Presented by: Lori Burns. The mission statement should do the following: ◦ Provide guidance to the day-by-day practices within the institution ◦ Provide

Presented by: Lori Burns

The mission statement should do the following:◦ Provide guidance to the day-by-day practices

within the institution◦ Provide a statement of the broad long-term

purpose of the institution (should articulate why the institution was created and defines the constituencies the institution will serve)

◦ Guide the academic leadership of the institution in determining what educational programs are appropriate within the context of the institution

The mission statement should do the following:◦ Provide specific guidance to student affairs

professionals in developing policies and implementing program initiatives

◦ Provide guidance to students by providing information regarding the expectations of the institution for students

Affiliation Characteristics History Focus Governance Higher Education System Geographic Location

Religious affiliation can play a large part of an institution’s mission◦ Earlham, Haverford, and Guilford are distinctive for

being founded by the Quakers◦ Notre Dame, Georgetown, DePaul, Loyola of

Chicago, and Loyola of New Orleans are shaped by their affiliation with the Catholic Church

These affiliations can influence the life of the campus related to governance structures, control, behavioral expectations for students, and recognition of student organizations

Factors Influencing the Mission

Another way to understand an institution is to look at the characteristic of the institutions, such as:◦ Residential or commuter◦ Degrees offered◦ Part-time or Full-time◦ Cost of tuition◦ Size


Historical factors that can influence the institutional mission◦ The intention of the founders

Creation of state legislature or private group of individuals

“The heritage of an institution can be one of the building blocks of it mission”

(Lyons, 1993)


Some mission statements are focused with regard to whom they serve◦ Community Colleges:

serve a bounded demographic community and develop programs and activities to meet the needs of the communities where they’re located

◦ Historically Black Colleges: founded to serve those that were unserved or underserved Many were and are religiously affiliated and are public and

private Unique mission was challenged by the integration of public

and private institutions after the Civil Rights Act◦ Tribal Colleges:

Schools founded primarily for Native Americans Currently there are almost 30 tribal colleges


Very nature of an institution is influenced by the statutory, constitutional, or charter provisions governing the formation of the institution

The corporate governance structure dictates much of the day-to-day work of the institution


Institutions of higher education may be connected through the development of a university system◦ Individual campuses then have less autonomy◦ Policies and procedures are administered on a

system wide basis◦ It would be a mistake to assume that all

campuses in a system are the same and function the same way


Physical location also influences the mission◦ The creator of the institutions created it in a

particular place to meet a particular need◦ Population sometimes dictates geographic

location Location also influences the role and scope

of student affairs work on campus


Example of influence◦ Historically Black institutions are found more in

the south than the north◦ Schools located in rural areas tend to focus more

studies on agriculture◦ Growth of “normal schools” responded to the

need for educated persons to serve as teachers in communities across the country


Public Institutions

Independent or Private Institutions

Size Distinctions

Student affairs staff need to be aware of the concerns of the legislature that controls their status

Public institutions in statewide systems usually employ someone in the state capitol to keep them up to date about legislative and funding developments

Governing boards in public sectors are usually quite small

Legislature determines tuition and fees and compensation for faculty and staff

Institutional Distinctions

Governing boards are much larger Trustees are usually benefactors Governing board has greater control over

fiscal matters◦ Set fees for students◦ Control compensation levels for faculty and staff◦ Decide parameters for budget decisions


Larger institutions need representative groups for faculty, staff, and students to be effective in governance◦ Members feel more distanced from the decision

making process◦ At times may not feel comfortable with or agree

with the decision making process Smaller institutions don’t always need

representative groups because the group is often small enough to represent itself◦ The small the institution the more confident the

members feel in the decision making process


Purpose

Selection and Preparation

Activities and Operations

Student Life Committee

Other Board Committees

Typically the board of trustees ◦ serve as the final authority on:

Institutional decisions Fiscal matters Major policy changes or developments

◦ Insure students rights are protected

Governing Boards

Selected in different ways depending on institutional size or type◦ At public institutions

Appointed by state government process Elected

◦ At private institutions Boards are self-selecting and self-perpetuating

◦ At religious based institutions Nominated through process managed by church or

religious organization

Governing Boards

Board members ◦ Come from professional backgrounds

Business, law, medicine, philanthropy◦ Can have little to no knowledge about higher

education◦ Chief student affairs officer create special

programs to orient board members to the institution

Governing Boards

Select and supervise the president of the institution◦ President is a non-voting member of the board◦ Often the president is the only member of

administration on the board The board acts as a collective entity not as

a collection of individuals Working with individual trustees can be

interpreted as attempting to exert unwarranted influence

Governing Boards

Work by boards is often done through committees

Chief student affairs administrator is usually assigned the responsibility of staffing the student life committee◦ Includes: suggesting agenda topics, meeting with the

president and committee chair about said topics, gathering info and materials to make the meeting as effective as possible

Committee is usually commissioned with the responsibility of representing student interests in the policymaking activities of the board

