Student Affairs Ecosystem Initiative

Overview

A study group enjoys a laugh in Armfield Atrium.

We owe it to our students to deliver high-quality, consistent services to all. We’re developing a coherent, cohesive, intentional and sustainable student affairs ecosystem that will be implemented across the Gillings School. It’s designed to support the continuum of students’ needs throughout their academic journey, from the recruitment/applicant stage through their becoming engaged alumni.

Latest Update

10/4/2019

Has fall finally arrived? We hope so! This is our regular Student Affairs Ecosystem update, which we’re now sending monthly. Recent Ecosystem activities and accomplishments:

We’ve completed Ecosystem information sessions at all department faculty meetings.
At these sessions we learned that some of our faculty are unfamiliar with the Ecosystem, so we’ve distributed this message to ALL Gillings primary faculty. Welcome to those who are new, and we hope you read on.
Are you still curious about WHY we developed the Ecosystem?On our web page you can findRedesigning Student Services document from Dean Barbara Rimer in the Resources section. She laid out the compelling case for improved services throughout our students’ academic journey, which launched this initiative in September 2018. On the web page, you can also browse our archive of updates to learn what’s been happening since then, or read background articles outlining trends and best practices.
The cornerstone of the Ecosystem is our expanded Student Affairs team under the leadership of Associate Dean for Students Charletta Sims Evans. Highlights:

- We redistributed 14 existing student services staff positions including creation of 10 Academic Coordinator (AC) roles. Each student has been assigned an AC as their academic adviser and personal guide along their entire Gillings journey.
- Departments redistributed many program and faculty support activities to internal staff, in order to enable our Academic Coordinators to focus on students. Big thanks go out to department chairs for their leadership in implementing changes quickly and effectively.
- We added five new positions in areas where we had noteworthy gaps: Recruitment, Admissions, Awards and Funding, Events Management and Course Scheduling/Registrar. Our new professionals are having immediate impact!
- The team is adding to their library of professional student affairs best practices to increase quality and predictability of student services across the board.
- We’ve clarified the role of faculty mentors to ensure that all students regularly and consistently benefit from connections to faculty. This is a huge differentiator for many of our students. We appreciate the many faculty who are committed to continuing to guide and train our students so well.
As with any major change initiative, we’re grappling with bumps in the road.These range from systems and processes that are too manual and time-consuming to frustration about gaps in administrative support. We’re working through these. Thanks again to everyone who’s reported issues or concerns, and please continue to do so.
We’re not done! We’ve completed Phases 1 and 2 and are moving on to Phase 3, which will examine future needs for career services, alumni engagement and employer engagement. Students are asking for more in these areas. Big thanks to Jeffrey Simms, Director of Student Life and Alumni Engagement in Health Policy and Management, for agreeing to join the Ecosystem leadership team and guide this phase of work. Along with Ecosystem department chair liaisons Beth Mayer-Davis and Morris Weinberger we’re defining the first step, which will be to inventory current practices across the School. Stay tuned!

As always, please reach out to SPHEcosystem@unc.edu with suggestions or questions, or browse our web page. You can also subscribe or unsubscribe to these regular updates by sending an email.