We describe the roles and duties of a director in developing an introductory actuarial program. Degree plan design, specialized exam courses, internship classes, coordination of efforts with Economics and Finance Departments, opportunities for creating a minor in actuarial mathematics, actuarial clubs, career advice, and interaction with actuarial…

Planning from a strategic perspective has been a mainstay of organizational management for decades. Founded in the private sector, strategic planning is now embraced by the nonprofit world as a catalyst for sound resource allocation, transformative decision making, and motivating staff. Student affairs professionals who think, plan, and act…

In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina, the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States, forced the fall semester closure of Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. In the aftermath of this unprecedented storm, the Tulane leadership set forth a plan for renewal to secure the survival, recovery, and sustainability of the institution,…

The rationale for pupil personnel services includes the following: (1) universal education as an ideal is an American phenomenon, (2) trends relevant today are toward personal worth and development, (3) basic factors such as advanced technology and automation, recent gains in knowledge, holding power of schools, and the widening range of pupil…

The Division of Student Affairs at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor engaged in an iterative strategic process to create and implement a set of long-range goals. This strategic journey continues to evolve, uniting a guiding framework of strategic planning steps, a reflective process with an assessment component within each step, and a group…

Reports on the redesign and development of a counseling center at a small liberal arts college in the Southeast. Challenges discussed include inadequate funding and shortage of personnel, campus education for a better understanding of the counseling center's functions and limitations and dual role issues required by the split position of…

Examines the current state of higher education programs for students with disabilities. Defines essential program standards and components, and explores related service delivery issues. Makes recommendations for student services professionals who strive for full participation by people with disabilities in all institutions of higher education.…

Student affairs professionals at smaller institutions are encouraged to research their commuter students' characteristics and needs and to create or enhance services and programs to improve the college experience for commuters based on their findings. (KS)

This is a program guide for foreign student advisors and administrators in universities. Foreign students new to the United States should have both initial orientation and long-term continuous orientation. Suggestions for an orientation program are given. A program needs both planning and organization into general, non-academic, and academic…

Student affairs professionals are urged to expand their roles in response to the changing enrollment patterns, focusing on recruitment, enrollment and retention, and developing programs which attract new markets to the community college. Their potential assistance to faculty and the academic program is described. Certain model programs are…

A project was undertaken at Jackson State Community College (JSCC), Tennessee, to determine an appropriate plan to develop a disabled student services (DSS) program which would coordinate existing fragmented services and add additional services. A literature review was first conducted to determine legal obligations of the Americans with…

This publication discusses criteria for post-secondary education of technicians as illustrated by the accumulated experience of successful programs which have had their graduates sought after by employees. Chapter headings are (1) Technicians: Who They Are and What They Do, (2) Administration of Programs to Educate Technicians, (3) Physical…

Considerations to be made in developing a new student orientation program include program aims and foundations, audience, scheduling and length, funding, delivery, staffing issues, content, and evaluation of program effectiveness. Sources for further information and advice are suggested. (MSE)

Any proposal for training has to satisfy two major components: it must be job relevant and be accomplished without major interruption of work schedules, while incorporating strategies to help eliminate absenteeism. One recently developed model for basic skills training, the Immersion Instructional Model, meets these criteria and provides…

Student support in distance education depends on the market, the package employed, the delivery system, the image of the organization, and the culture in which it operates. If distance education is defined as an industrialized form of teaching and learning, lessons can be learned from the history of traditional higher education. The progress from…