21st Annual Student Life Research Symposium View Other Sessions

Developing a shared framework for student learning outcomes across multiple departments presents unique opportunities and challenges. In this session, Michigan Housing will share its experience creating and assessing unit-wide learning outcomes across four departments, from the initial planning process through implementation. We will discuss why this work began, how the framework evolved through stakeholder engagement, and the complexities of aligning departmental priorities, divisional outcomes, and professional standards. We will share what we learned about collaboration, establishing shared language, planning for assessment, and using multiple forms of student feedback to better understand the student experience. Participants will gain insight into one unit's approach and leave with practical ideas for strengthening their own assessment and continuous improvement efforts.

This program will share results gained from multiple sources of student data on their experiences in a course taught by the Program on Intergroup Relations (IGR) called “Making the Most of Michigan.” Data will be presented from Fall 2024 through Winter 2026 semesters including from course evaluations, the IGR common assessment of learning, and course feedback, as well as student writing from an assignment titled "Capstone Letter to a Student Like Me." Using qualitative content coding, we will present themes in the letters relevant to the course learning outcomes. Come hear how students in their first undergraduate year connected a broad range of learning activities and campus resources to their social identities, SMART goals, well-being, and learning outcomes. The students' own words reinforce the results of the IGR assessment which show that ALA 171 students make statistically significant gains on our learning outcomes, such as understanding social identities, interacting with people of different backgrounds, and interrupting bias. We will connect students’ own descriptions (i.e., student voices) to the Student Life and LSA missions as well as the Provost's Office First Year Student Success Initiative and Transfer Student Success Project.

Michigan Dining partnered with BITE: Building Impact Through Eating to transform East Quad Dining Hall into a research site for testing behavioral nudges toward plant-forward dining habits. The team implemented three behavioral techniques: plant-based defaults, menu ratios, and tasty titles, to understand how small shifts in choice architecture influence what students select during lunch service. The study aimed to reduce meat consumption, increase plant-forward choices, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and assess feasibility from the perspective of staff and students. Across two different dining stations, the pilot was able to generate both behavioral and sustainability impacts, such as reduced animal-protein uptake and emissions, and an increase in student and staff satisfaction. This session will share key findings, recommendations for future implementation, and Michigan Dining’s next steps for expanding plant-forward strategies across campus dining initiatives. The pilot demonstrates how small environmental changes can shape everyday decision-making. It also offers a look at how individuals navigate environments and how subtle shifts in layout and presentation can influence their choices.

Our presentation will highlight research across campus on psychological safety and well-being, focusing primarily on PhD students. We will share research findings from surveys and interviews of doctoral engineering students about their feelings of psychological safety in their advising relationships, as well as experiences of psychological safety and well-being for PhD students from climate assessments across multiple units. We will also share concrete tools and examples of how to apply findings from this psychological safety research to campus environments, including resources developed by the ADVANCE RISE Committee, that work to support climates of respect and inclusion in academic units. These tools and examples will be translatable to staff, faculty, students, and leaders in non-academic and co-curricular roles.