James Winfield, Associate Dean for First Year Experience, General Education, & Retention Strategies, Southern New Hampshire University

There can be hesitancy to focus on targeting support for student subpopulations. A lack of data or risk of alienation can cause reservation to initiate efforts. Using first-generation students as an example, this session will actively pull current practices together to inform a rich culture and community while respecting intersectionality.

Shelly Schmidt, Professor of Food Chemistry, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition
Saadeddine Sheab, Associate Director of Assessment & Research, Siebel Center for Design
Amy Leman, Assistant Professor, Ag. Leadership, Education & Communication Program
Becca Rosen, Graduate Teaching Assistant, Ag. Leadership, Education & Communication Program

One of the most important skills we can teach our students for success in the classroom and well beyond is how to learn. Teaching students how to learn, however, is not best accomplished by an isolated, piecemeal approach, but rather by intentionally building a grassroots Learning How to Learn (LHtL) ecosystem with the involvement of all of the key stakeholders – students, teaching assistants, faculty, and advisors. The purpose of this presentation is to share with you our results to date and plans for the future of employing a human-centered design approach to building a LHtL ecosystem in the College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences (ACES). The human-centered taxonomy we are using encompasses five design spaces, including understand, synthesize, ideate, prototype, and implement (Lawerence et al. 2021). To date, we have interviewed a sampling of all the ACES key stakeholders and have piloted and received learner feedback on LHtL workshops for both teaching assistants and students. Future plans include developing and piloting LHtL workshops for faculty and advisors, connecting with additional partners within ACES, and seeking partners from across the entire Illinois campus to build a campus wide LHtL Ecosystem.

Jennifer McNeilly, Director, Math Merit Program, Department of Mathematics
Elise McCarren, Director, Chemistry Merit Program, Department of Chemistry\
Alejandra Stenger, MCB Merit Director, Dept. of Molecular and Cellular Biology
Lily Arias, IB Merit Director, Department of Integrative Biology
Patricia Simpson, Director of Academic Advising & Career Services, School of Chemical Sciences

The Merit Program at the University of Illinois has been successful in improving undergraduate performance in introductory chemistry, biology, and mathematics courses for over thirty years. This is a non-remedial program focused on creating a dynamic collaborative learning environment for students who are from historically underrepresented groups in STEM. This year, the Merit Program & School of Chemical Sciences Career Services have created a new Merit Mentoring & Professional Network course (MPN) for a select group of 1st and 2nd-year LAS Merit Program students. This project is sponsored by the LAS Student Success Initiative.  In this presentation, we will report on the planning, implementation, and success of the first iteration of this course including both quantitative and qualitative outcomes. We will also share feedback from participating undergraduate students and mentors, as well as report on the continued development of the class. Because the pilot of this course was well-received by and effective for students, we will present it as a model which can be generalized into other disciplines to improve student success and retention.

Victor Cervantes, Associate Director MEP, the Grainger College of Engineering
Ivan Favila, Assistant Dean and Director, the Grainger College of Engineering

The Morrill Engineering Program (MEP) is in place to increase the number of historically underrepresented students who study engineering at ILLINOIS. Aside from recruitment activities, a major objective is to promote persistence among students admitted to engineering majors. Among the factors that contribute to attrition of these students include isolation and marginalization. Since 2009, MEP has offered a course to address these factors, building on the work pioneered by Raymond Landis in the 1970s. Informed by Beverly Tatum’s discourse on racial isolation in her book Why are all the Black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?, this course acts like a “homeroom” where students can normalize their campus experiences. The instructors of record for ENG111 are ILLINOIS engineering alumni with industry experience. Instruction is supplemented by MEP Peer Mentors who share their experiences as current ILLINOIS engineering students.  The semester-long class is built on the foundation of community building. Learning each other’s names is practiced in every class through the use of name games. In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn how the class is formatted and will participate in activities that helped to increase the first-year retention rate of underrepresented engineering students above 90%.

