The Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (CURCA) was selected to attend the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Institute on High-Impact Practices (HIPs) and Student Success in June. This prestigious invitation reflects Westfield State’s commitment to enhancing institutional capacity for quality, equity, and student engagement through applied experiences.
The HIPs team consisted of CURCA Director Lamis Jarvinen, Ph.D.; Assistant Professor of Art George Ramirez, Assistant Professor of Economics and Management Anthony Furnelli, Executive Director of Student Success and Engagement Azanda Seymour, Ph.D.; and Career Center Director Junior Delgado.
The Institute provided meaningful workshops, discussions, and personalized consultation to identify and implement campus and system-level HIPs that better achieve quality, equity, and student engagement. The team worked to propose a curricular and co-curricular approach to support student engagement, advance curricular coherence, and generate equitable outcomes. They worked to identify opportunities that deepen student connections, increase enrollment and retention while supporting faculty/staff development and engagement.
Ramirez said, “This experience highlighted the need for topical practices that reflect a generation born and raised in a digital age. I learned the value of taking high-impact practices into the realm of social media, and using those mediums as a way to connect with a media-exposed generation.” Furnelli added, “The conference provided the opportunity to learn how peer institutions utilized high impact practices to improve student engagement and retention.”
Dr. Jarvinen summarized, “This was an excellent opportunity for our team to articulate the numerous ways that WSU faculty and staff currently provide HIPs and to propose a more intentional approach that aims to serve all students equitably. We strived to propose a HIPs action plan that can help to effectively scale student engagement despite unprecedented changes, limited resources, and variations in modes of delivery. We are excited to share this document with the Westfield State community for further conversations and to establish an institutional approach to improve student outcomes through diversity, equity, and engaged inclusivity.”