Thoughtful partnerships allow academic and student affairs to complement each other.
by Aaron Petuch and Shelby Hearn
Like most industries, higher education is not immune from operating in segregated silos, though this limits the ability to operate at maximum efficiency, especially in terms of student success initiatives. In fact – and consistent with the old adage "It takes a village to raise a child" – an all-hands-on-deck approach is needed, meaning that all campus departments and offices have a part to play in this process. Student success is ultimately everyone’s job, as campus staff actively work to create an environment conducive to students’ academic, social, and personal success. Collaboration is an important element in this effort, and common benefits include encouraging problem-solving, facilitating learning among involved parties, increasing productivity, enacting the capacity to embrace changes, and contributing to a positive atmosphere in the workplace.
These benefits also extend to the students they serve, enriching their collegiate experience and offering opportunities for involvement outside of the classroom. While residence life departments are typically multifaceted in their structures and abilities, would they succeed to the same degree if strong collaboration did not exist with counseling services, student activities, or even campus security? Collaborating with other departments can bolster the efforts of both partners.
If collaboration is a means to an end to achieve student success goals, what are the recommended strategies for establishing these relationships? Consistent with many of Samir Sampat’s recommendations for a successful partnership, we identified five elements that continuously surfaced as best practices and are recommended for all collaborations in the higher education area: “transparency and trust,” “realistic, shared goals,” “leveraging knowledge and experience,” identifying limitations, and celebrating successes. A few institutions that exemplify these elements will be showcased here.
An unlikely duo at Texas A&M University was created when the Department of Residence Life and the Office for Student Success joined forces to provide an early alert system for mostly first-year on-campus students that involved peer-to-peer outreach such as academic check-ups and in-hall collaborative programs to connect them to both internal and university-wide resources. There were several reasons for the success of the Academic Peer Mentor Program, but the partnership itself seemed to be the most important factor. Given that the university is a large, publicly funded institution composed of numerous colleges, schools, and departments, overcoming the initial hurdle of confronting organizational silos and striving to maintain a partnership were the greatest challenges. However, the collaboration flourished despite differences in mission statements, department goals, and priorities regarding student success. The idea that two disparate entities could be aligned in their belief in the importance of student success was the ultimate catalyst for creating and maintaining a successful partnership. In addition, each partner put forth efforts to understand each other’s viewpoints, foreseen challenges, and anticipated goals.
Realizing that other entities do not have first-hand knowledge of residence life but that they do have their own unique take on the student experience is an instrumental piece to the success of the collaborative relationship and, ultimately, to the success of students.
The overarching goal was to facilitate success for on-campus students by identifying those who could benefit from additional support through various touch points via peer-to-peer meetings, connecting them to both internal and university-wide resources, and measuring results in terms of student persistence (i.e., continuing enrollment and improved grades). The collaborators had consistent and direct oversight over all aspects of the agreed-upon goals, and both sides believed these could be attained: “The framework starts with the end goal,” says Andy Armstrong, director of advising for undergraduate programs in The Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M. “How can our work together improve or benefit students? Working with Kyle McCracken, senior associate director of residence life, we saw a direct need to help improve student success by connecting the student directly with academic support, including the student’s academic advisor.”
Julie Sanzone, associate director of academic initiatives at The Ohio State University, is immersed in projects with campus partners as much as she is with staff from her own unit, residence life; she works with staff from their living-learning communities, their learning and involvement team, and all the campus partners that plug into these two groups. One of the fundamental things she has learned after years of working in an environment where collaboration with outside staff is constant is to start projects by identifying the overlaps of knowledge between the two groups involved and then leveraging her staff’s expertise. “We don’t want to duplicate efforts or collaborate on things that serve one of our purposes well, but not the other – that’s not the basis for good partnerships,” she explains. “Going through this process also helps to position ourselves as leaders and experts when we are often too content being labeled as generalists. If we listen to the students we work with, we are in a great position and have the skills to build community, know the current challenges students face, and remain well-tuned to their needs. Our partners bring solid content expertise, but so do we.”
