potted rosemary plant in existence.
| |
|
Important Information & Events
| |
|
Division of Student Affairs
| |
|
|
