Joseph Barnett and Erica Chun at the First-Year Experience conference in New Orleans.
HPU Director of the Center for Academic Success (CAS) Joseph Barnett, CAS Student Retention Specialist Erica Chun, and CAS Student Retention Counselor Dexter Asuncion recently presented their research at the 44th Annual Conference on the First-Year Experience in New Orleans, Louisiana on February 18. Their presentation, “Mixed-Methods Evaluation of a First-Year Seminar’s Impact on Student Success,” showcased to an international audience how faculty, staff, and students Å·ÃÀAƬ work together to promote student success for all first-year undergraduate students through an innovative first-year seminar.
HPU’s presentation demonstrated how students are connected to a small community of faculty, staff, and peer mentors from the first day of their classes. The presentation also demonstrated how the course helps connect students to HPU and the broader Oahu community through experiences, fostering a sense of belonging and well-being with instructor support, promoting academic success by helping students achieve their goals. Additionally, Barnett, Chun, and Asuncion shared how the CAS’ annual “Promoting Student Success Summit,” held each fall, provides professional development opportunities to instructional teams before classes begin.
Joseph Barnett and Erica Chun presented on 'Mixed-Methods Evaluation of a First-Year Seminar's Impact on Student Success' in New Orleans.
“HPU’s first-year seminar is successful because of university-wide contributions from faculty, staff, and per mentors—our community really goes above and beyond each day to make sure students have a positive transition to the university and a great experience. People from every part of campus have contributed to the success of this initiative,” Barnett explained.
In addition to demonstrating how HPU’s ‘ohana promotes student success, the mixed-methods evaluation approach and the team’s structured focus on continuous improvement caught the attention of leading researchers and academics. “We had attendees from around the world telling us that Hawaii Pacific Å·ÃÀAƬ was helping to push the field to another level.”
The Annual Conference on the First-Year Experience is a premiere international conference focusing on student success in the first year of university. Delegates hailed from all 50 states, as well as Belgium, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, South Africa, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.
The full event program is available here by .
