Book cover for The Faculty Factor: Developing Faculty Engagement with Living Learning Communities
Buy in Print

ISBN: 9781642672534

January 2023

When considering the development of a vision for the residential campus, key points of consideration for engaging with faculty are:

  1. How is the vision for the residential campus connected to strategic planning processes on campus? Are members of strategic planning offices or committees aware of the well-researched benefits of living and learning? Is the residential vision shared broadly with decision-makers on campus? How can the residential vision be included in strategic planning processes?
  2. Can faculty, staff, deans, and senior administrators articulate the “why” behind the residential campus goals? Do they have an understanding of the evidence behind investing in the integration of living learning as a proven pathway to student success?
  3. What opportunities exist on campus to share the vision for the residential campus? Has the vision been presented at regularly scheduled faculty meetings, to councils and boards, in articles for the alumni magazine? Sharing the “why” behind the residential campus vision widely and broadly is critical to onboarding every community member, including faculty, to the importance of this work to the institution.
  4. What are the ways that faculty and staff can connect with the planning of the residential campus? Are faculty members part of the envisioning process? Do they know other faculty and staff involved? Do faculty members know their colleagues in student affairs and residence life, and vice versa? Are faculty members who provide service to the residential initiatives able to demonstrate the value of their time investment in the residential campus to department chairs and promotion and tenure committees?
  5. Does the institution know which members of its faculty and staff experienced a residential campus during their undergraduate education? These faculty and staff can help tell the story of impact of the residential model, can share the compelling research and evidence that connects the residential model to student success, and can engage their peers in the importance and transformative power of a residential effort. These faculty and staff can also express the critical nature of the partnership with professional staff in student affairs and residence life in achieving an integration of living and learning that drives student success.