About Us
We are located in the Memorial Student Center (MSC) and actively and intentionally engages practices to benefit the transition, persistence, and post-graduation outcomes of students. The department collaborates with campus units and stakeholders to provide students with social integration opportunities through holistic engagement and development. Every student brings their own experiences and goals that guide their behavior, values that orient and drive their commitments, and ways their experiences, norms, and values are communicated. The department’s transition, persistence, and skill development opportunities engage and support students in becoming and remaining incorporated in the intellectual and social life of the university which results in their academic and personal success on campus and beyond.
DMS work hinges on the interplay of student departure, student involvement, student transition, and student belonging, 1) to persist to graduation, students need integration into formal (academic performance) and informal (faculty/staff interactions) academic systems and formal (co-curricular activities) and informal (peer-group interactions) social systems, 2) the quality and quantity of a student’s involvement in formal and informal social systems on campus has a direct impact on the amount of learning and personal development they experience, and 3) the feeling student’s have of connectedness or feeling cared about, accepted, valued by, and important to and within the campus community positively correlates with motivations to achieve.
Thus DMS provides and supports avenues for social integration through both co-curricular efforts and peer interactions that result in meaningful connections and social belonging. These activities also contribute to the university’s undergraduate learning outcomes through opportunities for growth in critical thinking, effective communication, team and collaborative work, and opportunities for intentional interaction and engagement. While students are encouraged to explore leadership opportunities in the university’s more than 1000 student organizations and programs, DMS opportunities incorporate an integration approach to support student success in ways students’ feel personally passionate about where they can work and learn together from and with peers.
- Meaningful connection to campus and feelings of social belonging positively impact social integration by supporting emotional and psychological wellbeing around feelings of connectedness or feeling cared about, valued by, and important to and within the campus community from their freshman or transfer transition into the university through graduation.
- Teamwork competency development positively impacts social integration by helping students grow their capacities to work productively and collaboratively in groups and teams toward a common goal.
- Effective communication development positively impacts social integration by supporting students’ capacities to listen, socially exchange, and communicate effectively..
