OATdb Archive - Sam Houston State University

OATdb Archive

2009 - 2010

Student Activities

Goal

Leadership Development And Cultural Awareness

Develop leadership skills among culturally diverse students and staff members.

Objective

Development: Leadership And Cultural Diversity

By participating in Student Activities, students and staff will develop the knowledge and skills associated with effective leadership and cultural diversity.

Indicator

Pre/Post Survey For SAMentor Participants

A pre/post survey of SAMentors will provide information regarding program effectiveness and student satisfaction.

Criterion

85% Of SAMentor Participants Report Positive Results

85% of student participants in the SAMentor program will indicate that the mentor program helped them in their first year.

Finding

SAMentor Program Survey Results

Survey findings showed the following results:
1. 500% increase in other student organization involvement resulted from being involved in SAMentors.
2. 62.5% of participants said their mentor relationship was good or excellent.
3. 93.75% of participants would recommend the SAMentors program to other students.

Indicator

Post-Conference Survey For Diversity Leadership Conference (DLC) Participants

The post-conference survey will provide information regarding student awareness of diversity issues and participant satisfaction.

Criterion

75% Of Participants Will Indicate Growth

75% of student, staff, and visiting participants will indicate a better appreciation for diversity issues.

Finding

DLC Survey Results

The post conference survey results showed the following:
1. After listening to 3 keynote speakers, 70.6% of participants were inspired to be more conscious of diversity issues. (Speaker #2 drastically changed the average - totals were 88%, 27%, 97%)
2. After listening to 3 keynote speakers, 74% of participants learned a valuable lesson. (Speaker #2 drastically changed the average - totals were 88%, 35%, 99%)
3. Eighty-six percent (86%) of participants felt the overall conference inspired and changed their views of diversity.

Action

Restructure Of SAMentor Survey

While the pre/post survey showed that participants were generally satisfied with the program and would recommend it to other students, there were no overwhelming results that could lead to a defined direction of improvement. Survey will be restructured to gather data that will identify key areas of growth and learned material in order to further improve the SAMentor program.

Goal

Student Retention

Retain students through interactive programming.

Objective

Student Participation

Students who participate in Student Activities will stay engaged and connected with the university and will return to SHSU for another year. Thus, it is important to have a wide variety of student organizations.

Indicator

Update Report Of Student Organizations

A database maintaining student organization data gathered from update forms will audit the number of student organizations.

Criterion

Registered Student Organizations

Have less than 10% inactive student organizations.

Finding

Student Organizations

There are 259 registered student organizations. Approximately 12% of those registered are inactive. Student Activities personnel will contact students interested in various activities in an attempt to reactivate inactive organizations. An ideal would be to have 15% growth of new student organizations each fiscal year; currently, there is approximately 7% growth.

Indicator

Student Members In Registered Student Organizations

Number of students participating in registered student organizations.

Criterion

Student Members In Registered Student Organizations

Increase student membership participating in registered organizations by 2% and audit twice per fiscal year.

Finding

Increase In Student Membership

There were 8,029 members for F09 and 8,097 members for S10. For FY10, student organization membership increased 1% from the fall to spring/summer semesters. For the entire year, student organization membership increased 7% compared to FY09. This increase can be attributed to two reasons: 1) increase in number of new organizations, and 2) increase in recruited members for current organizations.

Action

Implement Online Registration Process

An online registration system for student organizations would provide several benefits: 24-hour system access, streamlined process, more marketing capabilities, and consolidated communication. This registration redirect will also allow student organizations to maintain roster data online and improve marketing and recruiting strategies. We have identified a system (CollegiateLink) that will be implemented next fiscal year.

Update to previous cycle's plan for continuous improvement

Plan for continuous improvement Student Activities strives to develop students holistically, thereby increasing their desire to remain engaged on campus. We hope to retain students and initiate and increase involvement across the SHSU campus. Through the SAMentor program and Diversity Leadership Conference, assessment shows that students generally increased their knowledge and appreciation for cultural and diverse issues. Students also increased their involvement throughout campus and plan to continue engagement in the coming year.

Our current system for registering student organizations and maintaining all data associated with that area has remained basically the same for the past 4 years. While some modifications are made, no major changes have been implemented to increase productivity or effectiveness. Data shows fluctuation from year to year and reveals inconsistency in the number of student organization activities. Initiatives should be taken to improve communication standards and allow for adaption to a changing media environment among the student body. Extra attention will be given to marketing, implementing and training students during process transition. Changing the registration process to an online system and adding functionality to all areas of student organization management will allow the Student Activities department to streamline both communication and marketing strategies to organizations and their members.

This year's assessment revealed areas for improvement both in survey structure and student organization maintenance. We did not obtain valuable data through some assessment strategies and will educate our staff on how to increase survey and assessment effectiveness, thus allowing for detailed direction in program improvement. Some findings did indicate that we met our goals and our department will use suggestions gained from those surveys to further improve program logistics and structure.