Campus Life Internship Program Final Recommendation

Brittani Samuel, Caroline Berrios, Daria Craciun, Erica Doherty, Howard Spector,
Leanora Karnath, Leila Sedigh, Pooja Patel, Sarah Fradkin, Shaneka Rodriguez, Wilson
Zhang

What We Did
To begin CLIP, all of the interns from the Department of Student Life, the Department
of Career Development, and the Office of Event Planning and Commencement
collaborated to establish a timeline of action. At our first meeting we brainstormed
different discussion points regarding Commencement, Career Development Services,
Department of Student Life Services, and any concerns the senior class might have. We
formulated a survey out of these discussion points to effectively navigate what the seniors
were concerned about at this point in their senior year. We submitted these questions to
our supervisor to be approved. Upon approval, we sent out the survey to the entire senior
class. (The survey was supposed to be sent out to a random group of seniors, however we
were not receiving enough responses.)
After evaluating the responses we received, we generated a script to use in the
three focus groups we were tasked to hold. After generating this script, we submitted it to
our supervisors. We used the feedback and the critiques to modify the script so we could
better communicate with the focus group participants and accomplish our goals of
determining the needs of the senior class. To reach the senior class, we sent out an email
to the entire senior class asking for their participation, with the incentive of free food.
(The email was supposed to be sent out to a random group of seniors, however we were
not receiving enough responses, once again.) They were directed to a Google Form to fill
out a time they were available. Three different focus groups were held on Tuesday,
November 10th, Friday, November 13th, and Monday, November 16th, which were led
and divided amongst the group of interns. The interns took on different roles within each
focus group such as a facilitator, mediator, and scribe, to effectively run the focus groups.
Conclusions & How We Got There
After conducting three focus groups involving the class of 2016, we came to the
following conclusions that would provide seniors with a better overall experience for
their senior year. In terms of the programming offered by the Departments of Student
Life, seniors would like to see more events centered around their class and their needs.
For example, the idea of an alumni networking event was brought up in focus group two.
Seniors would like to hear from those who have recently graduated, and connect with
them professionally in order to prepare for post-graduate life. In focus group three, it was
mentioned that endorsements from students would provide seniors with an incentive to
attend such events. Students value their peers opinions, so the seniors thought it would
be beneficial for the Departments of Student Life, Career Services, and Commencement
to develop a way to get students to recommend events to their classmates.
Another concern that was continually brought up throughout the focus groups
regarded a lack of knowledge about all the services offered by the Office of Career
Services. Many felt these services were extremely valuable and held a great deal of merit,
but they discovered these services too late. A common viewpoint from students from all

focus groups was that these services should be advertised and promoting starting as early
as freshmen year. One very well received idea was having the Office of Career Services
be a part of the freshmen INTD writing seminar. Much like how students visit the library
once during their INTD, they would be required to visit the Office of Career Services
during one class session to be exposed to the services offered, earlier on. Another
common finding among all three focus groups, regarding the Office of Career Services,
was that students did not know about the scope of services offered. For instance, many
knew about the resume building yet very few knew about services like mock interviews.
So maybe advertising the wide variety of services that are offered would be helpful to
students. Overall, making the services of the Office of Career Services more widely
known and making them accessible to all age groups to ultimately benefit students in
their senior year, would be beneficial.
The main problem that students found regarding Commencement was that they
dont receive information until the spring. Participants in each focus group felt that they
would benefit from having a general list of important dates in the beginning of their
senior year. More specifically, international students would like to receive this
information as early as possible in order to plan accordingly for each major event. In
focus group 2, many students said that they would prefer to learn about Commencement
information via email and Facebook. In addition, it was suggested that the emails should
be sent over the Commencement listserv, as many students do not read the What's-Up
Digest emails, therefore, can easily miss the information.
Final Recommendation
Our conclusions indicate that creating a banner with a timeline of senior events
would alleviate the common issue we assessed in our focus groups--a lack of awareness
of the events provided for seniors. The banner would appear on campus in a location that
many seniors would see it. Possible places would include the Integrated Science Center,
Milne Library, and the Union. Interns could first collaborate with the Department of
Student Life, the Career Development Office, and Commencement Office to learn about
the important events occurring throughout the academic year corresponding to each
month. For example, under the month September, there would be a list of events such
as Weeks of Welcome. Next, interns could work with SA Graphics to create an eyecatching banner that clearly conveys this important information. On the bottom of the
banner, a QR Code would appear so that students could learn the exact date, time, and
location of a particular event. Therefore, if a department needs to alter the details of an
event, interns would not have to edit the banner. The banner could also be used year after
year since many of the departments events occur in the same month and the website
would be linked to the QR Code.
We also recommend sending out a mass email to the senior mailing list at the very
beginning of the academic year so seniors are aware of the services and events well in
advance.