Chantelle Thompson, Chief of Staff, Office of the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs
Caitlin Kelly, Management Analyst, Village of Savoy
Katie Simpson, Community & Economic Development Director, Village of Savoy

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign together with the Village of Savoy and Carle Health Systems were selected to work collaboratively in a peer-learning cohort led by the National League of Cities (NLC) to remove barriers to basic needs that often prevent college students from successfully completing postsecondary degrees, certificates or other credentials needed to gain access to rewarding careers. The cohort joins a select group of five cities from across the nation that will engage in monthly peer-to-peer virtual learning opportunities and receive tailored support and expert assistance from NLC’s staff and national content experts to help advance the city’s efforts in supporting local students. The Village of Savoy intends to work collaboratively with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Carle Health Health Systems to identify the needs of post-secondary students residing within the municipality and to understand and address service gaps.

Milind Basole, eLearning Professional, Center of Innovation in Teaching & Learning
Robert Baird, Sr. Associate Director, Center of Innovation in Teaching & Learning
Kate LaBore, eLearning Professional, Center of Innovation in Teaching & Learning

CITL’s free to the world initiative comprises of interactive online modules on various topics to raise student knowledge and skills essential to thrive in today’s complex, mediated world. Modules utilize innovative engagement strategies. Content includes:

• financial literacy
• media literacy
• nutrition (forthcoming, fall 2023)
• wellness (planned)•learning-to-learn (planned)
• business ethics (planned)

These device-agnostic lessons include self-checks and are rich in media. The distribution model for these modules relies on the participation of first-year instructors of entry-level student success courses. They are offered as extra credit or required activity in ‘College 101’ courses but are also available to the student body at large. Their 1-hour-or-less design piques interest in subtopics relevant to reader interests, including exploring specific core/specialty courses at Illinois to raise awareness of these curricular offerings. Automatic notification is generated to facilitate credit approval. These modules were developed in the spirit of open educational resources. Since the pilot launch in Fall 2021, student response has been overwhelmingly positive.  Modules leverage Illinois’ innovative eText delivery platform which is freely available to individuals affiliated with any of three University of Illinois campuses.

Sara Benson, Copyright Librarian and Associate Professor, University Library
Martin Wolske, Teaching Assistant Professor, Department of Information Sciences
José Andino, Senior Lecturer, Department of Chemistry
Christy Bazan, Instructor, Department of Kinesiology and Community Health

Panelists will share their experience with creating or adopting Open Educational Resources (OER) to eliminate expensive textbook costs for students on campus. Join Professors who have created OER, a professor who has adopted OER from Openstax and a librarian working to facilitate use of OER on campus to learn more about how to engage students with creative course materials while keeping their academic costs low.

Jeanne Kramer, Assistant Teaching Professor/Director of the Autism Program, Department of Human Development and Family Studies

The latest research shows that while the number neurodivergent university students is on the rise, outcomes for these students remain bleak. Approximately 38% of autistic university students make it to graduation and face an up to 80% under- and unemployment rate. Additionally, neurodiversity in adults is closely linked to depression, anxiety, and suicidality. However, with appropriate supports in place, these diverse students bring exceptional strength and talent to the university and workforce culture. The Illinois Neurodiversity Initiative (I-N-I) is a pilot program for UIUC students providing academic, mental health, social, and employment support to students who identify with neurodivergent conditions including autism, ADHD, dyslexia, learning disabilities, depression, and anxiety. Join this panel discussion consisting of 5-7 I-N-I participants. They will share first-hand experience including their unique strengths, challenges, and the supports that have helped them most. They will also answer questions from the audience about their college life. Attendees will gain understanding of how they can support the success of students with diverse learning styles, what is offered through I-N-I, and how students may become involved. The panel discussion will be led by Dr. Jeanne Kramer, Assistant Professor and Director of the Autism Program (TAP) at University of Illinois.

