INNOVATE
Unbiased Applause
Every day we come into the office and punch our figurative time clocks. What we tend to lose sight of is the outstanding work performed by our extended division. (read more)

Zooming In
When looking at the comprehensive list of departments under the division of Student Affairs, it becomes clear what a wide reaching division it really is. (read more)

COMMUNICATE
The First Amendment and Student Affairs
(Or “Why Can’t We DO Anything About This?”)

Two separate events occurring on and off campus this semester challenged UA community members’ attitudes about free speech and raised questions concerning our responsibilities as Student Affairs professionals: a party held off campus by a group of UA students invited guests to come as their “favorite black person”; a large display on the mall pictured aborted human fetuses.

The Dean of Students Office fielded dozens of phone calls from people angry about the mall display, many of whom demanded it be taken down. Not surprisingly, once details of the “black theme party” became known, similar reactions were voiced. A distinction became apparent: many of those objecting to the mall display were students, and many of those upset about the off campus party were staff, faculty and administrators.

What became an opportunity to educate students about the First Amendment reminds us that perhaps a similar opportunity exists for members of the Student Affairs population, to help us understand University policies around this issue and how we can continue to engage in a healthy discourse that sets an example for UA students.

First Amendment challenges such as these hit us at our cores, often causing us to struggle with balancing constitutional rights and promoting an environment on this campus that supports inclusion of diverse ideology and cultures. The end result in all these discussions dwells on being accepted as the individual you are within this very large community and understanding its values.

Steven Adamczyk, a University Attorney with the Office of the General Counsel, emphasizes that “Respectful, inclusive and tolerant communication among members of our University community is critical to maintaining a flourishing learning environment. To that end, the University has policies to protect its substantial interest in maintaining educational and employment settings that are free from discrimination and harassment.

In exercising these important responsibilities, however, the University must use constitutionally permissible means to carry out its mission and obligations. Importantly, the First Amendment to the Constitution restricts the University from placing selective limitations on speech or expression because it is insensitive, boorish or expresses viewpoints on disfavored subjects. Similarly, the First Amendment forbids the University from regulating or punishing speech or the expression of ideas or messages because they are offensive or controversial.”

Adamczyk continues, “However, the University does prohibit discrimination and harassment of its students and employees through existing non-discrimination and anti-harassment policies. Speech or expression that constitutes harassment or discrimination under University policies are not protected by the First Amendment.”

It could be argued that many of us chose to belong to this community, a public, research one institution, because of just such lively debate; this undoubtedly won’t be the last time this issue takes place on our campus.

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Message from Melissa

Greetings! These last months have been ones of extraordinary activity in the Vice Provost’s office.

This semester has marked the Provost’s budget hearings for which 29 colleges and departments prepared documents and presentations for George Davis and his team. The information from these presentations will be used by George and President Shelton to make decisions about how to manage a $10,000,000 cut.

There is no doubt that Student Affairs will contribute its share to the budget cuts, but the process of putting together this report only reaffirmed for me the strengths of our division. All of the information we have been gathering in recent months – the Programmatic Overview Tool, the Decision Labs, the Discussion Boards – helped us put together an extensive, but concise, document that highlighted our world-class people, programs and facilities! Whatever financial burden we are asked to bear, we will survive and continue to build a division that is focused, innovative, entrepreneurial, and efficient.

Our priorities for the coming year continue to be to connect, innovate and communicate. One thing that I want to make sure we do is connect to each other. The work teams have been doing great work in this regard by bringing together staff from across the division to work on achieving our goals. You will find their work featured in this e-newsletter, and updates may be read in future issues.

Finally, this e-newsletter is a prime example of the type of communication that we are trying to foster. It will serve as a venue for us to learn about and appreciate each other’s contributions. Please give us your feedback and feel free to make suggestions – you’ll notice the most obvious example is the contest to “Name this Newsletter” – I know with the amount of creativity that exists in this division, there will be no shortage of imaginative submissions!

