Four staff members from Howard Payne University’s Office of Student Life recently facilitated workshop sessions at the Association for Christians in Student Development Conference (ACSD). The conference was held at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania, from June 7-10.

The HPU staff presenting at the conference included Dr. Brent Marsh, assistant vice president for student life and dean of students; Kate Blackshear, Baptist Student Ministry director; Larissa Leifer, resident director; and Brian Street, resident director.

The first session they led was entitled “Digging Deeper: Learning Outcomes Assessment in Student Development Programs.”  The HPU staff presented ideas and strategies to modify or improve assessment practices that measure student learning and satisfaction. Dr. Marsh discussed the importance of assessing student learning, both to meet accreditation standards and to determine if student affairs programs and services are making a difference. Then, Blackshear, Leifer and Street discussed the practical application of assessment to better meet the needs of students.

The second workshop was on “Multicultural Competence: Getting the Conversation Started.” This session was a roundtable discussion on the need to connect and educate students on multicultural competence, engaging in dialog over what other campuses are doing to meet this need through providing services, activities or beginning conversations. According to Leifer, this discussion is very important for the growth and development of students on college campuses.

According to Dr. Marsh, “presenting at ACSD was a great opportunity for us to share some of the good work being done in Student Life at HPU in the area of assessing student learning and satisfaction, and to exchange ideas with student affairs colleagues from around the country.”

Pictured (left to right): Larissa Leifer, Kate Blackshear, Dr. Brent Marsh and Brian Street.