Governing Boards

Faculty are expected to:◦ Lead scholarly development in their field◦ Provide service to their institutions and community◦ Be expert in imparting knowledge◦ Participate in the governance of the institution◦ Direct the process of selection of their peers◦ Help direct decision making process for promotion

and tenure status for each member of faculty Typical student affairs staff members have

little to no role in such matters unless they are also a faculty member

Faculty Governance

Larger Institutions◦ Have faculty senates or councils to represent the

faculty and their interests◦ Typically there is no place for a student affairs

officials on these boards Smaller Institutions

◦ Often engage the faculty as a whole in governance and decision making

◦ Student affairs staff are sometimes part of the process

Faculty Governance

Student Roles◦ Student government used in student programming

and student representation in decision making◦ Students have a voice but due to constant

turnover they are unable to keep up with specifics of many issues

◦ Many institutions allow a student to attend trustee meetings as a representative with no voting rights

Staff Roles◦ Many institutions have staff committees or

councils◦ Some use staff reps as observers and

commentators at trustees meetings

Faculty Governance

1. Students benefit more from their college experience when their “total level of campus engagement is mutually supporting and relevant to a particular educational outcome.”

2. Involvement in the academic and social life of the institution enhances student learning

3. Integrated and complementary academic and social programs, policies, and practices enhance student learning

4. Students who feel they belong and are valued as individuals are more likely to take advantage of the resources the institutions provides for their learning

Understanding Campus Environment

Substantive Frames◦ Take into account physical and psychological

properties that influence learning Size and shape of structures Campus use of green space Students’ perceptions of what the institution

emphasizes and quality of relations among groups Interpretive Frames

◦ Serve as a filter or lens through which to analyze and understand how students’ interactions with institution’s contextual conditions influence behaviors

Understanding Campus Environments

There are three sets of institutional properties that can influence student learning

1. Institutional Mission and Philosophy

2.Opportunities, Support, and Rewards

3.Faculty and Student Subcultures

Substantive Frames

No institutional factor is more influential in directing student and faculty behavior that the institution’s mission and philosophy

Substantive Frames

Mission•May or may not be congruent with how the college describes itself•May change intentionally or in response to external environment•In smaller schools the mission is usually “salient” meaning even those not directly tied to the institution know exactly what the institution stands for

Philosophy•Often not stated in writing•Mainly discerned from its acts which represent the institution’s values and beliefs as they are enacted by institutional agents or policies, practices, and standard operating procedures

Opportunities•Examples Include:•Social programming bodies•Governance structures•Performing arts venues•Intercollegiate and intramural athletics

•Should encourage spontaneous interaction among students and between students and institutional agent consistent with institution’s educational purpose

Support•may take the form of an ethic of care, a belief system that permeates the institution that encourage faculty, staff, and students to reach out to those in need

•Safety nets made up of faculty and staff are often available to intervene with students encountering difficulty

•Students learn best when they receive frequent feedback

Rewards•Many colleges recognize student achievement through convocations and honor society memberships, banquets, dean’s lists, announcements of scholarship and fellowship recipients, etc.

Substantive Frames

When these three subsystems are operating at a satisfactory level they can create powerful conditions for learning.

It is important to determine if faculty and student cultures foster or discourage student involvement

Substantive Frames

Faculty•Spend less time with undergraduates outside of the classroom•Can be influenced by the size of the institution•Face the conflict between research and daily demands of teaching•Unspoken agreement between faculty and students seems to be, “You leave me alone and I’ll leave you alone.”•Mainly concerned with teaching and research than interacting with students outside of the classroom

Students•One’s peers exert a nontrivial influence on student learning because they determine the kinds of people with whom one spends time•Different student affinity groups develop and perpetuate their own distinctive interaction patterns and norms that influence how their members behave and are to relate to others•Most of these groups have set expectations, attitudes, and values that are often incongruent with those of the faculty•Concerned with making good grades, friends, taking care of themselves, and managing their time

Three perspectives can be used to understand how a college’s contextual conditions influence student learning

1.Ecology

2.Climate

3.Culture

Interpretive Frames

Includes institution’s size, location, facilities, open spaces, and other permanent attributes

The amount, locations, and arrangement of physical spaces shape behavior, in that they facilitate or inhibit social interaction and the development of group cohesiveness

The proximity of academic buildings to permeable socially catalytic spaces can promote or discourage interaction between students from different majors

Interpretive Frames

Refers to how students, faculty, student affairs staff, and other institutional agents perceive and experience their institution

Student’s perceptions of their institution have a nontrivial influence and directly and indirectly affect learning and personal development

Interpretive Frames

The collective, mutually shaping pattern of institutional history, mission, physical setting, norms, traditions, values, practices, beliefs, and assumptions that guide the behavior of individuals and groups in college or university

Collegiate cultures can be made up of holistic, complex webs of physical and verbal artifacts, enduring behavioral patterns, embedded values and beliefs, and ideologies and assumptions that represent learned products of group experience

Typically perpetuated through traditions, major campus events, heroic individuals, and language

Interpretive Frames

Can change over time through a dynamic interplay between the institution’s structural and cultural elements◦ Shifting in demographics◦ Destruction of facilities or accidents that take the

lives of administrators or athletic teams◦ Presence of people

Can also change due to the mutual shaping of the cultural properties◦ Physical attributes of campus◦ Established practices◦ Symbols and symbolic actions

Interpretive Frames

Barr, M. J. (2000). The Handbook of Student Affairs Administration. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.


Documents

Presented by: Lori Burns. The mission statement should do the following: ◦ Provide guidance to the day-by-day practices within the institution ◦ Provide