Summary Reports

The Division of Student Affairs offered a week-long professional development opportunity for division staff members who recently moved into a supervisory position or would likely move into a supervisory position soon. The Leadership Academy was held May 13 – 17, 2024. Student Affairs Planning, Assessment & Research assisted the planners in gathering feedback from the participants at the end of the training to understand their experiences attending the Leadership Academy. The planners wanted to assess the participants several months after the training to understand what aspects of the training had the most long-term impact. This was the first time the Leadership Academy was held and Student Affairs Planning, Assessment & Research (SAPAR) helped with the follow-up assessment.

MSC Programs coordinates the Craig Brown and Sue Smith International Leadership Program in the United Kingdom (Brown-Smith) summer study abroad trip to the United Kingdom for incoming freshmen who qualify as National Merit Scholars. This year, the three-week-long trip was in July 2024. Trip participants were assessed through an electronic survey after returning from the trip at the beginning of their first semester at Texas A&M University in an effort to gauge the overall impact of this experience on these students. This is the first time Student Affairs Planning, Assessment & Research (SAPAR) worked with the MSC to assess the Brown-Smith experience.

Student Affairs Planning, Assessment & Research (SAPAR) and staff from the Department of Student Activities met with student leaders from multiple sponsored and affiliated Texas A&M University student organizations to develop student leader learning outcomes relevant to their organizational leadership experiences. These outcomes are associated with the Texas A&M University (TAMU) undergraduate learning outcomes of life-long learning and working collaboratively,but as they were created in conjunction with student leaders, the outcomes more closely related to their experiences as student leaders within their organizations. This was the third year for this exercise; one of the student learning outcomes (SLO) carried forward from last year (associated with the TAMU undergraduate learning outcome of life-long learning); however, a new SLO was created to associate with the TAMU undergraduate learning outcome of working collaboratively. Student Activities staff and student leaders engaged in intentional activities throughout the academic year which incorporated development opportunities for achieving both learning outcomes. In April, an assessment was created to gain insight from student organization leaders about experiences within their student organizations related to their progress in achieving both learning outcomes during the year. The attached report summarizes the results and provides recommendations based on those results.

Students who receive a sanction to attend the Alcohol Education Workshop (AEW) are required to meet with a Health Promotion (HP) staff member prior to their workshop, attend the workshop, and then come back for a follow-up meeting with the HP staff member approximately two weeks after participating in the workshop. Health Promotion wanted to assess whether the students attending AEW met the learning outcomes. The attached report summarizes the results of the assessment, including progress towards meeting the set learning outcomes.

Student Organization Leadership and Development (SOLAD) is a unit in the Department of Student Activities. SOLAD held the fourth annual Advisor Summit on March 27th, 2024, from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm. The Summit is an optional training intended as a time for advisors to network with one another, share ideas, and receive training for their advising role(s). It is also a moment for the SOLAD team to appreciate all that advisors do. According to the Student Activities website, an advisor must be a full or part-time faculty or staff employee at Texas A&M or a local system agency to serve in an advisor role. SOLAD staff will be using the results from these surveys to better understand what advisors gain from attending the Advisor Summit and enhance the training for future years. This is the first year SAPAR has worked with SOLAD to assess the attendees’ experiences.

Multicultural Services and student leaders from the Asian President’s Council contacted Student Affairs Planning, Assessment & Research to assist in developing an assessment for the 2024 Leadership Education for Asian, Pacific Islander, and Desi American (APIDA) Development (LEAD) Conference. This year’s conference was held on April 20, 2024. The conference was open to students, staff, and faculty from Texas A&M University and other educational institutions.

The purpose of this assessment was to understand the experiences of students who participated in Howdy Camp, sponsored by Aggie Transition Camps (ATC). Howdy Camp is an extended (three-day) optional orientation camp for students who are transferring to Texas A&M University as well as first-time in college students starting in the spring semester. There was one session held in early January. A few weeks into the semester, one survey evaluation was sent to co-chairs, counselors, and teamers, and another survey was sent to participants (campers) to assess their camp experiences, and whether participant (camper) learning outcomes were met. In addition, the counselors, co-chairs, and teamers assessment intended to ascertain if they felt equipped through their training to confidently lead small groups and assist new students in their transition to Texas A&M during and after camp. The report summarizes the results of these assessments

The Wellbeing Improvement Survey for Higher Education Settings (WISHES) has been administered to the Texas A&M University student body in College Station since the 2021-2022 academic year. Texas A&M University surveyed the student body to better understand students’ overall well-being, intermediate outcomes, educational outcomes, and student experiences that influence wellbeing. The survey covered topics such as overall health, psychological distress, suffering or struggling, flourishing, belonging at Texas A&M, resilience, binge drinking, health and academic risks, engagement in extracurricular activities, having a friend, mentor, or professor who makes them excited about learning and cares for them. The WISHES survey is administered in October, November, February, March, and April of each academic year. In the 2021-2022 academic year, the survey was also administered in September to students living on campus. However, the March and April surveys scheduled for spring 2023 were not administered. Since the 2021-2022 academic year, 20,360 students responded to at least one question, yielding an overall response rate of 12%. This report focuses on students’ overall academics.