Melissa Vito
Vice Provost for Student Affairs and Dean of Students

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CONNECT

Decision Lab:
Student Affairs Staff “Weighs In”

During the first two weeks of February, more than 50 Student Affairs staff representing all units in the division participated in the Eller Decision Lab group process. Imagine a roomful of people typing furiously to answer questions about mission-critical departmental functions while simultaneously viewing their comments and those of their colleagues beamed on a colossal screen in the front of the room! Through this dynamic and, at times, hectic experience, participants voiced their opinions on issues ranging from decreasing departmental budgets by 3% to generating new revenue for the division.

Overall, the broad spectrum of questions yielded several recurring themes:

• Pride in the importance and quality of Student Affairs work

• Desire for consolidation and increase in efficiency within Student Affairs and greater internal and external collaboration

• Concern about the inconsistent recognition of Student Affairs contributions to the UA as a whole

• Call for a unified presentation and communication of who we are . . . both internal and external to the Student Affairs division

A clear challenge emerges from these recurring themes: Student Affairs must cultivate a unified division whose component units understand and capitalize on each other’s roles to demonstrate our value to the larger University community.

Increased understanding is crucial. Participants, for example, questioned the apparent redundancy of programs and services, such as diversity and social justice programs, leadership initiatives, and the student conduct system. Such questions illustrate the need to understand the reason for these overlapping functions and to examine whether this structure could and should be modified. A thorough comprehension of our own division is imperative to the goal of conveying the worth of Student Affairs to the University community.

The call for increased internal and external collaboration dovetails with this expressed need for consolidation. Unsurprisingly, the Decision Lab results revealed frustration within Student Affairs over growing demand for services in the face of diminishing budgets. Given the persistent financial crunch, staff recommended sharing of resources, such as assessment and information technology, to take advantage of economies of scale and improving our alignment with other divisions, such as Enrollment Management, to bolster Student Affairs’ retention efforts.

Daunting though the challenges may seem, personnel expressed optimism in the division’s greatest resource - its human capital. This affirmation of our staff’s intelligence and expertise is a key response elicited from the Decision Lab process. As our new Student Affairs leadership crystallizes our unit internally and externally, personnel will be our greatest asset.

For additional information about the Eller Decision Lab results, please contact Lynette Cook Francis: lynettec@email.arizona or 621-0961.

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Work Groups Hard at Work

Work groups addressing selected themes across the division were formed in the fall, and each is making tremendous progress, meeting regularly and tackling the priorities presented to them. Updates from each of these groups follow.

Academic Partnerships

The Student Affairs Division and Higher Education Department Partnership is moving ahead. Our group’s role will be to work on developing parts of the curriculum, proposing how some of the weekend recruitment programs will be hosted and coordinated, propose structures for providing Masters level students with advisors in HED and a professional mentor from Student Affairs, and probably a few other things too. The TEN Things to Do Program (or another working title, “Prerequisites for Life”) has received funding from Gateway. Now we are working to come up with some ideas for how it will be put together, who may be involved (Faculty Fellows, Student Affairs staff, students, others), and basically use our creative ideas to propose some possibilities.

The Academic Partnerships work group is co-chaired by Jeff Orgera, SALT, and Alan Strauss, DRC.

Marketing

Members of the marketing group have been hard at work looking at creative ways to improve communication within the division while building a greater understanding across the entire UA campus community of Student Affairs’ impact on students. The most obvious achievement to date is the creation of this e-newsletter! The group has also made division web site recommendations and is researching project costs and timeline. A division-wide marketing plan may be formulated this summer, with delineations of short- and long-term goals.

The Marketing work group is co-chaired by Nick Adamakis, Arizona Student Unions, and Magan Alfred, Dean of Students Office.

Professional Development

The professional development work group has been working on three specific themes over the past two months. We have looked at creating staff awards for individuals within Student Affairs, and are tentatively calling them the Saunie Taylor Impact Awards. The second area of focus has been on benchmarking with our peer institutions to see what kinds of professional development activities are offered to staff. The third focus has been researching what our current staff would like to see offered in the realm of professional development. A survey was distributed and we had an outstanding response. With all of the information gathered in the benchmarking and survey, the work group will then develop a professional development plan for the 2007-2008 academic year including a one day symposium sometime in the early fall.

