Retention. This word has become a focal point for higher education in recent years. At ACU, this has manifested in a laser focus on keeping student enrolled from their first-year fall semester through their second-year fall semester. Many initiatives have taken shape around this end; financial aid packages, co-curricular experiences, and dedicated advising aimed at supporting and retaining students. These are good and worthy endeavors, but an important question persists: How could and should faculty be involved in the retention effort?
There is over 50 years of research on retention that can help answer this question, outlining two primary factors that directly impact students’ willingness and ability to reenroll: social and academic integration (cite). Social integration measures the degree to which students find community and fit at an institution. This has traditionally been thought of in relation to co-curricular experiences; however, faculty are the first and most consistent social interaction students have at a university. They also have ‘eyes on’ students the most, with the ability to notice changes in demeanor, acclimation, and motivation week by week. The act of social integration begins in the classroom. Many faculty take this charge to heart, forming one one-on-one relationships with students, inviting them to dinner in their homes, or engaging in mentoring relationships. These are excellent retention strategies, with the exception that they only touch a limited number of students at a time.
Academic integration is where faculty members really have the opportunity to shine. Braxton, Bray, and Berger (2000) note that there are two dimensions to academic integration – structural and normative. Structural refers to the ability for students to meet the explicit academic standards as set forth by the institution; whereas normative refers to an individual’s ability to identify with university academic norms. In short, Millea et al (2018) categorize academic integration as a student’s ability to succeed at school and level of academic ‘fit.’ Faculty play key roles in supporting both of these dimensions, by meeting students where they are in terms of pre-college characteristics, holding them to high standards, and ensuring appropriate and available resources to move from point a to point b. Not all students will find success integrating into a specific major, and that is okay, but also preparing warm handoffs and key course off ramps can support them remaining at ACU, while they explore academic options that may prove to be a better overall ‘fit’ given their skills and abilities.
It is prudent to acknowledge and pause at the role faculty at a Christian university play. In Number 6: 24, “The Lord bless you and keep you…” the word keep means “to keep, preserve, and protect.” Having invited students to receive their education at ACU, it is arguably the charge of the institution to guard their ability to persist and receive a degree. While faculty can’t and shouldn’t protect students from everything, this is part of what retention strategies strive to do.
In short, faculty matter in more ways than one might think to retention efforts at ACU. There are a number of strategies already being employed at the university. These are being sourced and crafted into a toolbox faculty can engage as they are able. A participant in a study by Rassmussen et al (2022) stated it plainly:
For over a decade, I have been conducting research on barriers affecting college students with disabilities and those struggling and found that faculty is the #1 predictor for student return, retention, and graduation above and beyond all other factors.
_…and keep you_ Faculty Led Retention Strategies
Braxton, J. M., Bray, N. J., & Berger, J. B. (2000). Faculty teaching skills and their influence on the college student departure process. Journal of College Student Development, 41 (2), 215-226.
Millea, M., Willis, R., Elder, A., & Molina, D. (2018) What matters in college student success? Determinants of college retention and graduation rates. Education, 138(4), 309-322
Rasmussen, C. L., Dawson, S., Penne, W. S., & Alexander, M. (2022).Expanding expectations: Faculty perceptions on student retention. Journal of the International Society for Teacher Education, 26 (2), 69-83.