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Student veterans, models of molecules, fillable PDFs, moral inquiry, electronic portfolios–these were just a few of the forty five topics available to faculty and staff at our first annual Faculty Staff Professional Development Day.  Our theme for the day was Increasing Student Success and fifty seven session leaders helped us better support our students. We started the day with a video hearing how individuals around campus support student success and ended the day trying to make sense of what student success really is and how we all support it. (See a summary of these responses below.) Thank you so much to all of you who led sessions, helped organize the day, and participated eagerly. As always, I am humbled by how creative, intelligent, and curious NMC faculty and staff are!

Here is a link to all the definitions of student success generated in that final session, but here are a few highlights: student success is “individual growth . . . having the ability to see the world from a perspective other than their own . . . the ability to use concepts/applications from the classroom and apply to real-life situations . . . learning to learn, more than GPA . . . being able to contribute to community, become a productive, responsible member of community . . . being technically proficient . . . passing licensure exams . . . employed in their field . . . moving forward (academically, cognitively, emotionally).”

Here is a link to all the ways we see ourselves supporting student success. Here are a few highlights: We support student success by “providing an open door, being available . . . eliminating barriers . . .giving options and being flexible . . . giving opportunities for practice-feedback-practice . . . providing relevant/practical applications . . . teaching decision-making and goal-setting . . . question, encourage, reinforce, share . . . respecting class time as practice/access to instructor . . . let them read/see/apply critical thinking.”

Here is a link to all the take-aways from the day, but here are just a few of the things you said: “Employ mindfulness . . . I thought I had to do it (new employee orientation) all on my own . . . more motivation/inspiration (video) . . . Small things are not small things–say “hi,” make eye contact . . . provide structure for vets . . . provide options not just solutions . . . reminder of diversity of student needs.”