To improve student success outcomes and close equity gaps, Boise State University has been testing a variety of ways to embed design thinking methodologies into the rhythm of student affairs work and serves as a case study for other university leaders looking to accelerate innovation on behalf of students. Design thinking can be effective in…

Policy optimization, a variant of The Input-Environment-Output's (I-E-O's) environmental optimization, has found traction on the edges of and outside of the discipline of higher education. It has spawned an entire industry of vendors (e.g., EAB, Starfish, and the myriad vendors specific to functional areas) selling student success solutions, and…

The media keeps equating college degrees with salary levels, and parents want evidence that the investment they make over four years will pay off down the road. In this article, the author argues for the inclusion of "soul metrics" in alumni surveys in order to tell a well-rounded story of higher education.

Christopher E. Garrett describes a faculty learning community program at Oklahoma City University that focused on improving teaching and learning through integrating the arts in a variety of disciplines, some of which may surprise you. (Contains 9 notes.)

Alternative breaks (ABs) often bring a smattering of images to mind: college students in matching T-shirts, cramped vans, well-used work gloves, physical labor, and, perhaps, way too much peanut butter. All of these images are at least in part accurate for the AB program at the College of William and Mary. Add to them a strong sense that sending…

Facilitating discussions about race can be challenging for even the most experienced educator. In this article, the author provides a framework for using multimedia resources to guide student reflection and discussion on race. He suggests three types of media resources that educators can use to engage students in dialogues on race. For each of…

For years, educators and politicians have sought to foster a sense of hope among students--a hope that moves them beyond cynicism about society and incite them to envision better days ahead. Yet as Princeton University professor of religion and author Cornel West discusses in his 2004 book "Democracy Matters", many students today are…

Those educators who work with academically high-achieving college students have long known that these individuals face challenges along with their less scholastically prepared peers. Recently, the author and her colleagues at Miami University were reminded of this fact when they discovered that 80 percent of their honors students were exiting the…

As residential institutions summon greater resources and seek new strategies to encourage civic engagement, character building, and citizenship development among students, they too often overlook a potentially powerful asset. Residence halls, physically designed to provide students with direct access to personal differences and multiple occasions…

Demonstrating an appreciation for the perspectives of others is now recognized as one of the single most important learning outcomes of a college education. This skill, fundamental to democracy and civic engagement, is honed in college by institutions that provide opportunities for students to interact with their peers and others on issues that…

A fair amount of what we know about college students and how they are affected by their college experience has been learned from the data gathered in the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP). In this article, CIRP's founder surveys the past, present, and future of the thirty-seven-year-old program. (Contains 12 references.) (GCP)

Suggests that surprisingly little research is devoted to community colleges and that it is time to pay attention to these widely attended institutions. Recent evidence suggests that community colleges' occupational and educational impact is comparable to four-year institutions. Subsequently, researchers must rethink and expand their notions of…

Most students think that a college education, no matter where, is a ticket to success. But how much does this success depend on which college students attend? The author argues that institutional prestige is a more important factor in creating pathways to leadership than we think. (Contains 16 references.) (Author)

Dichotomy between students' attitudes and their actions is highlighted in data collected by Cooperative Institutional Research Program that shows students' interest in keeping up with politics is declining just as their participation in volunteerism is rising. Author interviews Paul Rogat Loeb, author of "Soul of the Citizen," about potential…