Breakout Sessions
Mind the Gap: Addressing Disparities in the Experiences of Students of Color on CCCU Campuses
This session will focus on data collected through the CCCU’s Collaborative Assessment Project and what we have learned about the expectations, satisfaction levels, and campus experiences that contribute to the thriving, success, and persistence to graduation for students of color in the CCCU.
Laurie Schreiner, Professor and Chair of Higher Education, Azusa Pacific University
Diversity and The Power of Story
Diversity initiatives often spring up quickly and struggle to survive because they are not rooted in the history and mission of the college or university. What might it look like to draw upon the story of your institution and its people, and more importantly the story of Scripture, to ground your diversity efforts in good soil? In this session, you will learn how one CCCU college has leveraged narrative links to enliven its diversity efforts.
Julie Elliott, Vice President for Student Life, Northwestern College and Rahn Franklin, Academic Support and Diversity Specialist, Northwestern College
This breakout session will explore the updated Title IX regulations from the Department of Education (which should be out by February). In addition, the speakers will discuss the implementation of Title IX policies on campuses (such as small Christian campuses) which the Department may not have in mind when creating regulations. The speakers will share lessons learned at Baylor University, including threat assessment, coordination with Clery, and standard of proof.
Chris Holmes, General Counsel, Baylor University, and Gina Maisto Smith, Attorney and Chair of Institutional Response Group, Cozen O’Connor
In this extended afternoon breakout, we will shuttle over to Balboa Park, one of California’s great city parks that includes the Japanese Garden, Botanical Building and Lily Pond, Desert Garden, sunken stone Grotto Garden, and Memorial Rose Garden. Dr. Todd Pickett will prepare retreatants with prayers, poems, and meditative practices suited to experiencing these natural settings and the unique ways they minister to us. Otherwise, the retreat will be an unstructured opportunity to roam the park and practice Christian meditation and prayer in ways that can be taken home into the settings where we live.
Todd Pickett, Dean of Spiritual Development & Campus Pastor, Biola University
The Department of Education is expected to release its final Title IX regulations shortly. The regulations will likely affect many aspects of an institution’s policies and procedures, providing increased flexibility in some areas while imposing significant new requirements for an institution’s complaint resolution process. In this session you will gain an understanding of the content of the final Title IX regulation and receive advice on updating policies and procedures accordingly.
Kathryn Nash, Attorney, Gray Plant Mooty, trainED
This session will review findings from institutional research projects related to student anxiety that were recently conducted at two CCCU institutions. This deeper dive into student data, overlaid with national research on Gen Z, will be used to begin the conversation about what we can be doing at our institutions.
Steve Beers, Vice President for Student Development, Athletics, and Facility Services, John Brown University, and Andre Stephens, Ph.D. Vice President for Student Development, Biola University
Making Data-Informed Curriculum Changes to Improve Program Efficiencies
While faculty regularly update curricula, many changes are done in response to student learning assessments and changing market demands. What motivates curricular change less often is faculty attention to budgetary concerns. Over the past year, George Fox University has worked collaboratively to make changes in academic programs to recoup costs and improve financial margins. In this presentation, we will describe the kinds of data we utilized and provide examples of some program changes that resulted.
Laura Hartley, Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, George Fox University, and Linda Samek, Provost, George Fox University
Leading by Listening
For over a year, Biola’s president and provost met with small groups of 8-10 faculty members and posed three specific questions about the health of the institution. This session will explore the six themes that emerged from these 23 conversations, and how implementing corresponding institutional initiatives to address specific faculty concerns has strengthened unity, trust, and engagement throughout the faculty community during a season of reduced resources.
Deb Taylor, Provost and Senior Vice President, Biola University
An Ecology of Success: Building Christian Universities According to a Biblical Pattern
The Bible shows God’s impeccable order and pattern – an ecology that helps the church develop coherence rather than pursue more individualized design. Likewise, “it is not good for academics to be alone.” “A help meet” – student affairs – supports academic affairs. This session will apply diverse theories and biblical integrations to the context of student development, affording participants a new paradigm to guide the collaborative work of academic affairs and student affairs toward a stable academic ecology.
Todd Monger, Executive Director of Student Development, North Central University
Interfaith Leadership & Global Learning
In a rapidly diversifying context, engaging diversity and cultivating global leadership are essential for CCCU institutions. How can schools leverage their theological values, institutional histories, and missions to cultivate interfaith engagement as a critical element of global leadership? On this panel, campus leaders share their experiences using these distinctives to advance campus interfaith efforts. This session is facilitated by Interfaith Youth Core, which partners with higher education to advance the civic priority of interfaith leadership.
Mary Ellen Giess, Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships, Interfaith Youth Core
Acadeum: CCCU Online Course Sharing
Today’s educational challenges demand that Christian schools collaborate to boost their value and efficiency. Thus, at the 2018 CCCU International Forum, a consortium of institutions leveraged the Acadeum platform to share online courses. Now the initiative includes over one-quarter of CCCU member institutions and significantly impacts student success and institutional health. This session will summarize our progress, present case studies where course-sharing increased student success, and discuss future steps for the CCCU’s academic collaboration.
Rick Ostrander, Academic Consultant, Acadeum
Developing Creative Partnerships for Shared Academic Services in a World of Diminishing and Expensive Resources
This presentation will provide examples of ways CCCU institutions might better support one another and share key academic resources given the often highly siloed differences separating members. Examples might include sharing faculty expertise to advise senior student theses in areas where a college lacks a specific expertise, working together to acquire more extensive electronic journal subscriptions, sharing faculty where departments are reduced and struggling, and more.
Stan Rosenberg, Vice President for Research and Scholarship, CCCU, and Mark Sargent, Provost, Westmont College
Parents have a vested interest in student development, and many have the resources to invest beyond tuition dollars to improve the overall student experience. This session is a primer for leveraging parent relationships into dollars to fund the student life experience. Given the challenges our CCCU institutions face, this session will walk attendees through the process of learning how to flex their fundraising muscle. It's more enjoyable and rewarding than you might think.
Scott McDowell, Vice President for Student Life, Abilene Christian University