However for the first time this semester I witnessed graduate students flocking (well as much flocking as graduate students can do with their busy schedules) to one of our events. It was a speaker, Daryl Davis, who was going to talk about his work with the Klan. Daryl was not just any old speaker about the Klan, he was a black man who has spent decades researching the Klan and has led to Klan leaders leaving the Klan. Why were graduate students so interested in this topic? Daryl talked about many things relevant to various graduate programs; race relations, fear, the clashing of cultures and respect for individual opinions.
So now that we graduate students have come to one of our events, I began wondering whether it should it be our goal to find ways to further engage this population. But what is "this population" graduate students are a diverse group. Some are in a committed relationship, some are single, some are "complicated". Some have children, some still primarily view themselves as someone's child. Some work full time and go to school part time; some go to school full time and work part time. Some live in Greeley, some commute for over an hour to get here. Some want to be an engaged member of their university outside of the classroom; some want to be engaged only in the classroom.
So how do we as student affairs professionals, who are also graduate students best serve such a diverse population, who are still paying student fees? I think perhaps the answer lies somewhere in the reflections on Daryl Davis; we have to provide opportunities that appeal to a wide variety of people and have a deeper meaning than just socialization.
Kim, Thank you for bringing this topic up for discussion. I have been disappointed by the lack of variety in evening opportunities geared towards graduate students. When I attended the new graduate student orientation, I took off half a day from work. It also happened to fall on our move-in day for CSU students. It was not very attended nor really all that informative. The first week of classes, I went to an open house geared at graduate students highlighting departments that serve as resources held during the late afternoon and again was less than impressed. I missed out on Daryl Davis. I know Shanda works hard to support us through the GSA in trying to bring programs at various hours. When I inquired about having the library provide a session after 5pm for graduate students, I received some nice emails stating there was not enough interest. I came to campus for a campus tour one Saturday and it was geared towards the undergrad not the graduate. I told them I was already a graduate student on campus and they went outside and just pointed at a few buildings. I doubt this would have happened if I was standing there with my parents as an interested undergraduate. My experiences thus far at UNC have made me feel pretty marginalized as a graduate student. My hope in attending UNC was to have a small community of people that were supportive and helpful in welcoming me to campus. The HESAL program does this well, but not the campus. I like the size of UNC versus CSU. When we take classes in the evenings and on the weekend and campus locations close early (say Friday night), how are graduate students supported? I went to the computer lab on Friday during a break for our weekend class and the lab was closed……….I was happy to read your blog and hear about the attendance at the Davis event. Perhaps UNC can start to look at doing more for a population that is spending money on services we may not use (student rec center, etc.) I would like to have the option on where my student fees are going. It would be great to vote on where our fees go versus putting them all in one pot. I think the HESAL department could use a few upgrades and even the building . UNC is missing an opportunity at supporting graduate students who will be alumni and potential donors once they graduate.
ReplyDeleteI actually just wrote a blog on building a sense of community. In this blog I talked about how difficult it is to get students/faculty/staff (people) to get involved in anything that is outside of their already required activities. I think this is really sad because we are missing out on so many other wonderful opportunities.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate Kim's consideration and inclusion of the graduate student population. I believe you teach people how to treat you. So in the academic sense, as a graduate student population I think we have taught student engagement and the graduate student association that we are very diverse with different needs and therefore it is difficult to put on events that yield high attendance. I think this is sad because there are grad students, like Katee and others, that would really enjoy feeling included on campus. This is so hard because with limited budgets we have to decide what programming to spend our money on. I think that ends up excluding grad students. I do like Kim's idea about continuing their programming but also considering gearing it towards not only undergraduates but grad students as well. Thanks Kim! and, good luck.
Kim,
ReplyDeleteThis is a topic that I've given a lot of consideration. I have a strange sense of guilt associated with not being more 'engaged' in activities and programs at UNC (particularly as a former Student Activities Director... how much of my professional time has been spent trying to entice students to engage in various campus events?!?). For those of us taking our classes at Lowry this is an interesting conundrum-- how are we to engage with the UNC community (aside from our cohort)? In my mind, I actually use this as a my 'excuse' for not being engaged... I mean, I signed up for a program off the main campus-- so I'm off the hook! :) We also don't pay the student activities fees (don't worry Greeley friends- we make up for it in increased tuition cost...).
That said, I do hope that UNC can look at innovative ways to engage graduate students- including those of us not on the main campus. For example, even within the HESAL program, could we Skype into the Brown Bag Discussion lunches or have occasional speakers in Loveland (between the 2 campuses)?
I also thought of this matter in relation to Robyn's earlier blog entitled, 'Is the MA the new BA?'. As we see an increase in the number of graduate students, our approach to all student services will need to shift, and certainly this includes student activities/student life too. It will be interesting to see how this shapes our institutional culture and structure. Is it the responsibility of the graduate schools to provide the opportunities for grad. students to engage, or is it for the 'main' student affairs offices (such as Kim's programming board)?
This was part of a really great conversation we had in class this past weekend. I agree that there is limited programming geared toward graduate students, and that even if there is programming it is very unlikely that it is offered during times convenient for graduate students. With that being said, I am not really all that sure that graduate students have a strong desire to attend programming oppotunities anyway.
ReplyDeleteMany graduate students already feel as if they are stretched very thin on time. If they do have an extra evening off there may be a strong desire to spend it with their family, or simply at home relaxing. Programming would have be very unique/special/interesting for graduate students to go out of their way to attend. And, yes, I do believe that attending a program is "going out of the way" for many graduate students, simply because it breaks their routine. Daryl Davis was an important enough speaker for graduate students to break their routine, and for them to sacrifice precious personal time to a university event. I do not believe it to be feasible to offer such impactful events on a regular basis.
YES! Kim, I couldn't agree more with your last statement. We frequently have these conversations on our campus...how to get students to be more engaged. And, when you think of the diversity of students (not just racially, but relationships, work status, kids / no kids, etc.), it can easily get overwhelming. What we tend to fall back on are, ways that we can just bring people together to let them get to know each other.
ReplyDeleteWhen I question that and state that I believe there should be more to an event that just networking / socializing, some people look at me like I'm crazy. They state that students who feel connected to an insitution tend to be retained at higher rates than those who don't, and I get that...but, in my opinion, the connection needs to be a deeper one than just social.
Instead of trying to be everything to everyone, we should be more strategic and thoughtful.
Our small group had a great discussion about this, although I'm not sure we figured out exactly how to fix the situation. As a graduate student who commutes from Denver I do not feel especially connected. While on campus I do make a point to use resources such as the library and rec center. This week I actually went to a workshop for grad students and it was great. However this is something I am not able to do on a regular basis. I would have loved to have seen Davis speak last week but was not willing to make the drive to do so. This event was taped and I would love to figure out how to get access to this. Maybe having recorded events more available would be beneficial. For now the best way I think our student activity fees can benefit grad students is providing feedback and making suggestions.
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