Year Five Progress

Entering the Winter 2020 semester, Student Life leadership initiated a temporary Task Force to provide intensified focus and coordination to inspire improved student engagement opportunities. The Task Force quickly developed initiatives to increase awareness of engagement in opportunities through new communications channels, strengthened cohort initiatives, and increased outreach and information sharing. Impacts on the winter semester:

• Reached out to 2,308 students through the new Resource Navigator service, personally inviting each student to a check-in conversation with a Student Life staff member to help connect them to opportunities.

• Enhanced first-year and transfer students' connections to community by actively marketing cohort opportunities such as classes, teams, shared experience groups, student organizations, programs, learning communities, boards, and more.

• Launched the Community Matters Cohort Program pilot initiative for first-year and transfer students in Fall 2020 and doubled the program capacity to 500 students Winter semester.

• Coordinated communication through multiple avenues including existing newsletters, launched a new all student weekly email, and enhanced strategic engagement with UMSocial.

• Created communication materials that support faculty and staff awareness of and engagement with Student Life offerings.

In 2020-2021, there were 213,267 interactions between U-M students and the Division of Student Life. 105,547 interactions were participation in educational and social experiences, of which:

• 54% designed to build community within U-M

• 7% explored social justice themes

• 5% explored facets of identity

• 4% supported intercultural development

• 31% promoted well-being

In Year Five, nearly 7,400 students participated in Student Life programs that explored social justice themes. In 2020-21, attending social justice programming across Student Life led to growth in abilities related to collaboration across differences, demonstrating knowledge, and identity and perspectives. These programs were led by Fraternity and Sorority Life, Ginsberg Center, International Center, Program on Intergroup Relations, Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs Office, Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center, Student Life Sustainability, Spectrum Center, Trotter Multicultural Center, and the University Career Center. Example programs include:

• A History of Native American Activism and Policy

• Food Justice in AA&PI Communities

• Pronouns 101 with English as a Second Language

In Year Five we focused campus climate efforts towards 1) gathering information directly from students about their experiences, 2) delivering support services and resources to meet their needs, and 3) creating educational spaces that strengthen our individual and collective knowledge, awareness, skills, and actions related to stewarding diverse, equitable, and inclusive campus communities. Advocacy and support services were provided by the following units:

• Counseling and Psychological Services: 4,069 students & 14,313 total experiences for counseling

• International Center: 11,360 total experiences for immigration appointments

• Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center: 664 students and 3,799 total experiences for crisis line, advocacy and peer support

• Services for Students with Disabilities: 3,500 students/total experiences

• University Health Services: 53,561 UHS appointments and 1,036 wellness coaching experiences

• Student engagement with conflict resolution opportunities including 114 students and 285 total experiences through the Ombuds and 703 total experiences of resolution Office of Student Conflict Resolution

Delivered Engendering Respectful Communities (ERC), a sexual misconduct prevention training for Graduate Students, grew out of a collaboration between Rackham Graduate School and SAPAC. ERC is a one-session workshop combining multiple instructional tools to engage graduate students in meaningful dialogue about the various forms of sexual misconduct, including sexual harassment, assault, and discrimination that they may encounter. The goals of the program include:

• Addressing the complexities faced by graduate students as they learn how to create respectful communities within their departments.

• Supporting their peers who have experienced various forms of sexual misconduct.

• Learning to engage in bystander intervention, with the aim of increasing awareness of barriers and strategizing to overcome them.

• Introducing graduate students to on- and off-campus resources
  Gaining more knowledge of how sexual misconduct unfolds in relevant settings.

