NEWS & EVENTS
Peer mentoring is a popular tool utilized by postsecondary institutions to support at-promise students as they navigate the transition to college. Peer mentoring pairs student mentors with similarly aged mentees during their transition to college for the purpose of information sharing, academic/career path strategizing, social support, and assistance navigating postsecondary learning environments.
Like so many in higher education, staff members in living-learning communities on the University of Nebraska’s campuses found themselves struggling to balance their students’ needs and their own well-being during the pandemic. Our PASS scholars who studied those staff members say there’s a method that might help them, and others in high-stress positions, navigate burnout.… Continue reading How Job Crafting Can Help Employees ‘Stay Afloat:’ PASS Research Highlighted in The Chronicle’s ‘Staffing for Success’ Report
Student support practitioners (SSPs) are crucial in supporting (low-income, first-generation college, and/or racially minoritized) students pursuing higher education. However, when practitioners do not receive commensurate support and flexibility to do their jobs, SSPs can experience stress and burnout. In “Understanding How Student Support Practitioners Navigated Ideal Worker Norms During COVID-19: The Role of Job-Crafting,” PASS… Continue reading Understanding How Student Support Practitioners Navigated Ideal Worker Norms During COVID-19: The Role of Job-Crafting
Researchers on the Pullias Center’s PASS team have chapters included in two recently-published books centered around sense of belonging and ecological validation. The Impact of a Sense of Belonging in College, edited by Erin M. Bentrim and Gavin W. Henning, features a chapter from Ronn Hallett, Adrianna Kezar, Joseph Kitchen, and Rosemary Perez, who discuss… Continue reading The Impact of a Sense of Belonging in College and Delivering on the Promise of High-Impact Practices
By Joseph Kitchen Seeking out connections with students is at the core of another strategy my colleagues and I identified through the Promoting At-Promise Student Success project. Proactive advising outreach and tailored support may offer promising inroads to build relationships with students and foster a sense they are a part of a college community that cares about them and that they are… Continue reading Proactive Outreach and Tailored Support: A Recipe for Student Success
By Joseph Kitchen Before the pandemic, many of the typical learning experiences and programming opportunities offered at colleges and universities were simply platforms that enabled students to build connections, community, and belonging. While institutions commonly seek out programmatic and structural solutions to fostering belonging among students—such as first year seminars or a student activity center for… Continue reading Ecological Validation: Taking the Initiative to Create a Sense of Belonging
For first-year students who carry traditionally marginalized identities, comprehensive college transition programs (CCTPs) can offer key wraparound services to help address some of the major academic, social, and financial barriers they may encounter. A journal article authored by Darnell Cole, Christopher Newman, and Liane Hypolite looks at one such CCTP implemented at three public college… Continue reading Sense of Belonging and Mattering Among Two Cohorts of First-Year Students Participating in a Comprehensive College
College transition and support programs have emerged over the past century as important tools that institutions can employ to improve student outcomes. With the variety of approaches used, a common language is needed to discuss why and how programs relate to institutional goals and relate to student outcomes. A journal article authored by Ronn Hallett,… Continue reading A Typology of College Transition and Support Programs: Situating a 2-Year Comprehensive College Transition Program Within College Access
Representatives from the Pullias Center, the University of Nebraska, and the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation participated in a special Division J Vice Presidential Session at the annual gathering to discuss their research methods. The Promoting At-Promise Student Success Project (PASS), formerly known as the Thompson Scholars Learning Communities (TSLC) Study, is a multi-year, mixed methods study conducted… Continue reading PASS Project Researchers Discuss Collaborative Design Study at AERA Annual Conference