Division of Student Affairs

Perspectives 2002: Skills - Collaboration

Across the board, interviewees praised the increase in collaboration among the departments of Student Affairs that has come out of the Campus Compact. There has been an immense amount of new and innovative programming that has come out of the unity that the Campus Compact has instilled in the Division of Student Affairs. Many interviewees commented on how the process of developing the visionary document brought people together, which in turn improved cross-departmental relationships. The increase in collaboration was hailed as on of the great strides the document has made in improving the division's functionality.

"I feel that our department [Rec. Sports] does a lot of that and I think it is because we see the value in connecting with others and making our community for our students seem at least as seamless as possible. I think the Campus Compact has helped guide our image of what community really ought to be. So we've collaborated a lot with Student Health Services and University Housing and Dining to work towards finishing our construction project. We've also worked with University Counseling and Psychological Services to host workshops to try to make student services more of a community effort and as seamless as possible."

"When the Campus Compact was first developed, we would refer to it fairly regularly, because developing the document was a collaborative process that crossed all boundaries."

"In the last few years there has been more effort to work with each other to help students succeed. For example, the Beaver Orientation Team was the one big committee that started it in my mind, showing how a cross-section of campus can work together to create a great orientation program. People from Academic Affairs and Student Affairs, from classified staff to professional staff and students all worked together."

"Collaboration has come out of the familiarity gained from working on committees together. These opportunities have helped people to get to know each other."

"I feel that we are encouraged to take risks to form groups that network better. In some other places, I don't feel people are encouraged to do that. For instance we have created a coalition of the Student Affairs department head assistants. We saw a need for assistants to connect, collaborate, empower leadership skills and build relationships across departments, so we got a room and sent out an invitation and boom, it starts. Now the group is going on its own momentum, people find value in it, and we meet regularly."

"I really feel that we are encouraged to collaborate. Events are set up for cross communication allowing people to get acquainted with people in other departments."

"There are three dining centers within UHDS and sometimes we get involved in our own little unit rather than really trying to work together. We tend to work individually instead and sometimes that has negative effects on the other units. This year that reality is finally being acknowledged and realized. We just had a retreat that is beginning to address how the three little empires can really work as one rather than towards their own purposes in different directions. So we are struggling with the unifying principles of the Compact, but I see us moving forward with that and trying to improve how we work together."