Piloted in 2016, the Intercultural Development Inventory has become a major component of the intercultural learning program at the Trotter Multicultural Center. Anchoring this work at Trotter has allowed for ongoing development of three approaches of IDI administration as well as the creation of topical workshops drawing content from theoretical frameworks and from other intercultural learning tools like the Intercultural Conflict Styles Inventory (ICS)  and the Cultural Intelligence Assessment (CQ). In Year Five a total of 2716 students participated across all intercultural learning offerings. Points of IDI participation during Year Five include:

• 1041 IDI Completions 

• 817 completed for IDI Workshop Participation

• 224 completed as a post-assessment for their course or program (Rackham PD DEI Certificate and ARTDES 434 Course)

• 782 IDI Group results workshop participants (17 workshops) 

• 525 IDI Individual results sessions with licensed IDI Consultants

Following the April 2019 opening of the new Trotter Multicultural Center we have deepened relationships with students, strengthened academic partnerships, and implemented new and refreshed programming. Trotter Multicultural Center programming was highlighted by 34 partnerships including 21 with academic units, seven within Student Life and six with multiple units and departments involved. Examples of Year Five partnerships through intercultural learning cohorts include:

• Academic Classes and Program Partners (12 cohorts)

• M-STEM Summer Bridge Program

• Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design: ARTDES 434 Course (Winter 2021)

• Rackham Graduate College: PD DEI Certificate (2020/2021)

• Ross School of Business: BBSA Student Leaders (Winter 2021)

The Center for Campus Involvement and the Trotter Multicultural Center have worked together to address student needs through the U-M Interfaith Program. The focus of the Interfaith program is to bring people together to find a greater sense of belonging within the U-M community and to help students understand that it is normal to explore and express their religious, spiritual and secular identities. In total, Trotter presented 50+ programs and workshops with 1,900+ student participants. In addition to these programs and workshops, students also participated in Trotter offerings in the following ways:

• Cultural Engagement Programming (3 events, 116 participants)

• How to FLOURISH wellness & identity series (8 events, 150 participants)

• Intercultural Learning (22 workshops, 1,150 participants)

• Interfaith Programming (11 events, 94 participants)

• Trotter Distinguished Leadership Series (3 events, 163 participants)

Student Life enhanced our communication with first-year students, created new opportunities for community connections, and increased outreach efforts through our new Resource Navigators program, which reached out to 2,308 first- and second year students with Winter 2021.

1434 students engaged through the International Center’s Pre-Departure Orientation sessions, peer-to-peer meetings, workshops, office hours, and a self-enrolled Summer Orientation Course.

MESA collaborated with student organizations UAAO and NASA to co-create new early welcome programs including the Cultivating Asian American Leaders at Michigan (CAALM) and the Native American Student Welcome (NASW).

6014 incoming first-year and transfer students completed the new student-developed webinar focused on healthy relationships and bystander intervention.

A new Community Matters Cohort Program was developed to provide an opportunity for first-year students to build community in small groups over a sustained period of time. 

“Making the Most of Michigan” course enrolled 114 students in Fall 2020 and 54 students in Winter 2021 supporting students' engagement with critical information and resources.

Initiation of a FYE Student Advisory Board providing new opportunities for direct student feedback and engagement.

We have completed this five-year goal through new and sustained partnerships that have successfully created efficiencies, shared knowledge and expertise, coordinated institutional communication and messaging, and enriched the student experience. Some examples of this work from Year Five include:

• The Big Ten Voting Challenge team built a coalition that included multiple campus units, student organizations, and Ann Arbor government officials to deliver accurate information and make voting more accessible. 

• Further developed the Campus Climate Ad Hoc Team, which launched in Year Four and is facilitated by the Dean of Students, to identify patterns of campus climate support needs in order to best align support and educational interventions.

• Enhanced our strategic engagement with formal academic partnership structures, such as the Student Relations Advisory Committee and the Student Affairs Leadership Collective, in the development and implementation of students communications, resources, and initiatives.

In Year Five, our partnership model was evident through a robust Welcome to Michigan 2020 which was delivered primarily through a Canvas course that organized a variety of programs and resources. In total, we had 69 different offerings as part of the official Welcome program. All new students were automatically enrolled in the Canvas course in the week preceding Move-In. In total, that was 8327 students - 6911 new students and 1321 transfer students. At the conclusion of Welcome, 76.9 percent (6334) students had logged into Canvas to view the Welcome course.

Student Life completed this action to implement our new compensation model for 700 professional staff across all units to improve fairness, consistency and equity in compensation practices.

DEI has been central to our "Return to Campus" planning efforts. We used an egalitarian approach that provides leadership locally with autonomy to make principled decisions in alignment with our values of equity and mission-first/people always. This has provided staff across the division with a sphere of influence and investment in shaping our planning.