Jari Minnett, Assistant Director, Office of Minority Student Affairs
Maya Syed, Undergraduate Student, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Nicole Espinosa Zaldivar, Undergraduate Student, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

The Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program (b.k.a. the McNair Scholars Program) is a federally funded graduate education access program designed to support first-generation, income-eligible undergraduate students who want to pursue doctoral education. The McNair Scholars Program has been a mainstay at the University of Illinois for over 30 years, yet it remains one of the campus’s biggest kept secrets. The purpose of this session is to elucidate the work of the McNair Scholars Program for campus constituents; highlight our students’ success, based on their definitions, and as evinced by graduation and postbaccalaureate education enrollment; and lay the foundation for future intracampus collaborations so we can ultimately assist as many students as possible. In this interactive session, you will learn about the historical context of the McNair Scholars Program, the attributes of a McNair Scholar, and how your unit/department can collaborate with our program. Finally, some of our McNair Scholars will share their research and experience in the McNair Scholars Program.

Brian Siemann, Learning Disability Specialist, Disability Resources and Educational Services

This presentation will describe the model used by Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES) in providing academic coaching services to over 300 students per year. Coaching is a mechanism by which we work with students on academic issues that may be preventing them from reaching their academic goals. Working one-on-one, coaches offer structure, accountability, skill building, and encouragement to students working to improve in a variety of areas. Coaching has been shown to improve retention for undergraduates and specifically students at DRES. Coaching is one-on-one weekly sessions that focus on organization, time management, prioritizing, problem-solving, and motivation. Coaching provides continuous monitoring to make sure that students are keeping up with the 16-week semester and gives them a place to discuss difficulties and learn compensatory strategies.

Melissa Iverson, Teaching Assistant Professor, School of Social Work

This workshop will engage educators in a conversation about how traditional syllabi can propagate systems of power and oppression through the use of deficit-based and punitive language and policies. Participants will explore areas of their syllabi and courses they can review and learn about specific strategies for creating change. Topics include: office hours language, course policies (such as participation, due dates, and assignment requirements), student resources, communication expectations, and the course schedule).

Michael Lotspeich-Yadao, Assistant Director, Chez Veterans Center
Chung-Yi Chiu, Associate Professor, Dept. of Kinesiology & Community Health
Dustin Lange, Assistant Director of Academic/Career Services, Chez Veterans Center
Nathan Todd, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology
Benjamin Campbell, Graduate Student, Department of Kinesiology & Community Health
Ian Long, Graduate Student, School of Social Work
Susie Lopez, Graduate Student, department of Kinesiology & Community Health
Aisha Tepede, Graduate Student, Department of Kinesiology & Community Health
Moin Vahora, Graduate Student, Department of Kinesiology & Community Health
Kortney Wilcher, Graduate Student, Department of Kinesiology & Community Health

The Chez Veteran Center (CVC) has found that student veterans and other military-connected students are a highly diverse subpopulation at Urbana–spanning race/ethnicity, gender identity/sexual orientation, disability status, and many other identities. Student veterans do not shed their identities or trauma of historical injustices when they don the uniform. As a result, these additional social forces can hinder psychosocial adjustment, well-being, and academic performance. From a programmatic standpoint, Chez finds that a critical barrier to addressing these social forces is a lack of leadership in the military-connected student service community around diverse experiences. We seek to engage dynamic voices and intersectionality as a path to a fresh perspective on how institutional barriers in higher education may hinder adjustment after service for all student veterans and other military-connected students. In this interactive presentation, we seek to engage student affairs practitioners, academic advisors, and the student population in our initial survey of supportive literature. In addition, we offer a safe forum for these audiences to share their experiences with military-connected populations at Urbana. Through open discussion and raising student voices, we can dispel the stereotype of a student veteran and (re)frame how we support this diverse population in higher education.

Elizabeth Hamlet, Asst. Director, Irwin Academic Services
Liz Reyes, Asst. Director of Athletics, Illini Way Student-Athlete Development
Shanika Mungin, Director of Educational Enrichment, Irwin Academic Services

Under the umbrella of the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics, Irwin Academic Services, Learning Services, and the Illini Way Student-Athlete Development strategically operate to provide a life-changing student-athlete experience. This presentation will be an interactive dialogue that will provide the audience with a 360-degree view of the services, support, and awareness of best practices within the respective units. This session will present the space to discuss resources, collaboration opportunities, and our shared goals of supporting student success.