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Welcome New Pirates
Greek Life Participates in Second Sanitary Sunday
Food Insecurity
Big Event Data
Changes in Intercultural Affairs
Just the Facts – Main Campus Student Center
Website Migration Update
Institutional Survey Administration Regulation
Volunteer Opportunity
Welcome New Pirates Provided by ECU News Services/Parent and Family Programs
Pirate Nation welcomed first-time students with opening weekend events geared toward helping them transition to college life at ECU. These events included Raid the Rec, a Class Photo, New Student Welcome and Convocation, and Pirate Palooza.
First day of class photos were taken on August 20th, and this summer during orientation parents had the opportunity to record a message for their child that was shared the first week of class. Check out the links below!
Greek Life Participate in Second Sanitary Sunday Submitted by Jessie Ashton, Assistant Director of Greek Life
On August 26th, 12 fraternities from the Interfraternity Council (IFC) and the Multicultural Greek Council (MGC) participated in the second Sanitation Sunday. ECU Greek Life students collaborated with the Greenville City Council to host a “Grid Cleanup” in the neighborhoods bordering ECU’s campus. Chapters met at Christy’s Euro Pub and dispersed throughout the area. Each organization was given an assigned street to clean up to help beautify the city of Greenville.
Rep. G.K. Butterfield to Discuss Food Insecurity Among Students Submitted by Jeremy Tuchmayer (SA Assessment), Jarmichael Harris (CRC), Lauren Thorn (Dean of Students Office), Sharon Paynter (Assistant Vice Chancellor for Community Engagement and Research) and Dennis McCunney (CLCE)
A recent study, Still Hungry and Homeless in College, reports that 36 percent of university students said they had been “food insecure” in the past 30 days, meaning they were not eating healthy, nutritious food nor did they have the ability to “acquire such foods in a socially acceptable manner.” The research also found that around one quarter of college students said they have skipped meals or cut the size of their portions because they couldn’t afford to eat properly, with 18 percent being forced to do so on at least three occasions in the last 30 days. Preliminary data from a recent survey of ECU students indicated that roughly 42% of students often or sometimes skipped a meal and 45% of students surveyed often or sometimes cut the size of their portions because they did not have enough money for food.
To learn more about this issue, a team from ECU Student Affairs and Community Engagement and Research joined Congressman G.K. Butterfield and local business and community college leaders at Halifax Community College on August 9th for a discussion on hunger among college students. Presenters included:
This round-table discussion addressed how educational attainment is hindered due to food insecurity, how basic needs such as housing and food insecurity disproportionately affect marginalized students, and what elected officials, higher education leaders, and the community can do to support students. The conversation focused on current available resources and the need for further resources to ensure food security for all students on college campuses in the first district.
Stay tuned for more information about ECU’s research project on food insecurity (spring 2019) or the new food pantry for students, the Purple Pantry. Contact Jarmichael Harris for more information about the Purple Pantry at ecucrc@ecu.edu or Jeremy Tuchmayer at tuchmayerj14@ecu.edu for information about the research study.
Collecting Valuable Information from Large Events Submitted by SA Assessment, Research and Planning
You have spent a lot of your time planning that large event for students, but how do you know your event has met the goals you set out to reach? What is the return on investment? Did students gain what you wanted them to from the event? There are a variety of ways to collect the information but which ways are best to collect data on a larger scale? To get you started, here’s a brief list of some of the options available to you as you consider your assessment plan.
ECU 1 Cards A simple swipe allows you to obtain information on all of your participants. You can collect information on student demographics like race/ethnicity, classification, gender, etc. A report can be derived from the swipes that you can consider in your after-event reporting. In addition, it allows you to record how many people participated in your event.
Observations Having trained individuals observe your event will allow you to collect an independent account of everything from logistics to student behavior. Observations describe what is happening in space and time, what the participation looks like, along with specific information on participant characteristics. It also allows for information on the meaning behind what is happening where themes, metaphors, energy, dynamics, etc. are derived. It gives your event a more in-depth qualitative look into what is happening while the event is occurring.
Video Asking participants’ questions and recording their responses on video may also allow for rich information. This allows you to see and hear participants’ immediate reactions and thoughts on the event. With this technique, you will need the equipment along with a consent form to obtain the participants’ agreement to record them.
