Running Header: SCHOLARLY REFLECTION ON GOOD PRACTICES

Scholarly Reflection
Nik Bowen
SDAD 5750
Professor Thai-Huy Nguyen Ph.D.
July 3, 2015

SCHOLARLY REFLECTION ON GOOD PRACTICES

Highline College, University of Washington Seattle, and North Seattle College, had much
insight to offer about how to support student success and retention through their Student Affairs
and Academic Services. When considering the success and retention of students, as two critical
metrics and benchmarks for higher education institutions, it is important to recognize who is
successful and who struggles with success and the barriers to success that exist. Historically
underrepresented and marginalized student populations are the students that need more attention
and support as their success and retention numbers are typically below the average (Kodama &
Dugan, 2013). It is universities that can understand and support these student populations that are
increasing success and retention at their universities. Such universities have accomplished this by
collaborating with internal and external partners as well as utilizing student mentorship.
The University of Washington Seattle has done phenomenal assessment work by
conducting a large scale retention study in order to understand why students have departed from
their institution and what systemic issues they can combat to increase retention. A task force
made recommendations based on this study and hired a professional whose sole purpose was to
increase retention by following up on this massive study.
One of the most valuable ways that UW has followed up on this study was to outreach to
their community and make resources and information available to high school students in order
to increase access. UW has many pipeline programs. For example in the Foster School of
Business and their Young Executives of Color program. Academic departments at UW also have
strong outreach to local businesses and have classes and internships that allow students to engage
and build bridges with the local community while simultaneously conducting experiential
learning. An example of this is the Consulting and Business Development Center. These types of

SCHOLARLY REFLECTION ON GOOD PRACTICES

active learning and resourcefulness are highly effective practices for increasing student learning
and involvement in community and thus success and retention (Bliming & Whitt, 1999).
In these tough economic times, it is important to use local resources, such as small
businesses and partnerships, but another effective and economic resource is students themselves.
Utilizing student leaders, employees, and volunteers, is a highly effective way to teach students
in a way that staff and faculty cannot; they hold clout with students that no professional can
(Gasner & Kennedy, 2012). Peer education has been used in many ways such as student
employees: Resident Assistants and Orientation Leaders. Other peer leaders that educate are
student club officers. One good practice that is found at Highline College was their model and
culture of leadership. Even though Highline College has the community college feel, their
culture encourages all students, even those that plan to transfer out or only stay for a few years,
to think of themselves as leaders. They view all students as beginning as participant leaders who
attend, network, and participate in student life and the community. Then they become member or
servant leaders, filling leadership roles and facilitating peer education. By fostering a community
of leadership and peer mentorship, retention and success are increased.
Within student services, particularly student leadership, it is important to develop
practices that recognize the specific needs of particular student identities and not maintain a onesize-fits-all approach (Kodama & Dugan, 2013; Berger and Milem, 1999). Highline College does
an amazing job with their TRIO program and integrating TRIO philosophy and practice into
programs and services outside of TRIO. It is pervasive throughout their Student Affairs division,
supporting students that need help with success and retention. This is achieved by close cross
departmental relationships and collaboration. Collaboration is paramount to student success
because of the variety and diversity of needs that students have, which no one office can support