The Professional Development work group is co-chaired by Patrick Call and Kathy Adams-Riester, both with Residence Life, and Veda Kowalski with the Dean of Students Office.

Research and Assessment

Highlights:

1. The group assisted with the coding and interpretation of the feedback that emerged from the recent participation of Student Affairs in a series of Decision Labs (details above). An executive summary of the data that was created may be used to directly inform leadership of a few areas of concern, interest and innovation going on in the greater Student Affairs Division.

2. The integrated Student Affairs assessment management solution known as StudentVoice was presented to the work team early in the semester. The team is close to making a recommendation as to whether it should be considered as the primary assessment management system for the division.

3. Progress has been made in providing working definitions for research and assessment, and a strategy for reviewing current assessment initiatives within the division and on campus is also underway. In true form of our namesake, the team utilized a consensus building technique to help us generate operational definitions for research and assessment, known as the Nominal Group Technique (NGT). Nicholle Zarkower facilitated the exercise, and an opportunity to share our thoughts and solicit feedback from the greater division should take place shortly.

4. The group will, in part, utilize the feedback from the Decision Labs and from our inquiries about current assessment initiatives to explore and recommend assessment priorities that will help inform Student Affairs practice on an institutional and national level.

The Research and Assessment work group is co-chaired by Latricia Brand, Undergraduate Initiatives, and Nicholle Zarkower, Residence Life.

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INNOVATE

Unbiased Applause

Every day we come into the office and punch our figurative time clocks. What we tend to lose sight of is the outstanding work performed by our extended division. UA Student Affairs boasts several nationally recognized models of excellence. Each newsletter we will take the opportunity to highlight just a few. The tough part is figuring out which ones to feature! Turns out this section also has its own little Connect, Communicate and Innovate themes going:

• When it comes to communication, The Arizona Daily Wildcat is at the forefront, placing 1st in “Best of Show” at the College Media Advisers/Associated Collegiate Press national convention in St. Louis last fall. But don’t think that’s their ONLY bragging point from 2006. The Wildcat also received six awards from the Arizona Newspaper Association for the following categories: editorial page excellence, the Wildcat Online, photography, page design excellence, community service and special section. Finally, the Wildcat received 1st place in web advertising from the College Newspaper Business & Advertising Managers. UA Student Media goes well beyond the traditional scope of print, radio and TV represented by the Arizona Daily Wildcat, KAMP Radio and UATV Channel 3. Whenever you pick up your campus phone book, your brightly colored campus maps, or see visitors clutching the professional and slick Visitor’s Guide, think “Student Media”, as these are special projects from that area also.

• Ground breaking research is quintessentially innovative and the Student Affairs Multicultural Affairs and Student Success area is in the second year of the Millennial Student Project. This longitudinal study of students’ attitudes, perceptions and experiences with diversity is being conducted by Melissa Ousley, a research analyst; Keith Humphrey, Interim Assistant Dean; Deb Levine-Donnerstein, senior researcher; and Assistant Vice President Lynette Cook Francis. With the global economy and an increasingly interconnected world a given, researching this most racially and ethnically diverse generation of college students can only add to the cumulative knowledge and understanding of what our collective future may look like. Look for features on this research in the May 2007 edition of the Hispanic Outlook in Education publication.

• Connecting with students is part of our daily routine as Student Affairs professionals, though some may be surprised at how often our division connects with students in the classroom realm. Student Affairs staff play a significant role in the teaching mission of the university, contributing over 5,300 credit hours through departments including the Colleges of Education, Medicine and Military Science. The staff of the Disability Resource Center is responsible for teaching two of the core courses for the undergraduate major in Rehabilitation Studies.

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Zooming In

When looking at the comprehensive list of departments under the division of Student Affairs, it becomes clear what a wide reaching division it really is. If we were to zoom out on the campus, we would see Student Affairs represented all over the UA, working with students in all sorts of ways. Sometimes the vast reach that Student Affairs enjoys makes it difficult to see the day-to-day successes that our colleagues have with students.

