Faculty Partners Program
“Student affairs professionals attempt to make seamless what are often perceived by students to be disjointed, unconnected experiences by bridging organizational boundaries and forging collaborative partnerships with faculty[1]….” In order to meet the challenge of bridging the boundaries between academic affairs and student services, the Division of Student Services at Creighton University has established The Faculty Partners Program.
About the Faculty Partnerships
Creighton’s Faculty Partners Program is designed for students and learning as it invites faculty to collaborate and partner with select offices within the Division of Student Services. Faculty Partners serve for a term of two years, working in concert with colleagues in Student Services to help students make important connections between their lives in and out of the classroom. Selected Faculty Partners will actually move their current physical office to a new office within a unit of student services in the Harper Center. What are the benefits? Students will have greater access to additional academic advising; students working alongside a faculty partner will receive validation and support from the faculty partner, thus situating learning in a student’s experience; and faculty partners will know students (and their learning) in new ways that hadn't occurred previously. And, as research has indicated, a student’s intellectual and personal development is enhanced through positive Faculty-Student interactions that occur both in and out of the classroom[2].
Faculty Partners Program Recognized Nationally
In April of 2008, Creighton University's creation of the Faculty Partners Program was recognized nationally as one of three "Promising Practices" by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators' (NASPA) Student Affairs Partnering with Academic Affairs Knowledge Community. This program is the first of its kind for the higher education landscape and represents the collaborative spirit found at Creighton between academic affairs and student services.
2008-10 Faculty Partners
Our inaugural class of Faculty Partners in the Division of Student Services:
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[1] American College Personnel Association. (1994). The student learning imperative: Implications for student affairs. Washington, DC: Author.
[2] Pascarella, E.T., & Terenzini, P.T. (1991). How college affects students: Findings and insights from twenty years of research. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.