The Student Success Committee met in Hanes Hall on Jan. 16 to discuss ways to cultivate student success at UNC.
“Our definition to success is broader than academic actions,” James Barricelli, the assistant vice chancellor for career development, said in the meeting.
The committee consists of faculty, staff and student representatives across the various UNC schools. They focus on four main objectives.
The first objective involves improving systems, processes and collaboration supporting student success. The second revolves around increasing student satisfaction with their academic experiences, the third with continuing to affirm student success, belonging and wellness as a shared responsibility and the fourth on developing strategies to increase graduation rates.
In last week's meeting, the committee discussed solutions for various issues. They spoke on developing a student life cycle communication strategy and improving teaching and practice. They also discussed integrating career education into academic planning through a partnership between undergraduate education and career services in all UNC schools.
To improve student-centered education, members of the committee proposed incentivizing pedagogical research.
Pedagogical research focuses on understanding how learning takes place. Through it, faculty can emphasize approaches focused on improving student experiences at UNC.
Jennifer Larson, the director of credit programs and summer school at the University, said that pedagogical work goes beyond the classroom. She said she thinks student-centric teaching is data-driven teaching.
“It is a research endeavor and just like we reward and support with funding research endeavors, if we want data-driven pedagogical practices to continue in the classroom, we need to support that in the same way,” she said.
