Dear Denison Students,
These last few weeks have been such an energizing start to the semester. I especially enjoyed seeing so many students taking part in the many events and opportunities in recognition of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. I hope that each of us continues to challenge ourselves to help Dr. King’s legacy live on through the ways we live and lead.
Here are my February updates:
Upcoming Community Events: February is filled with many campus events. Here are a few I wanted to call your attention to:
TODAY: Join me today on Slayter Third Floor at 4pm for Cane’s!
February 10: Airbrush T-Shirt
February 14: Knitting Night at Hoaglin
February 15: Basketball Game Tailgate
February 23: Production of Here Us
February 25: First Year Connect Bowling Trip
Meal Plans: Over the last year, we have been working with students to examine and improve meal plans. As part of this work, RED Corps spent the fall gathering student input on the meal plans. Lots of ideas emerged including interest in utilizing meal plans off-campus and expanding grocery offerings seniors would like available in Slivy’s. You can find their summary of findings here. I’m grateful to RED Corps for their work in gathering student perspectives on this matter which have informed the proposed new plans for 2023-2024. As we do this work, we also need to adjust our plans to meet some new federal regulations that are going into effect. On Tuesday, February 28 at 4:30PM in Slayter Auditorium (Fourth Floor), we invite you to attend a conversation with our team where we will share more about proposed meal plans for next year.
Wellness Survey: Yesterday, we launched the National College Health Assessment, a survey that asks a variety of questions about your mental and physical health. We do this survey every four years and it provides critically important information about student wellness, which then informs programming and resources. We highly encourage every student to complete the survey.
Student Employment Update: As I shared in November, to support our student employees, we adjusted student wages to $12.30 per hour from the previous $10.30 per hour, an increase of more than 19%. This increase reflects a 32% increase in student wages over the past three years. The next step Human Resources will take in reviewing student wages is to revisit implementing a tiered wage structure for our student employees. This will include opportunities for you to share your feedback on moving to a tiered structure versus remaining a single rate structure. The Office of Human Resources will post regular progress updates here and aims to have a plan in place by the end of the semester.
Student Life Strategic Plan Update: Report on Illuminating Pathways
Throughout the year we have updated you on progress made on the Student Life Strategic Plan. Priority Group #1 (Illuminating Pathways) had a very productive fall semester. Their goal is to make it easier and more inviting for students to be intentional about their Denison Journey in order to get the most out of their four years.
In the fall, the working group:
Researched how schools similar to Denison present the co-curricular learning experience
Created a 4-year matrix to support the student co-curricular journey
Made efforts to pair the 4-year matrix with student academic learning across all 4 years by brainstorming connections to core learning outcomes.
Revisited the core student learning outcomes wheel and assessed whether this is the right tool for tracking co-curricular learning and involvement
This semester, the group is off and running with a RED Corps team project to help us design the tool students want to use to track their co-curricular learning and involvement. This work relies heavily on you, the student! The team really wants to hear your ideas about how you want to keep track of your involvements.
I wish you a great rest of the week, and I hope you will join me today on Slayter Third Floor at 4pm for Cane’s!
All my best,
Alex