Stonehill Featured in Report by National Survey of Student Engagement

November 10, 2009

Academic challenge, collaborative learning and frequent student-faculty interaction are increasingly the hallmarks of student engagement at Stonehill College, according to a recent survey.

The 2009 report from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), Assessment for Improvement: Tracking Student Engagement Over Time lists Stonehill as one of many colleges and universities across the country dedicated to providing students with enhanced academic opportunities through learning community courses, service-learning initiatives and study abroad options, as well as faculty and student collaborative research.

"The survey's findings present evidence of Stonehill's long term commitment to community-based learning and civic engagement as part of the College's core mission," said Corey Dolgon, director of the College's new Office of Community-Based Learning.

"Our success has also raised the bar for the whole campus and our new Office of Community Based Learning hopes to meet the growing demand for community engaged courses by developing the capacity among faculty, students, and partners to design CBL courses and better assess the pedagogical as well as community impacts," he added.

The creation of Stonehill's Office of Community-Based Learning has allowed the College to focus on developing campus and community capacity for partnerships that simultaneously enhance student learning and address community needs.

A part of Stonehill's Center for Teaching and Learning, the CBL Office runs faculty and community partner workshops on designing CBL courses, host speakers on public scholarship and teaching, and provide consultation and logistical support for new and seasoned CBL courses. Much of the office's work is supported by a generous $238,959 grant from the Davis Educational Foundation.

The NSSE survey, which is sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, annually provides diagnostic, comparative information about valuable learning opportunities at participating colleges and universities where five key areas of educational quality are measured. They include: 1) Level of Academic Challenge, 2) Active and Collaborative Learning, 3) Student-Faculty Interaction, 4) Enriching Educational Experiences, and 5) Supportive Campus Environment.

Stonehill was featured in Washington Monthly's rankings of colleges based on their contributions to the public good this fall. The College ranked 114th overall, 77th in the magazine's service category, and 103rd in the social mobility category.

The College achieved the distinguished Carnegie Foundation classification as an "Engaged Campus," and appeared on the President's National Honor Roll for Community Service in Higher Education earlier this year.

This semester, the College is offering nearly 20 learning community courses while several other courses are working within the community. For instance, Professor Monique Myers' Communication Theory class is working to design and staff a day center for homeless people at St. Paul's Church in Brockton.

This past summer, a record number of 45 students worked with 24 faculty members on a variety of research projects through the Stonehill Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) program. The Scholars and their faculty mentors were the 14th group to work under the SURE program, whose purpose is to provide students with an opportunity to perform significant, publishable research under the guidance of an experienced faculty researcher.

"Colleges and universities derive enormous internal value from participating in NSSE. Of equal importance is the reassurance to their external publics that a commitment to and improvement of undergraduate education are high proprieties," said Muriel Howard, president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and member of NSSE's National Advisory Board.

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