|
Co-curricular learning key to success
ENGAGE YOUR STRENGTHS | COMMUNITY | FUTURE AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
|
We are only four weeks away from the first day of fall semester, and we are getting ready to say hello to incoming students even as we celebrate our summer graduates moving on from KSU. It has been a busy summer, especially in the Center for Student Leadership. The Center, which is housed in both the Division of Student Success and University College, embodies our core values as a "collaborative learning environment" that stresses the "interconnectness of learning." The Center's programs stress not only leadership but community engagement and global perspectives. The Center has experienced a number of transitions in the last 12 months, but it is ready to serve an even larger number of students as the university prepares to be the home of more than 31,000 students. It's the creative, innovative faculty and staff in the Center and across the college that makes University College so central to student success!
|
|
 | |
Center for Student Leadership LINK students in Japan
|
LINK Leads enjoys capstone trip in Japan
As part of their capstone experience, students completing their third year in the Leaders in Kennesaw (LINK) certificate program have traveled to Ghana, Brazil, South Africa, China, Australia, Peru, Argentina, and Greece. This year's group traveled to Japan for 12 days, in conjunction with KSU's Year of Japan.
Over the course of the academic year, LINK Leads students participated in
Year of Japan events, coordinated a Japanese Film Festival, attended the Humanitarian Responses to Crisis Conference, hosted a student group from Aichi University, and developed a comprehensive itinerary to interact with the people and culture of Japan in four cities. Unlike education abroad trips sponsored by academic departments, the LINK Leads trip is planned by the student participants. They spend months determining where they will visit, what will be included in the itinerary, and how they will engage with the local communities. LINK Leads facilitator Judy Craven accompanied the group to Japan.
A highlight of the trip was spending two days with their Japanese friends at Aichi University in Nagoya as well as visiting Soka University in Tokyo. In addition, students visited shrines and temples in Kyoto and Tokyo, and they spent time at the Hiroshima Peace Park and museum.
|
|
Undergraduate Research Fellows explore civic dialogue at Points of Light event
 | |
2014 Civic Leadership, Engagement, and Research Fellows Mitchell Furtner, Feyintoluwa Tola-Adelani, Ryan Delaney, Khy Chestnut, and Aaron Roberson (back row) attending the Points of Light Conference on Volunteerism and Service
|
Five 2014 Civic Leadership, Engagement, and Research Fellows traveled to Atlanta to participate as undergraduate researchers during the recent Points of Light Conference on Volunteerism and Service.
Students Mitchell Furtner, Feyintoluwa Tola-Adelani, Ryan Delaney, Khy Chestnut, and Aaron Roberson facilitated focus groups and collected data during the session "Civic Dialogue: Can Volunteerism and Civic Engagement Build the Soft Skills of the 21st Century Economy?." Accompanying the students was David Smith, acting director of Presido Institute in San Francisco. Smith presented the session's exploration of cross-sector leadership.
The research team led by Jennifer Purcell, assistant director for engagement in the Center for Student Leadership, Dr. Brandon Kliewer from Kansas State University, and Dr. Kristin Moretto from UNCG will produce a white paper for Points of Light this summer. "We are committed to supporting our students in pursuing publication in undergraduate research journals," Purcell said.
|
|
Three new Coordinators will help create programs to enhance student leadership
After being under-staffed for much of last year, the Center for Student Leadership welcomed Amasett Economy, Emily Clarke, and Yen Rodriquez last month. The three Leadership Coordinators will be responsible for creating initiatives that will contribute to the greater KSU campus and the CSL's core focus of leadership development opportunities.
 | |
Amasett Economy
|
Economy earned a graduate degree in College Student Personnel from Ohio University and holds a bachelor's degree with a double major in Public Relations and Art (with an emphasis in photography). Amasett most recently served as Residence Life Coordinator for First-Year Housing at Southern Polytechnic State University (SPSU) where her primary roles included supervisor, educator, counselor, and administrator. She administered several leadership programs for SPSU's residential population.
 |
Emily
 | |
Yen Rodriquez
|
Clarke
|
Clarke graduated from KSU in 2011 with a B.S. in Early Childhood Education.She also has a graduate degree in College Student Development with a focus in student affairs at Appalachian State University. While serving as a Graduate Assistant in the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership at App State, Clarke helped to create Club Hub, a student organization resource center. She also received the Gregory S. Blimling Award of Outstanding Graduate Student Development.
Rodriguez earned his undergraduate degree in English and is a candidate fora Master of Arts degree in American Studies at KSU. Throughout his time at KSU, Rodriquez has worked as a Graduate Research and Teaching Assistant in the Interdisciplinary Studies Department and served on several Presidential commissions. Rodriquez received the annual R.O.H. Presidential award for diversity and inclusion for his service in striving for social justice throughout Kennesaw State and beyond.
|
|
FYTS scholars present in the United Kingdom
 | |
Deborah Mixson-Brookshire, interim assistant dean and director of distance learning
|
 | |
Stephanie Foote, director of the M.S. in First-Year Studies and associate professor of education
|
Stephanie Foote and
Deborah Mixson-Brookshire
traveled to Nottingham, England
in late June to present their research at the European First-Year Experience Conference at Nottingham Trent University.
The two presented "Creating an engaging online environment: an examination of the induction and transition of students in online first-year seminars."
