ATU Team to Delve Into High Impact Practices

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Five members of the Arkansas Tech University community have been selected to represent the institution at the Association of American Colleges and Universities 2021 Virtual Institute on High Impact Practices and Student Success June 15-18.

Dr. Michael Bradley, associate professor of parks, recreation and hospitality administration, is serving as team lead for the ATU delegation.

He will be joined by Dr. Nathaniel Chapman, director of undergraduate research and assistant professor of sociology; Dr. Dana Tribble, assistant professor of student affairs administration; Gaby Haulmark, coordinator of study abroad programs and instructor of German; and Angie Bell, coordinator of student engagement in the ATU College of Business.

Dr. Christine Austin, director of assessment and institutional effectiveness and professor of student affairs administration at ATU, explained that an initial high impact practices inventory for Arkansas Tech has been completed. The ATU team will utilize that inventory during the four-day institute this summer.

“I am thrilled that we were selected and hope that we will be able to create a plan for assessing and increasing high impact practices in our academic programs,” said Austin.

AACU includes first-year seminars and experiences, common intellectual experiences, learning communities, writing intensive courses, collaborative assignments and projects, undergraduate research, global learning, ePortfolios, serving learning, internships and capstone courses on its list of high impact practices for higher education.

On its website, the AACU states that high impact practices such as those listed above “have been widely tested and have been shown to be beneficial for college students from many backgrounds, especially historically underserved students, who often do not have equitable access to high-impact learning.”

The AACU goes on to explain that “these practices take many different forms, depending on learner characteristics and on institutional priorities and contexts.”

Learn more about the ATU Office of Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness at www.atu.edu/assessment.