ACUHO-I News Blog

Editor’s Note: The January+February 2010 issue of the Talking Stick [coming soon] took at a look at residence hall programs geared toward junior and senior year students. The following is a continuation of that story.

One of the most beneficial outcomes of junior and senior programming is a final opportunity for students to connect with the college or university. The Alumni Association at Bard College is an important part of the Senior Year Experience Web site, which includes information on events, networking, and getting involved. “We’re trying to get them thinking that soon they’ll be alumni,” says Erin Cannon, dean of students. “The Alumni Association reminds them of the opportunities that they can take advantage of so they know that we aren’t just sending them off and don’t really care about them.”

The University of Connecticut’s “Young Alumni” section on the STEP Web site has the same goal. Dan Doerr, assistant to the vice president for student affairs, notes that junior/senior programming is not only beneficial for individual student success, but it also helps to achieve the institutional goal of having an active population of alumni: “It is important for students to have strong alumni relations.  Including the Alumni Association and creating a partnership with students helps keep them strongly connected to the institution.”

The programs specifically for upperclass students give them what they need when they most need it:  when they move out of college and into the larger world of jobs and families. Jennifer Keup, director of the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, which is affiliated with the U101 program at the University of South Carolina, emphasizes how important it is to focus on students at the end of their college experience. “The first-year experience program has gone from being a grassroots effort on campuses to a national and international movement,” she says. “But it’s not just about the first year in transition; it’s about the multitude of transitions. The success of attention on the first-year experience has brought attention to other transition points in a student’s educational career. Truly everyone at the institution has the capability to make significant change in how we support and address student needs throughout their entire educational trajectory.”