SCHOLARLY REFLECTION ON GOOD PRACTICES

alone (Somers, Woodhouse, & Cofer, 2004; Soria & Stebleton, 2012). Their collaboration and
commitment has led them to achieve retention and success in the form of: 48% of first generation
students graduate with a student population of 75% students of color or mixed race. North Seattle
College also does a great job of adapting departmentally to student needs when the university
realized how students needed nighttime classes. Student Affairs adapted as well to make sure that
services were available to students in the evening and weekends.
Although these universities and colleges are improving and adapting programs and
services to meet the specific needs of historically marginalized or underserved student
populations, there are still many gaps; several student populations including international
students, undocumented students, South-East Asian students, and students with mental and
emotional disabilities are lacking in or being improperly supported.
All of the universities that we visited were very much lacking in resources for
undocumented students. UW and North Seattle discussed some services and even available
funding and processes in place for undocumented students and the educational training for staff
and faculty. However these efforts are still ramping up and levels of support are not where they
need to be for staff and faculty to be able to understand and provide resources or proper
information for such students. They also acknowledged that online information was lacking, only
in English, or overwhelmingly complex and disorganized, as it is for many universities across the
county. As one of the most access challenged student identities, undocumented students must
have accessible information about college access.
International students are also a population that is improperly treated, and deserve to be.
Many universities appear to treat international students like money bags, charging exorbitant
amounts of money, and even double dipping into state funding for international students, and not

SCHOLARLY REFLECTION ON GOOD PRACTICES

providing sufficient orientation and navigation resources. The University of Washington, for
example, has no centralized international student services whatsoever, making it difficult to
create community and support these students through the highly challenging acculturation
process (Gmez, Urza, & Glass, 2014). The acculturation and navigational process of coming to
university in the United States is so difficult for international students that without proper
emotional, social, and academic support will struggle to persist, retain, and succeed in degree or
goal completion. Even with centralized international student services, universities, staff, and
faculty have a responsibility to educate themselves and reflect upon how to serve international
students in their roles.
Getting staff and faculty to buy in to university goals to serve all student populations,
collaborate cross departmentally and across the academic-student services bridge, and
commitment to social justice is a challenge. One method that universities can use to develop this
culture is to integrate those desires into hiring, training, and department management practices.
Effective branding and follow through in everyday operations will reinforce and prioritize these
goals and reinforce that the organization is hiring professionals that value the same things and
know that it is expected of them.
Many universities also struggle to understand students and their issues and are quick to
make decisions before realizing the impact it will have on student communities. Seattle
University is experiencing this challenge right now with international students and the
International Student Center. In my work at University of Washington Bothell, we struggle to
support and create space for the LGBTQ community both for students and professionals. We
have many programs for students of varying cultural identities and yet they are asking for more
space. Universities that claim to support these students or desire to, should put their money

SCHOLARLY REFLECTION ON GOOD PRACTICES

where there mouth is and invest in the development of programs and spaces, as well as
professional development for faculty and staff. Students will not feel supported unless they can
see and feel the university is meeting their needs. At the very least, universities need to show
students that they are investing and working towards building the support they need. Students too
are results driven. Part of my work and where I need to develop as a professional is my ability to
mentor and advise students to advocate for themselves, navigate the institution, and articulate
their needs to upper administration.

SCHOLARLY REFLECTION ON GOOD PRACTICES

References
Bliming, G. S., Whitt, E. J., & Associates. (1999). Good practice in student affairs: Principles to
foster student learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Berger, J.B., & Milem, J.F. (1999). The role of student involvement and perceptions of
integration in a causal model of student persistence. Research in Higher Education,
40(6), 641-664.
Ganser, S.R., & Kennedy, T.L. (2012). Where it all began: Peer education and leadership in
student services. New Directions for Higher Education. 157. 17-29.
Gmez, E., Urza, A., & Glass, C. R. (2014). International student adjustment to college: social
networks, acculturation, and leisure. Journal of Park & Recreation Administration, 32(1),
7-25.
Kodama, C.M., & Dugan, J.P. (2013). Leveraging leadership efficacy for college students:
Disaggregating data to examine unique predictors by race. Equity & Excellence in
Education. 46(2). 184-201.
Somers, P., Woodhouse, S., & Cofer, J. (2004). Pushing the boulder uphill: The persistence of
first-generation college students. NASPA Journal, 41(3), 418-435.
Soria, K.M., & Stebleton, M.J. (2012). First-generation students academic engagement and
retention. Teaching in Higher Education, 17(6), 673-685. doi:
10.1080/13562517.2012.666735