CHAPTER 4: Organization and Resources

Support for Student Government

CU-Boulder provides a comprehensive set of services designed to support students in their intellectual and personal development. Campus programs promote students’ intellectual growth, career development, moral/ethical development, leadership development, personal wellness, multicultural perspective, and sense of belonging.

Student Support Services

Led by the Division of Student Affairs, CU-Boulder strives to maintain a creative and energetic cocurricular experience for all students, consistent with the campus’s strategic plan. The vice chancellor for student affairs serves as an advocate for students and as a liaison with the chancellor, faculty, legislators, parents, regents, and other campus administrators. The student affairs mission is to facilitate student learning by providing progressive, high-quality, student-centered programs and services while fostering an inclusive campus community in support of CU-Boulder’s educational mission.

Support services are provided to new, continuing, transfer, and nontraditional students in many areas, including housing, recreation, health, and personal and career counseling. The Division of Student Affairs offers academic support through international education, tutoring, internships, and outreach programs. Also provided are mentoring opportunities and support for diversity. A close working relationship is maintained with academic affairs, student government, student groups, and parents.

In addition to campuswide student support services, individual schools and colleges provide a wide range of services, including advising, referral, financial aid and scholarships, career service coordination, residence hall academic support programs, and recruitment programs.

The Division of Student Affairs also provides academic support services, such as tutoring, academic counseling, and disability services that help afford all admitted students the opportunity to succeed. Other offerings that serve to broaden student development include study abroad and residential academic programs. Complete descriptions of student affairs departments are available on the student affairs home page: www.colorado.edu/sacs/stu-affairs. Student support services offered by the division are highly regarded among students, as reflected in a variety of measures conducted both by individual units and by the campus.

The Recreation Center, for example, traditionally scores highest in student satisfaction of all services available on campus. The facility, which is co-managed by student affairs and the University of Colorado Student Union (UCSU), prides itself on the level of usage by students, satisfaction with the facility, and responsiveness to suggestions made by users to improve the facility.

The University Memorial Center houses more than 50 student groups and provides both large and small meeting spaces for the campus and community unavailable in any other location. The facility is used so heavily that renovation and expansion projects are planned to begin in summer 2000 to accommodate increased demand. The UMC also houses the Women’s Resource Center, Student Legal Services, the Student Organizations Finance Office, Off-Campus Student Services, Greek Liaison and Leadership, as well as the UCSU administrative offices.

Other key developments in student support services include:

• The study abroad programs in the Office of International Education have grown from less than 400 participants in 1995-96 to more than 600 participants in 1998-99. In 1998, about 20 percent of CU-Boulder’s bachelor’s degree recipients who had entered as freshmen had participated in study abroad, either through CU-Boulder or other universities.

• Career Services continues to expand its offerings of career fairs, workshops, internships, and alumni services. The office recently has added an advisor specifically for graduate students.

• The Department of Housing provides programming for student residents based on a student development and community-building model. The department is planning a major renovation and renewal project for its residence halls as well as new buildings to provide housing for more upper-division students.

• CU-Boulder participates in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's grant program on substance abuse. Major achievements include the banning of the sale of alcohol in Folsom stadium during football games and sponsoring a group of peer advocate residents in each residence hall to promote non-abusive use of alcohol.

• Following the tragic, off-campus death of a student in 1997, the Division of Student Affairs joined with the CU Police Department and UCSU to sponsor a safety campaign aimed at raising student awareness of the need for caution in certain circumstances. NightRIDE NightWALK, a student escort service, has been reinvigorated and is regularly used by students to increase safety.

• In fall 1999, CU-Boulder initiated a course that provides support for freshman students' adjustment to college life. Additional sections to be offered through the residential academic programs are being considered for fall 2000.

• For students and others, Ralphie’s Guide to Student Life is the recognized source of information about the university via print and the web. The guide has won a number of national awards and frequently is cited as the most useful source of information by parents, staff, and faculty as well as by students. "Ask Ralphie," a personalized question and answer service for students, is available on the Web at www.colorado.edu/sacs/AskRalphie.

• The Personal Look Up Service (PLUS) on the Web is one of the most comprehensive web-based student service sites available to students anywhere in the country. Students access this site regularly to find information about their schedule of courses, degree audit, and their university bill. They may change their address with the university, register for the next semester, look up books needed for their courses, and check out a professor’s rating on the Faculty Course Questionnaire (FCQ). Soon, students will be able to access midterm grades, check financial aid, and utilize a number of other services. The PLUS system recorded more than 76,000 hits in the week prior to the start of the fall semester in 1999 and more than 115,000 hits the first week of classes. Long waiting lines for registration services have almost completely disappeared.

The Department of Intercollegiate Athletics offers a number of support services for student-athletes. In 1996-97, the department went through NCAA certification, which is intended to certify integrity and compliance in all athletic programs. CU-Boulder's program was found to have strong structural and procedural support in the department, resulting in substantial compliance with NCAA operating principles. The program was found to have extensive and equitable student support services for student-athletes and was demonstrating improving overall graduation rates. Also, the program was commended for having made strides in gender equity, demonstrating complete compliance.

Through the Designing Student Services for the 21^st Century: Student Odyssey initiative, the Boulder campus has engaged in a process to redesign and improve services to students. The initiative was stimulated by a desire to respond to student needs, to remove impediments to learning, and to leverage information technology advances in student services.

Phase I of the Odyssey initiative has involved all divisions of the campus in examining and analyzing current methods of delivering services—ranging from admissions to registration to payment of tuition to applying for graduation.

Phase II, which began in May 1999, is focusing on implementing recommendations from Phase I, as well as analyzing student development activities, particularly within the Division of Student Affairs. For example, one pilot program is the development of a "convenience center" where students can find information and complete a wide array of transactions via computers or with personal assistance. Additional information about the Odyssey project can be found at www.colorado.edu/sacs/odyssey.

"I learned a great deal from my experience with track and cross-country teams. I discussed classes, books, and philosophies with most of the team members and learned a little about many subjects. I also learned about myself."
Senior Psychology Major