Post-event Survey You can have participants complete a post-event survey before they leave the event or send the survey to them over email. The survey should collect the most pertinent information that will impact your decision making for the next year of planning. If it’s something you can’t change about the event, don’t ask it. If it’s a question that you’re just curious about but won’t be using in any way, don’t ask this either. Only ask questions that will help you improve your event in the future.
This list isn’t exhaustive but it will get you started on choosing what techniques you would like to utilize. Also keep in mind the goals and outcomes for your event as you consider which techniques are best for your event and understanding how the goals and outcomes were met. An integrative approach that includes two or more of these approaches is typically recommended in order to collect a holistic view on your event.
Once you have data from each of the approaches you’ve used, look at and analyze the data from each technique separately as well as holistically to get a good picture of the entire event.
To help you determine which techniques are best for your large event, contact your Student Affairs Assessment, Research and Planning liaison today.
Wanda Tyler, Director of Intercultural Affairs (IA) since March of 2016, will be leaving ECU on Friday, September 14th. There will be open hours to stop by the LWCC to wish her well on Thursday, September 13th from Noon to 2pm.
In the interim, Dr. Dennis McCunney, Director of the Center for Leadership & Civic Engagement will serve as the IA Director. Assisting him will be Mark Rasdorf, Associate Director of IA for the LGBT Resource Office, who will now serve as the interim Senior Associate Director for IA.
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Just the Facts is a regular communication from the Division of Student Affairs Office of the Vice Chancellor highlighting some of the amazing things happening in our area in a quick, simple, and easy-to-read manner. What we do as SA educators and staff members demonstrates our commitment to student success, public service and regional transformation.
Has something exciting happened in your area within the past few weeks? Send the fact to VCSA@ecu.edu, subject line: Just the Facts and we will include in the next edition.
Website Migration
Since August 15th, Student Affairs has 7 additional websites LIVE in WordPress. Click the top 7 departments or event links below to view these new URL’s or scroll the remaining 26 links to view every SA website that has completed the migration process.
To learn more about the website process or to view other ECU websites that have migrated from CommonSpot to WordPress visit WordPress @ ECU.
With the fall semester under way please take a few minutes to review the university’s survey administration policy. The Institutional Survey Administration REG01.30.01 was first issued on October 19, 2011 to define a regulation for administration of surveys at East Carolina University. The purpose of this regulation is to minimize survey fatigue due to such factors as survey volume and redundancy, to maximize response rates and survey quality, and to ensure privacy and protection of humans in research by providing a central clearinghouse for internal survey administration.
To implement this regulation, the Survey Review and Oversight Committee (SROC) was formed to review and approve surveys administered to faculty, students, staff or alumni on university property and/or using university resources. Departmental surveys with a sample size not to exceed 200 are exempt from this approval process. All other survey requests must be submitted to the Survey Review and Oversight Committee in advance for review and approval. The Survey Review and Oversight Committee meets on the first and third Monday of every month, with the next scheduled meeting on Monday, September 17th. In order to get on the agenda, all survey requests must be submitted no later than Friday, September 7th.
If you are planning to administer a survey to more than 200 individuals this semester, you are strongly encouraged to submit your survey request to the committee as soon as possible in order to prevent any unnecessary delays. If you have any questions about this survey policy, please contact Jeremy Tuchmayer, Sr. Associate Director of Assessment, Research and Planning, at tuchmayerj14@ecu.edu.
Fall Career Fair – Call for Volunteers
The 2018 Fall College of Engineering and Technology and All Majors Career Fairs are right around the corner and we are asking for your help this semester! This year’s events are being held on Wednesday, October 17, 2018 starting at 9:00am and 1pm at the Greenville Convention Center. On that day, 200+ employers will be at the Greenville Convention Center in hopes of recruiting the best and brightest students ECU has to offer. In order to make this day a success, we are in need 85-100 volunteers to aide in staffing these events in several different capacities throughout the day.
This is a wonderful opportunity for you to support our students as they make a positive impression on potential future employers.
To Sign-Up and Volunteer > Click Here: Fall 2018 Career Fairs Volunteer Signup
Questions can be sent directly to Jim Kuras at kurasj15@ecu.edu.