On Deck with Student Affairs September 2023 Edition

From the Desk of Vice Chancellor Brandon Frye

Brandon A. Frye, PhD

The Fall 2023 semester is in full swing, and I want to share my sincere appreciation to the entire Division of Student Affairs (SA) for an amazing start to this academic year.

In my August On Deck message, I referenced the first part of the Student Success Continuum which is Connect. The first couple of weeks of the fall semester is a critical time for building that bond as Pirates and getting engaged on campus – inside and outside the classroom.

Student Affairs staff generated tens of thousands of touchpoints at events and programs with new and returning students and their families since the start of the summer into September.

Here’s a peek inside the numbers for Student Affairs:

8,062 – number of students and families attending new student orientation and Camp PIRATES
5,341 – students living in ECU residence halls this fall (+233 students from fall ’22)
201 – participant tables at Get-A-Clue on the Mall (student orgs, departments, and community partners)
11,899 – student attendees at Opening Weekend events (Movie on the Lawn, Raid the Rec, Pirate Palooza, New Student Welcome, First Year Photo and Greek Fest)
65,184 – number of visitors to the Main Campus Student Center and Health Sciences Campus Student Center during the first week of classes

And of course, every student loves a t-shirt, right? We distributed 3,500 t-shirts to students during our Opening Weekend events!

In the next couple of months, Student Affairs will be finalizing our divisional strategic plan which will include our new mission, vision, and values as well as our goals, metrics and outcomes for our departments, offices, and centers. More information will be shared related to this topic soon, but, for certain, our core focus will be Student Success!

Again, thank you Student Affairs for all the work you have done and continue to do for our students. Thank you to all our campus partners who helped during our fall opening and welcome events. Additionally, thank you to our faculty colleagues for all that you are doing in and out of the classroom to promote student success.

Go Pirates!

*Video Produced by Zach Karamalegos, SA Videographer

Counseling Center Awarded Grant Funding

The Center for Counseling and Student Development (CCSD) was recently awarded grant funds to support substance use prevention efforts on campus. The funds are sponsored by Addiction Professionals of NC (APNC), which is the professional association for substance use professionals and providers in the state of North Carolina.

The Student Affairs Health and Well-Being Unit will use the funds to support these existing programs:

The first-year student online safety courses through 3rd Millennium Classrooms.
A new initiative geared towards prescription drug safety. This initiative will be modeled after the Department of Health and Human Services’ “Lock Your Meds” campaign. Students will have access to medication lock boxes to increase proper storage of prescription medication and create a safeguard for medications to only be taken by those to whom they were prescribed.

CCSD was also awarded a micro-grant for the second time by the UNC System from GEER (Governor’s Emergency Education Relief) funds. This micro-grant may cover off-campus mental health services for students with financial concerns and more intensive mental health needs than CCSD can serve. Possible services the grant may cover include: hospitalization, intensive out-patient treatment, testing, psychiatric evaluation/treatment, counseling, assessment, and specialized mental health care.

For more information: https://counselingcenter.ecu.edu/announcements/services-grant/.

Swipe Out Hunger Initiative

The Student Government Association (SGA), Dining Services, and the Purple Pantry hosted the Swipe Out Hunger program from August 21 – September 3. The program allows students to donate meal swipes with the GET Mobile app to help other students.

ECU students experiencing food insecurity and/or a student emergency receive access to healthy and well-balanced meals at West End and Todd Dining Halls. Swipe Out Hunger is for students who live off campus (undergraduate, graduate, dental, and medical) offering short-term help until students obtain sustainable funding or other resources.

During the Fall 2023 Swipe out Hunger donation period a total number of 121 donations were received (32 higher than Spring 2023). During the week of Homecoming 2023 in October, SGA will incorporate a "Day of Giving" to collect additional meals for Swipe Out Hunger.

If you're interested in donating to Purple Pantry, please visit https://clce.ecu.edu/purple-pantry/ or email purplepantry@ecu.edu.

Student Affairs Assessment, Research, and Planning

The Importance of Sense of Belonging Amongst First Year Students

Submitted by Jeremy B. Tuchmayer, PhD; Student Affairs Assessment, Research, and Planning

Sense of belonging is among the most important factors associated with student success in college. Indeed, research indicates that college students who feel that they belong at their institutions perform better academically, exhibit greater persistence rates, higher levels of campus engagement, and experience greater mental health and wellbeing. Conversely, students who lack a strong sense of belonging are at a heightened risk of departure.

Sense of belonging in higher education can be measured in myriad ways. Key components of most belongingness scales include students’ feeling valued, accepted, and supported by their institutions. Additionally, our measurement scale asks students the extent to which they have social organizations or activities that meet their needs, they feel academically prepared to attend or continue at ECU, and that they are proud to be affiliated with ECU.

