CSU Dominguez Hills’ Engagement Efforts Among Best Practices Highlighted in Recent Monograph

March 20, 2008 - PRLog -- (Carson, CA)— California State University, Dominguez Hills’ participation in the Building Engagement and Attainment for Minority Students (BEAMS) initiative, and the successes achieved by that participation, will be highlighted at a luncheon from noon to 2 p.m. on Tuesday, March 25, in the Loker Student Union Ballroom on campus. The invitation-only event will also be webcast and archived for future viewing on the university’s Center for Teaching and Learning web site, http://ctl.csudh.edu.

Launched in 2003, BEAMS was created to bolster the important role Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) play in facilitating minority students’ participation in and completion of higher education. Through financial support, the initiative encouraged the more than 100 Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) participating in the project to devise and implement data-driven action plans intended to strengthen the academic success of students of color.

Several best practices emerged from the efforts of participating institutions and are outlined in a monograph released this month titled Increasing Student Success at Minority-Serving Institutions: Findings from the BEAMS Project. The publication, along with accompanying practice briefs detailing similar institutional change initiatives, also highlights the project’s key findings and lessons learned.

“The BEAMS project is a remarkable accomplishment providing clear evidence that positive campus change and student success are possible when financial and other supportive resources are made available to institutions of higher education,” said Thomas D. Parker, Ed.D., interim president and senior associate of the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP). BEAMS is a project of IHEP’s Alliance for Equity in Higher Education. “We’ve learned that institutions place themselves in a precarious position when making campus change decisions based on assumptions of their students’ needs and concerns. Although it may be costly to implement and maintain, data collection helps institutions make the right decisions to improve the postsecondary experience of all students.”

The BEAMS project at CSU Dominguez Hills, a public Hispanic-Serving Institution, received recognition on its five-year plan of improving multiple levels of academic engagement and university support of faculty and students. Of special note was a focus on revamping an introductory course on higher education, University 101, to make it more relevant and have a greater impact on student success.

Designed to ease the transition to college and provide skills for college and beyond, the University 101 course had originally been voluntary and only four sections were offered. Today, there are 12 sections and more than 600 students enroll each year, and as a result of a concerted effort by administrators and faculty to make the course a success, retention rates have improved. First-year students participating in University 101 had a 78% retention rate to year two, while freshman not participating had a 53% retention rate. These results led CSU Dominguez administrators to make University 101 a mandatory course for all freshmen beginning in fall 2009.

Another component of the CSU Dominguez Hills BEAMS project was to strengthen the university’s faculty development program. The team created a speakers series that in the past four years has featured internationally known higher education experts. The exchange of information and ideas through the series and corresponding workshops produce strategies professors can use in their classrooms to enhance student learning.

These programs were among those illustrated as best practices in the BEAMS monograph. The monograph, Increasing Student Success at Minority-Serving Institutions: Findings from the BEAMS Project, is available on IHEP’s Web site at www.ihep.org. Also available online are the project’s eight practice briefs that focus on aligning multiple campus initiatives, campus leaders' support, co-curricular activities, collecting survey data for assessment, engagement among campus constituencies, faculty development, first-year programs, student support services technology, and writing across the curriculum.

The March 25 event at CSU Dominguez Hills is part of a five-city national campaign to disseminate the BEAMS monograph. The luncheon event will feature a panel of experts who will discuss the project’s findings and recommendations.

o Jim Cooper, Professor of Graduate Education and Coordinator of the Curriculum and Instruction M.A. Program, CSU Dominguez Hills

o Scott Evenbeck, Dean, University College, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis

o Tony Fresquez, Faculty, Department of Humanities, Oglala Lakota College, South Dakota

o Cheryl Spector, Director, Academic First Year Experience, California State University, Northridge

BEAMS is a partnership between National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and the Alliance for Equity in Higher Education and is supported by the Lumina Foundation for Education.

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About CSU Dominguez Hills: California State University, Dominguez Hills is a diverse urban university located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The university prides itself on its outstanding faculty and friendly, student-centered environment. Known for excellence in teacher education, nursing, psychology, business administration, and digital media arts, new degree programs include computer science, criminal justice, recreation and leisure studies, social work, and communication disorders.

Website: www.csudh.edu