In our last episode, we learned about faculty support of students from the Student Development side. This month, we’re exploring the idea from the faculty perspective. Welcome Dr. Rachel Hammond to the podcast, Dean of the Business Department at Calvin University. Rachel speaks with us about how problems in the student’s life often show up first in the classroom, and how faculty can walk with the student, in concert with Student Development, in order to care for them well and holistically.

Positive and mutually beneficial relationships between faculty and staff are essential to the mission of Christian colleges. We say we want to form and develop the whole student, and that type of holistic support is most effective when communication between curricular and co-curricular groups. But how do we arrive at that level of collaboration? Dr. Mark Muha's expertise in this area is featured in the January episode. He talks about his research on the factors that predict faculty and staff collaboration and how to apply this knowledge to improve your collaboration efforts this semester.

Chapters:

0:00 Dated mid-season update of the Lions and Eagles

2:30 Introduction of guest (it's Mark)

8:42 Mark's professional background

14:38 Lead-up to Mark's dissertation topic

18:16 Starting presumptions about how collaboration works

22:10 Study outcomes - what predicts collaboration?

28:50 Practical outcomes

38:50 Adapting relational coordination theory to your context

46:20 How to start improving your collaboration this month

Discover Mark's Work:

Mark's ACSD Growth Journal Article: Pursuing Campus Collaboration That Works: Assessing the Impact of Relational Leadership and Work Engagement on Relational Coordination between Student Affairs and Academic Affairs in Christian Higher Education

Our guest this month wrote his doctoral dissertation around the year 2020, when our country engaged in a nationwide conversation about race and racism. While the social and political contexts are different from five years ago, Dr. Jarad Russell's research on the racial attitudes of white students remains relevant to our work today. Join us as we learn about three primary ways that white students think about race and how that can inform our work in student development.

0:00 Mark and Kara's latest fitness pursuits

6:20 Guest bio (plus an ACSD Retreat plug)

12:07 Speed round

16:11 Background of Jarad's research area

22:20 Categories of racial attitudes

30:42 Violence and hate crime trends

36:50 Talking about race with mentors vs peers

39:28 How does your research apply to our listeners?

47:40 Resources for further learning

Jarad's The Racial Attitudes of White Students at a Christian Institution in ACSD Growth

Jemar Tisby's website

Whistling Vivaldi: And Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us by Claude M. Steele

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

Faithful Antiracism by Christina Barland Edmondson and Chad Brennan

Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by Beverly Daniel Tatum