We integrated Student Life's hiring and onboarding best practices across all units, which included:

• Continuing search training in FY22 to mitigate bias and strengthen search processes.

• Orienting staff to DataPeople to create better, more inclusive Job Postings.

• Updating divisional interview guide and incorporating more DEI focus area questions.

• Reviewing plans to require expected salary on all job postings.

• Reviewing strategy for other ways to incorporate DEI focus into large scale hiring as university hiring freeze lifts.

In FY21, of our 1,258 Student Life staff, 40.0% (503) identified as coming from underrepresented racial backgrounds, which is approximately the same as FY20. This is in light of the fact that the University was under a hiring freeze during the entire year, and Student Life was only approving exception based hires. Gender representation remained the same in FY21 with 57% of the employees identifying as female.

We increased staff access to and engagement in DEI professional development programs. A key strategy in Student Life has been the utilization of divisional expertise in social justice education and intercultural development. Student Life houses many nationally recognized programs for building skills to navigate diverse communities. Our Year Five efforts resulted in 783 staff attendees across 41 offerings, which were developed based on the needs and considerations described by our staff.

We increased staff awareness of and access to conflict management pathways related to addressing DEI concerns. The Office of Student Conflict Resolution (OSCR) provided training for staff for parts 2 and 3 of their series Re-entering the Atmosphere: Proactive Conflict Resolution in Our New Normal. The workshop series focuses on how we can prepare ourselves to support students and each other as we navigate reentry into the fall semester together.

We increased staff access to and expanded staff engagement in professional development focused on creating healthy, equitable, and safe cultures focused on sexual harassment and misconduct prevention. Highlights of these efforts from Year 5 include: 

• SAPAC regularly partnered with OIE to train all new Student Life employees on the University's policies and resources

• SAPAC and OIE hosted an intensive 4 part series in early Fall 2020 to train select Student Life on the new Interim Policy on Sexual and Gender Based Misconduct

• SAPAC hosted additional training for Student Life staff upon request, and facilitated a Responding to Disclosures workshop in Spring 2021

We engaged in central efforts to educate faculty, staff, and students on the forthcoming University of Michigan Policy on Sexual and Gender-Based Misconduct Prevention (“umbrella policy”) through active participation from key leaders (Director of SAPAC and Director of OSCR) on the Policy Task Team. 

We have built on a strong foundation of assessing student learning and development through investment in processes and structures that expand our understanding of student experiences and strengthen data informed decision-making. Some examples of systems and structure changes include:

• Investment in permanent leadership structure including the new Student Life Assessment and Research unit and successful onboarding of a highly qualified Director and the creation of the CATALYST team which harnesses expertise in areas such as assessment, technology, and communications towards our highest impact.

• Student Life’s new robust yearly Divisional Student Outcomes Report, which examines the impact of our collective programming across the division across six core learning outcomes.

• Centralized data collection systems through the use of Session and Qualtrics allowing for broader and deeper understanding of our work and impact. Include the development of the Qualtrics Survey Accessibility Checklist to ensure an equitable survey-taking experience for all.

• Development of our robust SL Assessment Liaison program, connecting each unit to divisional processes and resources for integrating meaningful assessment at the unit level.

Our assessment model has been integrated throughout the division, with particular attention to the use of data collection tools throughout our first-year programs. With 98% of first-year students residing in the residence halls, Student Life is uniquely poised, with campus partners, to provide informed support to first-year students as they navigate the critical transition into their new foray of higher education.

To ensure alignment between our institutional efforts and student needs during the Winter 2020 semester, Student Life Assessment and Research (in partnership with the VPAI Response and Recovery Team) put together critical reports on U-M student experiences during the Fall 2020 semester. These findings highlight a variety of student concerns including extreme stress, loneliness and isolation, and a lack of engagement in course material. These findings also show heightened concerns among underrepresented students across a variety of facets of wellbeing. As a quick response to these findings, Student Life pivoted to prioritize key student engagement initiatives such as early communication, robust Welcome to Michigan programming, and the expansion of educational programs and community building opportunities that foster identity and cultural enrichment.