Preconference Session 2. - Seminar room A

Tinto suggests that when students have a good fit with an institution and are able to make academic progress, they are more likely to stay. This preconference workshop will describe the theories that support the goal of academic and social integration, describe the elements of a campus culture that can either support or deter this goal, and through case studies, highlight high impact practices in the first-year. Participants will be provided fictional case studies about students and their background as well as the institution they are attending.  Participants will discuss how institutions might address these students’ needs by understanding both their needs and the campus culture.  Participants will then design an action plan to support student engagement on their own campus.

To lead this session we have got Catherine F. Andersen and Mary Stuart Hunter

Catherine F. Andersen is presently the Associate Provost for Academic Affairs at the University of Baltimore where among her many roles is responsible for curriculum, accreditation and assessment.  Prior to this position, she enjoyed a long career at Gallaudet University where she served as Chief Enrollment and Marketing Officer, Associate Provost, Dean of Enrollment and General Studies, Director of the First-Year Experience and Chairperson of the Communication and Developmental Studies Department. She served on the national advisory board for the National Resource Center on the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, and currently serves on the national advisory board for Teagle Assessment Scholars as well as a Fellow with The Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education. She is a certified Train the Trainer for use of the Emotional Intelligence Inventory, Multi-Health Systems, Toronto, Canada.  She presents nationally and internationally primarily in the areas of student success.   In 1994, she was awarded the honor of Gallaudet’s Distinguished Faculty of the Year and 1997 she was named one of the nation’s Outstanding First-Year Advocates.

Mary Stuart Hunter is currently the Associate Vice President and Executive Director for University 101 Programs and The National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition at the University of South Carolina. During her almost 40-year career in higher education, she has taught first-year students, upper level undergraduates, and graduate students, while the primary focus of her administrative work has been in faculty and staff development designed to help educators improve student learning and program development. Her scholarship centers on various student transition points, academic advising, and faculty development. Her most recent publications include co-editing Helping Sophomores Succeed: Understanding and Improving the Second-Year Experience (2010) and The Senior Year:  Culminating Experiences and Transitions (2012) and co-authoring The First-Year Seminar:  Instructor Training and Development (2012). She was honored in May 2010 with an honorary doctor of Humane Letters by Queens University of Charlotte.