DATE: August 20, 2008
CONTACT:
Kathy Hobgood, 864-656-1151
kbhob@clemson.edu
WRITER:
Angela Nixon, 864-656-0382
anixon@clemson.edu
Clemson’s living-learning communities ranked among nation’s best
CLEMSON — The National Study of Living-Learning Programs conducted by a team of researchers at the University of Maryland and the University of Wisconsin at Madison has rated Clemson University’s living-learning communities among the best in the nation.
Living-learning communities are programs in which students with common academic interests live together in the same residence hall space and have staff, programming and curricular resources dedicated specifically to them. University housing at Clemson has more than 1,200 students participating in 12 living-learning communities across campus.
The national study looked at more than 600 programs on 67 campuses across the country. More than 46,000 students were surveyed to determine how these special programs helped their transition to college, college confidence, academic abilities, growth in cognitive complexity and sense of belonging to the institution. Clemson’s survey scores were among the top four in the nation. Based on the strength of the data, Clemson was selected for a site visit by the researchers to observe programs and meet participants with the hope of learning best practices that have led to Clemson’s success in this area.
“Clemson’s programs offer one of the finest examples of what happens when the three critical stakeholders in living-learning programming — faculty, staff and students — all take ownership in their programs and work collaboratively toward creating optimal learning environments,” said Karen Inkelas of the University of Maryland, principal investigator of the study. “Clemson was far ahead of other institutions in terms of identifying clear learning outcomes for their programs, setting up curricular and co-curricular activities that complement those learning outcomes and just taking pride in their work.”
During their visit to campus, researchers met with focus groups of students, housing staff and faculty members involved with Clemson’s living-learning programs.
“One goal of the Division of Student Affairs is to create the most successful, most engaged student body in the nation,” said Kathy Hobgood, director of residential life at Clemson. “Living-learning communities are one way to get students connected to the university through linking student life and academics.”
Clemson’s living-learning programs include the Calhoun Honors College housing; the Civics and Service House; the Residence Inspiring Successful Engineers (RISE); a community for professional golf-management majors; Women in Animal and Veterinary Science (WAVS); an Air Force ROTC community; the Clemson Business Experience; the Cultural Exchange Community; Women in Science and Engineering Residence (WISER); Call Me MISTER and the TIGER Den for transfer students. Two new programs this fall are a community for parks, recreation and tourism management majors and the SophoMore BeMore program, a community for second-year students.
The National Study of Living-Learning Programs is sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the Association of College and University Housing Officers-International (ACUHO-I), the ACPA College Student Educators International and NASPA Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. As a result of the study, Clemson housing representatives have been asked to participate in a presentation on best practices in living-learning communities at the ACUHO-I Living-Learning Programs Conference in October.
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