FSSEC report recommends URI improve faculty-student relations

By: Tyler Will

Posted: 4/11/08

04/11/08 - In a report released earlier this month, the Faculty-Staff-Student Engagement Committee recommended that students and staff at the University of Rhode Island pursue activities beyond classroom education to enhance faculty-student relationships.

The FSSEC report included the results of the National Survey of Student Engagement, which showed that faculty-student relationships are lower than average at the university.

The FSSEC was appointed by URI's Joint Strategic Planning Committee, a committee that establishes goals for the university. Dean of Student Affairs Fran Cohen was head of the FSSEC, which also included deans from various colleges in the university and one student representative.

The committee recommended changes on three levels: programmatic, systematic and individual. While the FSSEC report said that URI students rank "well ahead" of survey respondents in areas like internships and study abroad experiences, students didn't do so well in areas like after-class discussion and faculty-student relations.

FSSEC Student Representative Cristin Langworthy said the reason the committee wants to improve faculty-student relations is because it's part of the college experience.

"The student experience isn't just about what we're being taught," Langworthy said. "It's also about our relationship with the faculty and staff of our university."

The FSSEC suggested a range of solutions to the faculty-student relation problem, from simply a greeting on the sidewalk to financial support for faculty-student gatherings. Another suggestion was to get subsidized passes for faculty to go to football games or concerts, which also encourages attendance.

The report says that faculty-student relationships are "largely determined by the quality of daily encounters" students have with faculty. The words "daily encounters" are the only words underlined in the report besides subject headings.

Langworthy said daily encounters and extra-classroom activities may require a change in the role of professors.

"Faculty always have an evolving role," Langworthy said. "Part of our institution has been about cultivating relationships. It's not just about teaching people information, it's about growing."

The report said that research priorities may impede student-faculty relations, but Langworthy said that research plays an "important role" in the reputation of the university and contributes to the quality of teaching in the classroom.

However, the report does suggest that relations have improved over time. The report also stated that 57 percent of first-year students and 73 percent of seniors rated their relationships with faculty positively. However, both percentages are lower than average.

On academic advising, the NSSE said that 32 percent of students feel their advisor was "frequently" available to help them, and 13 percent said their advisors were "never" available. The report also said that poor advising is a "significant complaint" of URI's graduating seniors. Langworthy said the committee believes that the problem is the size of the student body.

"I think that the availability question has always been a challenge," Langworthy said. "It can be hard to make sure that there are enough people to service the large student body we have."

Langworthy said she doesn't believe it's because of unfriendly or lazy advisors. She added it's not the result of students' unrealistic expectations either.

The report said that students are satisfied with advising while in University College, but the quality of advising in degree-specific colleges varies. Langworthy said that the size of some colleges, particularly the College of Arts and Sciences, the largest at URI, make it difficult to provide quality advising.

But Langworthy said some colleges are more active than others, especially the smaller, specialized colleges like Engineering and Pharmacy. Part of the reason why these colleges may have higher quality advising is because they usually have more specific career paths, she said.

The report's summarizing statement said that the committee's findings should be taken as "the first steps in a longer, more extensive process of improving student engagement." Langworthy acknowledged that a challenge to improving student engagement may be the fact that students don't want to improve faculty-student relations.

"It's always possible," Langworthy said. "Sometimes you'll get people who put the blinds up, face in the book ... get the degree and go."

But, Langworthy said, others go to build character, learn, make relationships, make friends and build an interest in the community.

"We go to college for a reason," Langworthy said. "It's not just to learn."