Like many practitioners, Sanzone uses a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to outline agreements with campus partners. She acknowledges that they require a lot of work to set up and maintain, but they effectively set the stage for projects by identifying which party is responsible for what and offer shared and transparent knowledge of the project. They also provide crucial stability when there is staff turnover or other unforeseen changes. “I have also found them useful internally to leverage the terms we have agreed to with our partners. For example, when our department makes changes to marketing guidelines, staff meals, or guidelines regarding budgets, the terms in our MOUs have sometimes safeguarded us from having to implement these shifts with our partners mid-year.”
Partnerships should leverage the skills of both partners and fill in gaps regarding their respective scopes. Realizing that other entities do not have first-hand knowledge of residence life but that they do have their own unique take on the student experience is an instrumental piece to the success of the collaborative relationship and, ultimately, to the success of students. Sanzone sees this playing out repeatedly on her campus, whether it is her staff working to better define their department’s role in supporting academic success needs on a satellite campus or residence life staff engaging faculty to get involved with student leadership organizations and share their expertise and experience. “These have been highly successful because we have leveraged the talents and unique access each of us has to provide an optimal environment for student learning,” Sanzone notes.
MOUs are a highly efficient way to keep all the details of campus partnerships in one place. They also capture the trust and the expectations that each party holds for one another. Partners must approach the relationship with openness and trust and embrace it as a critical element for successful collaboration. Even though there may be differences in the level of student success that units believe are at the forefront of their offices, there should still be a sense of commonality in understanding success in terms of student perseverance – and being transparent about limitations is imperative.
The idea that two disparate entities could be aligned in their belief in the importance of student success was the ultimate catalyst for creating and maintaining a successful partnership.
At the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, the housing and residence life department has clearly outlined their agreement with faculty who engage in their faculty-in-residence program, which includes specific expectations such as “engage with students to encourage familiarity with the university’s resources and serve as a campus resource” and “organize at minimum two signature programs per semester (Fall/Spring) within the residence and attend residence hall programming.” As Keeyana Talley, assistant director for academic initiatives and experiential learning, explains, while this partnership with faculty and the provost’s office and residence life is a seasoned one, her department has also worked on expanding their living-learning community options by exploring partnerships with other units.
Talley led conversations with the campus’s School of Health and Human Sciences (HHS) and Academic Achievement Center (AAC) to create a Health and Human Sciences living-learning community (LLC) and with their Recreation and Wellness department to create an Esports and Gaming LLC. To kick off these collaborations, she engaged the partners in what she calls listening tours to learn more about what they do and how they serve students. She approached them with questions about the struggles they were having with students, trends they were noticing among students, and the different challenges for first-year and upper-division students. This allowed the team to understand how these departments interacted with students and what their experience was with them. From there, each partner outlined their goals, the feasibility of meeting those goals, and any limitations. They also discussed issues like marketing, location, and extracurriculars and ultimately were able to launch both the Health and Human Sciences LLC and the Esports and Gaming LLC.
Both LLCs and their campus partnerships are thriving as they go into the second year, and collaboration with the dean and the associate dean of the Health and Human Sciences college has been strong. They have also created a more targeted marketing plan for the 2024-25 academic year and have already doubled the number of students for this LLC. As for their Esports and Gaming LLC, there was a surprise response to the creation of a mini-gaming arena in one of the residence halls for this community; they received such great interest in the LLC from students wanting to watch the gamers play that they are planning more intentional programming for both spectators and players for the upcoming year.
Finally, celebrating success is also a fundamental element for these partnerships. All too often, practitioners forget to take a step back and commend their teams and collaborators for their hard work in enhancing the climate of success for students. An inter-congratulatory approach has the added benefit of reinforcing the collaborative relationship that contributed to successful outcomes while setting the stage for the next round. In addition, other departments and offices might want to participate in the efforts or commence their own collaborations because of the successes they see.
Collaboration across campus is a necessary process to achieve greater student success goals in higher education, especially for those working in residence life, and individuals must be willing to step outside of their silos to join forces with others – if only to at least test the waters to see if the relationship is a viable option. Foundational to collaboration is fostering transparency and trust, along with aligning missions and visions to articulate mutual, practical goals. The diversified knowledge bases and backgrounds of all parties can culminate in a powerful force. And while limitations should be recognized, taking time to celebrate success is of the utmost importance.
Aaron Petuch is an academic advisor IV in The Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University in College Station. Shelby Hearn is assistant director for community standards for Campus Living and Learning at Texas A&M University at Galveston.
