Every summer and January, in preparation for the upcoming term, the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) Division of Student Life holds a retreat for the division directors on a topic both related to the goals of the institution and applicable to the work of the division’s departments and programs—student activities, recreational outdoor sports, student conduct, housing and residence life, diversity and inclusion, and others. In 2016, the retreat included a common reading of Diverse Millennial Students in College: Implications for Faculty and Student Affairs (Bonner, Marbley, & Howard-Hamilton, 2011) and conversations about how these implications related to students at UMD, identifying areas where UMD was successfully meeting the needs of its various student populations and where it might be having some difficulty. Infused into these conversations were UMD’s NSSE 2014 results—with a focus on data related to retention and student success, particularly for students of color. Important findings included the following: UMD’s first-year students of color rated their interaction with staff lower than did their peers at other institutions; first-year female students were more likely to utilize academic support resources than were their male peers; and senior students of color had more outside responsibilities (work, family, etc.) potentially impacting their ability to manage academic commitments than did their peers in other racial-ethnic groups.
These data elicited a number of questions: Is the Division of Student Life doing all it can to proactively meet the needs of diverse populations of students? How should the division retool its approach to recruiting and retaining students of color? Further, how is the division creating a positive environment for all students? At UMD, these questions are being actively considered as the campus’s student population grows increasingly diverse.
With a recent plateau in enrollment after a decade of steady enrollment growth, UMD recognizes that it cannot wait for students to tell the institution what they need. Instead, UMD must adjust its practices to provide a high-quality equitable experience for all students on campus. Moving forward, UMD plans to continue infusing NSSE data into its campus conversations, with the intention of making evidence-based decisions to improve practice.
