Faculty Fellow Projects

Effective academic advising practices lead to higher levels of student engagement, contribute to student success at the college, and are often the best predictors of college student satisfaction. More specifically, students persist, and are retained when they have access to holistic advisement practices with knowledgeable, caring, and informed advisors. With recent campus transitions and the adoption of new advisement platforms, the information flow regarding major program advising has been inconsistent. Students and faculty have expressed a need for more information, training, and resources related to program advising across the college. This project is a response to that need and aligned with Queens College’s Strategic Plan Framework Goal 5, “a community of care in support of student success.” The primary goals include: (1) creating a program advisor hub with links to resources for advisors including forms, procedures, and clarity on what each platform can be used for (e.g., QC_Navigate; DegreeWorks); (2) improving communication across campus about registration deadlines, support services available to students, and technological best practices; (3) developing an ongoing feedback system to ensure that program advising remains flexible and responsive to student needs and campus transitions.

The COVID-19 pandemic erased previous gains in completion rates for minority/BIPOC students across the country and here at QC, where Black and Hispanic/Latinx students have historically graduated at significantly lower rates than students from other demographics. A sizeable body of research shows that investments in student engagement lead to improved student grades and retention especially for students from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds. To improve completion rates for minority/BIPOC QC students, I aim to: 1) research completion trends and engagement practices within courses frequently taken by first-year QC students, 2) facilitate a campus-wide series of faculty development workshops on high-impact practices that improve student engagement, and 3) collaborate with an interdisciplinary group of faculty to redesign first-year courses so that they deeply incorporate proven pedagogical and curricular practices that maximize student engagement. Student engagement, performance and completion in these re-designed courses will be assessed over the next three academic years.