During the same conference, Foote also presented her single-authored paper "College students in transition: new directions in research and practice."
|
|
Faculty team awarded $1000 NODA Grant
 | |
Stephanie Foote (left) and Jean So collaborating on the research to support transfer student learning community
|
The National Orientation Directors Association Grant fund has awarded $500 to support the development of and related research on a transfer student learning community, "Flourishing at KSU", which will be co-led by faculty and staff in Orientation and Transition Programs (OTP) and First-Year and Transitions Studies (FYTS). The community will link a transfer student seminar with an introductory psychology course.
Stephanie Foote and Jean So, assistant director of OTP, co-authored the grant, which focuses on providing new transfer students with experiences and opportunities to self-author through the examination of personal strengths, interests, skills, knowledge, and information needed to be successful in a major and/or chosen career. Transfer students will also engage in campus and community activities.
So and Foote also co-authored the NASPA Region lll grant proposal "Fostering self-authorship in the transfer student experience." The proposed study would illuminate other aspects of the transfer student experience by examining the extent to which participation in a learning community promotes students' self-authorship.
|
| $3.5 million grant proposal submitted to increase transfer student success rates
In a collaborative venture that spans across Academic Affairs, KSU recently submitted a multi-million dollar grant to the Department of Education under the FIPSE program. The overarching goals of this project, should it receive the funding, are twofold: to increase transfer numbers (rates) and to shorten time to degree attainment for underrepresented and low-income students who transfer to the university from two-year partner institutions.
Stephanie Foote; Dr. Jennifer Wade-Berg, assistant professor of Human Services and the campus executive director of the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance Certificate Program; and Dean Ralph Rascati, founding dean of the Honors College and associate vice president for advising, retention & graduation initiatives, are the grant's co-authors. They will draw from data collected during the Foundations of Excellence-Transfer Focus self-study process, existing national research on transfer students and the transfer student transition, as well as data on institutional and national best practices in student retention and success to more fully understand the transfer student experience at KSU.
The proposed project would create a Transfer Advocate Gateway (TAG) for underrepresented, underprepared, and low-income community and technical college transfer students. TAG would include Enrollment Services Specialists, Transfer Graduation Coaches, extended transfer student learning communities and seminar offerings, peer mentors, and various curricular and co-curricular programs including several High-Impact Practices. FIPSE will make funding decisions in September.
|
SI's Fiona Brantley accepts new position
 | |
Fiona Brantley, director of Supplemental Instruction
|
Fiona Brantley has accepted the position of Associate Director for Academic Support in the Center for Academic Success at Georgia Tech. She will leave KSU on July 25.
Brantley joined the Department of University Studies in the Fall of 2006 to launch the Supplemental Instruction program. She was instrumental in increasing the SI program from just two leaders and two sections in its first semester to more than 30 SI leaders and more than 76 sections.
Becky Casey will be naming Brantley's replacement prior to the start of fall semester.
|
New location for August college meeting
The annual University College Fall Meeting has been moved from the Leadership Room to SO 2034 due to renovations in the Student Center. The meeting is scheduled from 9:30-11:30 a.m. Aug. 15, with department meetings to follow that afternoon.
Breakfast will not be served this year, but drinks will be available. Please be prompt as we will have a full agenda including updates on consolidation.
|
|
|
|
Have MSFYS Swag Bag, will travel
|
 | |
Dr. Michael Sanseviro, dean of Student Success
|
The most active MSFYS Swag Bag Ambassador, Dr. Michael Sanseviro, proudly displayed his bag and promotional materials during his recent trips to the Foundations of Excellence Meeting, the Garrett Lee Smith College Conference, the NASPA CLDE Conference, and the American Democracy Project Meeting. The bags are part of the M.S. in First-Year Studies' Swag Bag campaign developed to promote University College's first master's degree program. Stephanie Foote developed the campaign to leverage faculty conference attendance to spread the word about the degree, which will be recruiting students this fall. The swag bag campaign is part of the larger social media marketing campaign for the degree program. Faculty and staff ambassadors post photos of themselves and their bags with #MSFYS. Several college faculty and staff members have become swag bag ambassadors! | |
UPCOMING EVENTS
October 10
1st Georgia First-Year and Transitions Conference
|
The 1st Georgia First-Year and Transitions Conference will be held Oct.10 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the KSU Center. Faculty and staff will learn about the college student experience from first year through graduation, innovative pedagogies, and best practices designed to improve learning outcomes and success. Be sure to save the date, and look out for more details coming soon!
|
| |
September 2
"Dumbledore's New Army: Using Social Media and Pop Culture to Ignite Meaningful Activism" Lecture
 | |
Lauren Bird, spokesperson and Digital Content Strategist for the Harry Potter Alliance
|
Calling all Harry Potter fans! On Sept. 2 at 11 a.m. Lauren Bird, spokesperson and Digital Content Strategist for the Harry Potter Alliance will engage both students and faculty
by sharing her work for equality, human rights, and literacy. Bird and her team are changing the world by making activism accessible through the power of story.
Bird's lecture is sponsored by the American Democracy Project, the Department of Communication, and the college. Please mark your calendars and invite your students.
|
Thrive Class of '18 connect during annual Advance
|
 | |
Thrive Class of 2018
|
| The one-day Thrive Advance provides team-building opportunities for the incoming class. More than 160 members of the Thrive Class of 2018 spent the day on campus getting to know each other, participating in listening workshops, interacting with their Peer Leaders, and collaborating on a service learning project.
CSL's Lauren Lallende took the lead this year in planning the Advance.
|
|
|