“Zooming In” will be a regular piece in this yet-to-be-named e-newsletter to highlight the impact that Student Affairs professionals have on students. Each issue will feature a spotlighted student along with a staff member to bring that impact into focus. After all, that impact is what gets us all to work every day! We want the entire division to see the effect that your particular department is having on our students.

The newsletter team would like to receive nominations of student/staff pairs to feature in this article. If you know a student/staff pair on whom you would like us to “zoom in,” send their names, contact information, and a brief description of why you think the division should “zoom in” on them (no more than 150 words) by April 6 to Tom Murray, tam@email.arizona.edu or
621-1435. Please let them know that they have been nominated and get students’ permission before submitting their contact information.

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It’s all in the (Division) Details

Arizona Student Media

This year’s 2006 Arizona Daily Wildcat Hall of Fame inductees include a Newsweek reporter (Nicholas Proffitt ’68), a Pulitzer Prize nominee (Tomas Gillen ’74), and an Associated Press Vice President (Ellen Hale ’72).

Arizona Student Unions (includes CSIL, Meal Plans and Greek Life)

The SUMC was selected as among the top five Student Union facilities in the nation in a peer study conducted by UC Berkeley and has been visited by over 200 other colleges and universities.

ASUA (Student Government)

Nearly 500 student clubs and organizations make up the UA environment including everything from the Arizona Surfers Club to the ZonaScrew Club, with a stated goal of “supporting Arizona athletics and uniting the students of the ZonaZoo.”

Campus Health (includes Counseling & Psychological Services, Health Promotions and Health Services)

Recently secured $100,000 in private funding to establish the Edward and Jonathan Linden Campus Health endowment for drug prevention.

Campus Recreation

Has a $500,000 endowment from parent support that will increase through an aggressive expansion campaign.

Career Services

Has been recognized by the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications for innovative student services programming through the web and are consultants for the Arizona Board of Regents.

Dean of Students Office (includes Parents & Family Association)

The UA Parents & Family Association Advisory Board, Chaired by Lionel & Ellen Kier of Allentown, PA, has been recognized by the UA Alumni Association with its College Advisory Board Red & Blue Award. This award is given annually by the Alumni Association to recognize excellent work by Advisory Boards and will be presented at the UA Parents & Family Association May 11 Advisory Board meeting.

Disability Resource Center

DRC is submitting a $500,000 earmark through Federal Relations to create a new protocol that will provide for the successful education advancement and re-integration of disabled veterans returning from the Middle East.

Multicultural Affairs & Student Success (includes African American, Asian Pacific, Chicano, Native American Student Affairs and Undergraduate Initiatives)

Students who participate in Multicultural Affairs and Student Success (MASS) programs have a nearly 20% higher retention rate than their peers.

Residence Life

Res Life conducted the first ever research about academic success rates in each hall to help fine tune programming and student placement.

ROTC (includes Air Force, Army & Naval ROTC)

The UA Air Force ROTC Detachment 020 has been recognized as the top Air Force ROTC detachment in the Southwest and has achieved a ranking in the top 10% of the nation.

SALT

The SALT Center (Strategic Alternative Learning Techniques) is increasing high school graduation rates (by 50% last year) for high risk seniors through a pilot launched at Catalina Magnet School.

UA BookStores

The UA BookStore’s largesse extends far beyond merely self support through the sale of textbooks and logo apparel: it actively seeks out and supports campus wide efforts that directly benefit students, distributing approximately $2,700,000 this past year. Programs like the Pillars of Excellence, the Faculty Fellows Speaker Series, Commencement Ceremonies, ASUA Student Government and Official UA Ring Ceremonies are just some of the ways the UA BookStore gives back to the campus community.

UA Facilitators

However long you’ve worked here, you can’t possibly know where to go, who to ask and what to do in every possible situation…but the small but powerful UA Facilitators Department does. Since July 2002 the Facilitator has served an average of 673 people per month on an individual basis. The Facilitator also works on initiatives to improve service and information provision on campus.

For highlights on individual accomplishments, go to:
Division Dandy’s.

Contact Susan Miller if you have submissions for “It’s all in the (Division) Details” or “Division Dandy’s” for future issues: slmiller@email.arizona.edu or 621-1408. Deadline is April 6.

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