Helping Students Reach Higher by Recognizing Our Own Reality

1. Helping Students Reach Higher by Recognizing Our Own Reality Danielle Stimpson, MS Academic Advising Nicole Vouvalis, J.D., Diversity Specialist

2. Labels

3. How Do You Like Your Label?

4. My Labels: Goth Freak Loser Devil-Worshipper Anarchist

5. December 10, 2010 Graduating with honors in the top 10% of my law school class Looks not only can be, but often are, deceiving.

6. Labeling Theory

7. Individuals, Not Labels Primary Characteristics • Race • Age • Sexual Orientation • Mental/Physical Abilities • Gender • Ethnicity Secondary Characteristics • Education • Family Status • Religious Beliefs • Native Language • Income • Socioeconomic Status • Work Experience • Goals

8. Overcoming Labeling • Have my interactions with individuals with similar primary characteristics been largely positive, or largely negative? • What do I think I know about this particular student? • After speaking with the student, ask yourself what secondary characteristics you can accurately identify about that student that you didn’t know before (how many overlap with secondary characteristics of yours?). • Finally, determine whether there was perfect overlap between what you thought you knew about that student and what you now know about that student.

9. Secondary Characteristics Exercise Guess Some of Myron’s Secondary Characteristics: • Family Status • Educational Level • Income • Goals • Interests • Geographic Location • Socioeconomic Status

10. Reflection

11. Contextual Influences • Influences of student self-perception. • They include, peers, family, norms, stereotypes, sociopolitical conditions, and us. Abes, E.S., Jones, S.R., & McEwen, M.K. (2007) Reconceptualizing the model of multiple dimensions of identity: The role of meaning-making capacity in the construction of multiple identies. Journal of College Student Development, 48(1), 7.

12. Identity & Self-Efficacy Theories

13. Self-efficacy • “Psychologist Albert Bandura has defined self-efficacy as one's belief in one's ability to succeed in specific situations. One's sense of self-efficacy can play a major role in how one approaches goals, tasks, and challenges.” • “Self-efficacy is the term used to describe how one judges one’s own competence to complete tasks and reach goals.” Ormrod, J.E. (2006). Educational psychology: Developing learners. (5th ed. ). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall. Wikipedia. (2012) Self-Efficacy.

14. Self-efficacy • “…developed from external experiences and self-perception…” • Experiences that contribute to the development of both positive and negative self-efficacy

15. Chickering’s 7 Vectors of Development • Developing Competence • Managing Emotions • Moving through Autonomy to Interdependence • Developing Mature Interpersonal Relationships • Establishing Identity • Developing Purpose • Developing Integrity Hagen, P.L. & Jordan, P. (2008). Theoretical foundations of academic advising. In Academic Advising: A comprehensive Handbook. (2nd Ed.). Chapter two. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

16. Establishing Identity • “Identity includes comfort with body and appearance, comfort with gender and sexual orientation, a sense of one’s social and cultural heritage, a clear self-concept and comfort with one’s roles and lifestyle, a secure sense of self in light of feedback from significant others, self-acceptance and self-esteem, and personal stability and integration.” Evans, N.J., Forney, D. S., Guido, F.M., Patton, L.D., & Renn, K.A. (2010). Chickering’s theory of identity development. In Student Development in College: Theory, Research, and Practice. (2nd Ed.). Chapter four. San Francisco, CA: . Jossey-Bass.

17. Erik Erikson: Identity Formation Evans, N.J., Forney, D. S., Guido, F.M., Patton, L.D., & Renn, K.A. (2010). Psychosocial identity development. In Student Development in College: Theory, Research, and Practice. (2nd Ed.). Chapter three. San Francisco, CA: . Jossey-Bass, .

18. How to help: What now? • Encourage student involvement • Friendships & Student Communities • Opportunities at USU • Be a support. • Encourage/foster the development of self-efficacy • Developmental advising • Student-advisor relationships • Student development programs & services • Put the student first Evans, N.J., Forney, D. S., Guido, F.M., Patton, L.D., & Renn, K.A. (2010). Chickering’s theory of identity development. In Student Development in College: Theory, Research, and Practice. (2nd Ed.). Chapter four. San Francisco, CA: . Jossey-Bass. Hagen, P.L. & Jordan, P. (2008). Theoretical foundations of academic advising. In Academic Advising: A comprehensive Handbook. (2nd Ed.). Chapter two. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Astin, A.W. (1984). Student involvement: A developmental theory for higher education. Journal of College Student Personnel, 25, 297-308.

19. Outreach Academic advising is one of the most important services that a university can offer its students, and is critical to the success of underrepresented and first-generation college students.

20. Outreach Strategies Strategies that promote outreach to diverse student populations must originate in your own offices; a top-down approach is unlikely to succeed. Those strategies should include: • A strategy that promotes diverse hiring decisions; • A strategy which adds diversity to your values or mission statements, such that it permeates your office’s decision-making processes; and • A strategy that promotes a culture of facilitation, rather than fear or ignorance of academic advising, through outreach.

21. Diverse Hiring Practices • Ensure that an equal opportunity statement appears in every position advertisement – even those housed within Utah State University’s Human Resources site. • Advertise positions in various locations, including Diverse Jobs, the Office of Women in Higher Education, the Association on Higher Education and Diversity (AHEAD), The Black Collegian Online, and the Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education. • Include a values statement that includes diversity on your respective websites.

22. Values Statement Visual Advising Values Textual Advising Values Diversity The value for diversity in thought and human experience is demonstrated throughout the advising profession. Diversity of thought, the center of academic freedom, is reflected in the respect for varied academic advising approaches considering theoretical and experiential orientations toward our work. Advisers are committed to maintaining an awareness of and sensitivity to diversity issues for all students. Our intent is to serve as diversity educators and advocates. Our role is to help eliminate actual or perceived university barriers so that all students may achieve their academic goals.

23. Facilitation vs. Fear Many underrepresented students view appointments with academic advisors as a punishment, scary, confusing, or simply as an “easy out,” hoping that advisors will simply tell them what to do. Changing the perception takes work, particularly with underrepresented students, and the strategies discussed above assist with changing that perception. The best way to change perceptions is to create new experiences. To that end, outreach will best serve your office and your students.

24. Why Outreach? “Many students – particularly those who are black, Latino/a, first generation, and low-income – face numerous challenges throughout their educational journeys that obstruct their paths to and through college. In order to meet current national goals for increased access and completion, higher education leaders must clear these pathways so all students can succeed.” “[T]he higher education community [must] ensure that substantial resources – financial resources, human resources, and resources of talent, training and mentoring, among others – are directed toward historically underrepresented students and the institutions that strive to educate them.” Michelle Asha Cooper, Investing in Education and Equity: Our Nation’s Best Future, Diversity and Democracy, Vol. 13, No. 3, Fall 2010.

25. Outreach Challenge Identify one student organization that exists within your department, and one that exists outside of your department. (For the outside organization, try to pick a club whose mission statement interests you.) Plan to attend one meeting each semester for each organization. If a meeting is not possible, send an e-mail to the club president to be forwarded on to the general membership. Build a genuine relationship with these students that lets them know that you will be a resource and an advocate for their education.

26. Thank you Danielle Stimpson, danielle.stimpson@usu.edu Nicole Vouvalis, nicole.vouvalis@usu.edu