Planning programs with learning outcomes that address diversity issues on campus can become fairly routine--a "plug and play" task--for a director of multicultural student affairs at a private, religious, predominantly white liberal arts university. However, connecting with African American and other minority students when they arrived on campus…

Examines the design and execution of parent orientation programs in higher education that meet the needs and expectations of today's diverse families. Includes a variety of examples from institutions that have developed effective programs that complement their institutional missions. (GCP)

Discusses the special needs of commuter students and provides suggestions for improving student services and programs for them. Suggestions are incorporated into an improvement model based on four general categories: services, programs, advocacy, and research. (RC)

Categorizes for college orientation staff a social and academic diversity of developmentally oriented programs and activities offered in terms of their time frameworks: summer or precollege programs, freshman week activities, short-term seminars and workshops, term or semester courses, and year-long and ongoing programs. (ABL)

Mayland Community College, in North Carolina, established the following five goals for enhancing its 1995 fall orientation program: providing information about the infrastructure of the college, connecting students with faculty and staff, connecting students with other students, communicating college-level expectations, and inspiring students. To…

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)

In spring 1992, a group of faculty and staff at East Central College (ECC) in Union, Missouri, met to reconsider the school's orientation process, which had had limited success since its inception in 1987. The group developed a list of objectives for the orientation process and grouped them under the headings of skills, awareness, involvement, and…

Recognizing the need to extend a variety of academic and student support services to its adult and commuting students, East Tennessee State University initiated a Center for Adult Programs and Services. The center, a collaborative effort of the Divisions of Academic Affairs and Student Affairs, offers a broad array of programs and services to…

Described is a program developed by the Research Division of NASPA starting in 1971 that planned more thoroughly for transfer students to the university. After an introduction to the problem and a profile of the contemporary transfer student, problems of program articulation, academic advising, admissions, and student services (including housing,…

The Educational Services Process Model described in this guide is made up of six interactive and interdependent elements functionally related to the common goal of student success. After part I traces the evolution of student services in the community college, part II presents 10 assumptions for planning, highlighting the need for staff…

A program was developed at Mercy College, Detroit, to reduce attrition among conditionally admitted, full-time (CAFT) students--about one quarter of entering students at this small, urban, four-year college. The very high attrition rate among CAFT students (95%) was found to be unrelated to academic performance or program quality, and solutions to…

In July 1970 the University of California reviewed and made recommendations for its international educational exchange program for all campuses. The recommendations were: (1) foreign students should be 4-6 percent of the student population on each campus; (2) they should be admitted once a year, with early admission deadlines; (3) they should have…

This report presents the findings for public four-year colleges and universities that participated in ACT's 2010 What Works in Student Retention survey. The report contains information pertinent to only these institutions. Appended are: (1) Data for Public Four-Year Colleges and Universities; and (2) What Works in Student Retention: Instrument.…

This report describes the key elements of an alternative access program at Mount St. Mary's College (California), from the recruitment and orientation of culturally diverse students to those ongoing academic and support services necessary to student persistence to graduation. The model is outlined in chapter II. Chapters III and IV describe how…