Sasha Heard, Student Affairs Manager
Bonny Nickle, Ed.D, Provost
Allied American University
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Small, private, online university located in
Laguna Hills, CA
Associate and Bachelor Degrees
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Allied Health
Business Administration
Computer Information Systems
Criminal Justice
General Studies
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Non-traditional students in an online
environment that face multiple barriers to
persistence
Active Military
Duty
Acclimation to
Online
Education
Adult Learner
Dependents
Financial
Responsibilities
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What is the Student Affairs department trying
to do and why?
What is the department supposed to
accomplish?
What do we want students to be able to do
and/or know as a result of our department?
How well are we organized to do it?
How well are we doing it?
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Increase inter-departmental collaboration
Reinforce the importance of planning
Ensure alignment with institutional and
departmental missions
Reflection within the Student Affairs
department on organizational performance
and relation to the whole institution
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Program review prompted AAU to define:
◦ Department Mission and Purpose
◦ Goals
◦ Outcomes
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Development of a collaborative climate
Shared commitment to student success
Communication
Weekly meetings
Clear plan
◦ Deliverables
◦ Milestones
◦ Time lines
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Academic Affairs as a resource
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A service lens puts the customer at the center of
improvement and innovation initiatives,
considers the customer experience to be a
foundation for analyzing and making
enhancements, and assumes the customer is a
co-creator of value.
Leveraging Service Blueprinting to Rethink Higher
Education: When Students Become ‘Valued
Customers,’ Everybody Wins by Amy L. Ostrom,
Mary Jo Bitner, and Kevin A. Burkhard Oct. 2011
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Development of a common language
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Fear of findings
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Trust
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How do we add value?
◦ Importance of SLOs for Student Affairs
◦ How do we measure the success of SLOs?
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The GOOD
◦ Collaborating with Academics for Attendance
Interventions
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The BAD
◦ Developing SLOs
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The UGLY
◦ Connect department outcomes to ILOs
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Developing ‘human touch’ through a
synchronous program by standardizing
delivery platforms
Increased collaboration with:
◦ Academics
◦ Institutional Research for SLOs
◦ Assessment Cycle
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Shared interventions between faculty and
student affairs
Sharing of information regarding student
persistence
Completed program review
Development of AAU Co-Curricular Program
Review Process & schedule
Meaningful departmental assessment
Mutual support for student success
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Select departments for collaboration with care
Determine methodology for project
Mutual commitment to support and success
Agree to build an environment of trust and to
work through challenges
Build a common language
Create a shared vision
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Bonny Nickle, Ed.D
◦ Provost, Academic Affairs
◦ bnickle@allied.edu
◦ 888-384-0849 ext. 8745
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Sasha Heard
◦ Manager, Student Affairs Department
◦ sheard@allied.edu
◦ 888-712-2733 ext. 5616
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