Once upon a time in academia, college professors watched over students, serving as life coaches, providing advice in family matters and relationships, and offering academic counsel. They handled difficult situations and taboo subjects, and they addressed academic discipline informally and quietly. Then the world changed.
As social justice movements gained momentum and youth culture exerted greater power in the the late 1950s and the early 1960s, they penetrated higher education. Students began to demand rights to due process and institutional transparency, and colleges began to give students more individual freedoms.
In the wake of this transition, the student life profession was born, and the gulf between academics and student life ensued, persisting for more than half a century. Faculty interacted with students in the classroom, but they were not directly responsible for managing student behaviors. In contrast, student life personnel, tasked with watching over students and helping them along the way, might go for weeks or longer without seeing a particular student.
“This gap often prevented the best-equipped people from knowing a potential problem existed, while those who may have seen a developing issue may not have been prepared to deal with it,” said Vice President for Student Life Rhonda Colby, D.Min.
In an effort to better serve student needs in and out of the classroom, the faculty and staff at Shenandoah University have taken a different approach. Led by senior administrators, the university has worked hard to bring these two disciplines together, charting a new path through interdisciplinary collaboration and an understanding that not all learning takes place in the classroom.
“Historically, there was no student affairs or student life,” said Dr. Colby. “Academics was the focus—the entirety—of the students’ experience. Faculty members were actually the ones that did all the things we now think of as student life functions. In many cases, [the faculty] actually lived on campus, so they were a ‘one-stop shop’ for student needs.”
“At Shenandoah, academics and student life start working together from the very beginning of the student’s experience,” said Vice President for Academic Affairs Adrienne Bloss, Ph.D. “When it comes to watching out for students and their well-being, Shenandoah University handles situations in a more collaborative way.”
Colby explains, “If there’s concerning behavior for a student, we have a whole collaborative process where a faculty member can say, ‘This isn’t a big violation, but it’s concerning,’ and we’re able to circle up quietly and confidentially ask ‘Is there anything else concerning? Coach, are you seeing this? Residence Life, are you seeing this?’ We can put the information together collaboratively, so that we can intervene early with the student, and provide them with the resources and the support services.”
Shenandoah also intentionally blurs the lines that divide faculty and staff. Some staff members teach classes, and some faculty members work on projects with students outside of their classrooms. Both work in tandem to guide students through their early adult years.
“People need to understand that college is more than job training,” said Dr. Bloss. “It’s really much more than career training. It’s life training, and all of those come together. So, students need to learn not only things that they can learn in the workplace, but they need to learn how to learn, and how to adapt. They need to think critically on how to work with people and solve real problems in real situations. That all requires bringing together the classroom experience and the out-of-classroom experience.”
According to Colby, rich learning experiences also prepare students not only for graduation, but for their first great jobs and for fulfilled lives.
“Our focus is on educating and inspiring,” said Colby. “We want them to be principled, compassionate, creative and inventive. One of the students who graduates is going to be my grandchild’s high school English teacher, or a my physical therapist. We educate not just for the sake of our students, but for the sake of the world. This is our best shot at transforming the world by creating principled, critical-thinking, compassionate, lifelong learners who are committed to making a difference in our community, in the nation, and in the world.”
Contributed by Lee Graff