Last spring we surveyed first year students about their sense of belonging at ECU. Overall, a vast majority of respondents indicated a strong sense of belonging. In fact, of the 10 questions we asked about students’ sense of belonging, the highest rated item was that students felt proud to be an ECU Pirate. In total, more than three-quarters (77%) of respondents had very high levels of belonging. In the coming months, additional analysis will be conducted on the 10% of students with lower levels of belongingness to determine if their student success outcomes (GPA, retention, and progress towards degree) differ substantially from students with higher levels of belonging.

Division of Student Affairs Strategic Alignment with ECU’s Future Focused – Innovation Driven Strategic Plan 2023-2028

Submitted by Kathleen Hill, Executive Director for Student Affairs Assessment, Research, and Planning

Chancellor Rogers announced ECU’s new Strategic Plan for 2023-2028 called Future Focused. Innovation Driven.

This plan outlines the priorities for advancing the university during the next five years featuring objectives situated in both mission and vision priorities.

During fall semester, the Division of Student Affairs will be completing its alignment to the ECU plan in the following timeframe:

September: Completing revisions of division’s mission, vision, and values
October 15: First draft divisional plan
December 15: Completion of divisional plan

Implementation featuring monitoring and measuring of strategic objectives and metrics will begin during spring semester 2024 with annual progress reports due annually on August 1st.

Divisional strategies will focus on the following priorities:

Student Engagement
Health and Well-being
Sense of Belonging
Career Readiness
Innovation
Resource Stewardship

Content development and refinement will be attuned to assuring that the Division of Student Affairs generates a focused yet aspirational set of strategies that contribute to advancing ECU’s mission and vision. Student Affairs Educators are encouraged to engage in departmental as well as any divisional discussion/feedback opportunities announced throughout fall semester.

Student Affairs Making Headlines

Mental Health and ECU

Dr. Kisler-Van Reede, Center for Counseling and Student Development Director, was recently featured in a story about college students and mental health at ECU. In her interview, she provided the free resources and services available to students at ECU through the Counseling Center and Campus Recreation and Wellness. Dr. Kisler-Van Reede also encouraged students to talk to peers and/or family members about their mental health.

Click here to read the complete story produced by WCTI.

Click here to learn more about Counseling Center resources.

Click here to learn more about Campus Recreation and Wellness resources.

Wilson Named to Association on Higher Education and Disability Board of Directors

Davis Wilson, Assistant Director of Disability Support Services, was named a member of the NC AHEAD board of directors as an At-Large member for all 4-Year public institutions. Davis is responsible for maintaining communication and serving as a liaison among 4-year public institutions to support membership and networking efforts.

The annual NC AHEAD Fall Conference is coming up on October 9-10 hosted by Meredith College in Raleigh, NC. At this year’s conference, Wilson will be moderating/facilitating two sessions.

Pirate Media 1 Students Cover ECU vs. Michigan Football Game

Two student members of Pirate Media 1 and The East Carolinian, Interim Editor-in-Chief Kiarra Crayton and Creative Quarters’ Visual Arts Editor Jaylin Roberts, traveled to Ann Arbor, Michigan to cover the ECU vs. Michigan football game.

Crayton provided play-by-play reporting on the game on PM1’s and The East Carolinian’s X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram accounts. Roberts took photos of the game and of Pirate fans who traveled to “the Big House” of Michigan’s football stadium. See their stories, photos and more at theeastcarolinian.com.

Kiarra Crayton, front, and Jaylin Roberts are on the plane to Michigan.

New Hires and Separations

New Hires

Jamilia Simmons – Case Manager

Jamilia Simmons is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker Associate (LCSWA). She is currently a graduate student at Morgan State University in the Ph.D. Social Work program. Her research interest includes Social Justice, Digital Inclusion and Colorism. She obtained her Master’s degree in Social Work from Clark Atlanta University and her Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Psychology from Winston Salem State University. She has experience as an adjunct professor teaching graduate students Human Behavior and the Social Work Environment I and Urban Families and Clinical Practice. She has proficiency in providing mental health and substance abuse services to children, adolescents, and adults. She has worked in a variety of settings such as academic, residential, child welfare, day treatment, inpatient psychiatric acute care, enhanced in-home services, group therapy and outpatient therapy. She believes in implementing the strengths-based perspective to encourage students to utilize personal strengths, promote avid learning, increase resiliency, and to build self-sufficiency for a successful university experience. In her free time, she enjoys singing, attending church, and physical fitness.

Separations

Marianna Blount – Vehicle Equipment Operator – Transit – August 10
Joshua Thigpen – Student Services Specialist – Campus Living – August 18
Larry Bone – Tech Support – SA Technology – September 1
Tatiana Staton – Vehicle Equipment Operator – Transit – September 8
Demetria Smith – Associate Director – Student Engagement – September 15

Appreciate