THE NATURE AND PURPOSE OF THE DIVISION OF STUDENT AFFAIRS

The central functions of Student Affairs are:

Promoting individual student learning and development through educational programs that generate awareness of the relationship between the student's education and skills and attitudes needed to function in a changing society;

Providing services which accommodate and stimulate the learning process and promote wellness;

Fostering a campus community which promotes student involvement in their intellectual, social, cultural, spiritual, emotional, and physical development;

Developing the human and facility resources necessary to support the increasingly diverse and more traditionally aged student population.

These functions often overlap each other and in fact the student development function undergirds all programs and services. As an example, Residence Life is both a service, providing convenient, comfortable, and affordable housing for students, and an environmental concern, assuring an interpersonal and physical atmosphere conducive to learning. In addition, the Residence Life staff spends much of their energy focusing on student development through advising and counseling individual students and through group programs which target developmental issues confronting students.

To achieve these broad goal areas, the Student Affairs staff directs attention to the following objectives:

I. Promoting Student Development

A. Develop leadership and citizenship skills by involving students in varied group experiences and roles, combined with training, supervision and consultation in leadership and group membership responsibilities and techniques.

B. Incorporate the development of professional and personal ethics as a core principle in our training programs and service activities.

C. Provide individual and group counseling activities to improve self-understanding and interpersonal skills development and to assist students in their adjustment to the University.

E. Teach healthy lifestyle practices by providing informational programs on environmental and behavioral effects on physical and mental health and by involving students in activities and programs that promote health.

F. Free students from the limitations of prejudice and intolerance through offering programs which promote multicultural sensitivity and through training student leaders to encourage appreciation for differences among their peers.

G. Provide opportunities for involving students in community service activities to expose them to societal needs and to increase their awareness of personal citizenship responsibility.

H. Involve students in planning extracurricular programs including weekend activities which broaden the social, cultural, spiritual, and intellectual experiences of all students.

I. Provide programs to faculty and staff to increase the understanding of our students and their developmental needs.

J. Develop and regularly utilize research measures to determine the success of our student development efforts in terms of retention, academic success, leadership development, and personal enrichment.

II. Providing Student Services

A. Provide consultation service to faculty and staff in response to problematic student behavior.

B. Provide convenient, cost-efficient counseling services and physical health care and diagnostic and referral services to enable students to function at their full potential.

C. Plan for and efficiently manage facilities to accommodate the full range of programs conducive to student development functions.

III. Fostering A Campus Community Which Promotes Student Involvement

A. Implement orientation programs which effectively acquaint students with the resources and opportunities available to them and which encourage their probability of success.

B. Provide and maintain structures for the development of reference groups and interest groups which respond to the changing needs of students through coordinating student group advising and student leadership training.

C. Develop thematic structures for programming in conjunction with faculty which complement and bring to life classroom content.

D. Develop and maintain systems for addressing grievances and disputes to assert the dignity of each individual student.

E. Develop and maintain standards which are designed to promote an academic envi¬ronment, supported by students, combined with a judicial system for enforcement which significantly involves students in the decision-making processes.

F. Establish and maintain channels of communication which inform our various student populations of campus resources and opportunities for involvement.

G. Recruit, select, train and supervise student peer mentors for targeted populations of students to support the integration of students into the campus.

H. Maintain faculty and staff awareness of resources, services, and student needs to encourage referral through promotion and outreach activities.

I. Facilitate the creation of campus-wide celebratory events in order to foster a sense of spirit and pride in the campus community.

J. Encourage intergroup communication throughout the campus community through the effective use of campus and student media services and actively support the development and use of new forms of communications tools in this effort.

IV. Developing Human and Facility Resources

A. Develop creative and entrepreneurial partnerships and external fund raising opportunities to provide facilities for student life activities.

B. Collaborate with other University departments, student organizations, faculty, and non-profit organizations in order to better serve student needs and alleviate financial demands of programming.

C. Recruit and retain highly qualified staff who through their experiences, training, and education are able to serve as leaders in our field, resulting in strengthening our programs and services for students.

Originally Adopted: 1989
Revised: 12/93; 10/95; 3/01; 5/04; 1/07
Last Reviewed: 1/31/07