Student Affairs

Supporting Student Success Through the 4ward Focus Framework

The Division of Student Affairs at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is committed to enhancing student retention, persistence, and graduation through our comprehensive 4ward Focus framework. This strategic approach addresses the interconnected elements essential for student success across four key areas. 

Student Basic Needs forms the foundation of our work, recognizing that students must have their fundamental necessities met before they can fully engage academically. With 52% of our students experiencing food insecurity, housing insecurity, or homelessness, we've expanded resources including Mini-Cougar Cupboards throughout campus, emergency funding support, and transportation assistance through our bus token initiative. Recent efforts have enabled us to address the root causes of housing insecurity while ensuring students have access to essential resources.

Student Health and Well-being focuses on helping students thrive holistically once their basic needs are met. Recognizing that 52% of our students experience loneliness and 49% get insufficient sleep our initiatives include relaxation and sensory rooms across campus, self-care carts, expanded Welcome Weekend programming centered on the eight dimensions of wellness, and innovative stress-reduction programming during high-pressure periods like finals week. This is in addition to strategic investments in Counseling and Health Services and Health Education and Promotion.

Career-Readiness Competencies prepare students for workplace success and lifelong career management through hands-on experiences. Our student employment programs consistently show higher retention rates, with nearly 95% of full-time freshmen with non-Federal Work Study employment retained from fall 2023 to fall 2024. We've launched a Career-Readiness Badge program, developed supervisor toolkits, and integrated NACE competency language into student positions to ensure meaningful skill development alongside academic learning.

Fostering a Vibrant Campus Life Experience creates intentional connections that help students feel they belong and matter at SIUE. Research shows that students participating in four involvement practices are more likely to be retained, and we have every opportunity to provide access to campus activities that allow students to thrive. Through strategic programming and community-building initiatives, we're creating an environment where all students can find their place and contribute to our campus community.

Together, these four focus areas create a comprehensive support system that addresses the full spectrum of student needs, from basic survival and stability to thriving and optimal functioning, ultimately contributing to improved retention rates and student success at SIUE.

The 4ward Focus Framework was introduced at the Fall 2025 Student Affairs Kick-off Celebration.  Learn more by viewing the presentation.

Synergistic Supervision of Entry-Level SA Professionals: A Cross-Cultural Examination
October 22 | 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. | Missouri Room (2002), Morris University Center, 2nd Floor
October 22 | 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. | Meeting ID: 212 199 708 741 9, Passcode: Pp2oN9cH

Description: Entry-level student affairs staff are the profession's future. Seasoned professionals within their networks along with their immediate supervisors have a responsibility to lay a strong supervisory foundation for them.

Although an important function within higher education, many professionals are ill prepared to provide high quality supervision, especially to entry-level and new professionals who require such a broad range of nurturing. Supervision has received little attention in the literature even though practitioners spend substantial time on it. Even less attention has been given to the potential impact of cross-cultural difference on the supervisory relationship.

Using a qualitative study conducted in 2007 as a baseline, along with recent follow-up research, valuable cross-cultural supervision practices using Winston and Creamer’s (1997) Synergistic Supervision Model have been identified and will contribute to the development of a revised model for supervisors to improve their supervision of entry-level professionals.

Framing Mental Health Support to Increase Flourishing: An Inclusive Strategy That Can Open Doors, Increase Engagement, and Boost Student Success
November 5 | 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. | Willow Room (2036), Morris University Center, 2nd Floor
November 5 | 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. | Meeting ID: 257 591 973 448 5, Passcode: hU6SK2dB

Description: As the American College Health Association, the Healthy Minds Network, and the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors report, college students are experiencing mental illness and other psychological challenges in ever-increasing numbers (ACHA, 2024; HMN, 2024; AUCCCD, 2023).  Reactions to these reports often place the onus of responsibility on counseling center staff to fix the problem, while other campus personnel view the situation as outside their scope of expertise.  The work of Keyes (2006; 2002) and others (Iasiello et al., 2020; Antaramian, 2015; Ross, 2015; Eklund et al., 2011; Suldo & Shaffer, 2008), however, has demonstrated that complete mental health exists along two intersecting continua, a dual continua model of mental health.  Individuals fall along one continuum between the presence or absence of mental illness and simultaneously fall along a second continuum between low or high levels of mental health.  While behavioral health providers are uniquely positioned to provide clinical treatment of mental illness symptoms, a much larger pool of supporters could be trained to offer interventions to boost flourishing mental health (Seligman, 2011). 

This webinar will share how focusing on flourishing can excite students, faculty, staff, and administrators as they see places they could fit in a larger, full-scale promotion of mental health and support more students.  It will also discuss case studies and a pilot program offered at the presenter's institution to help attendees brainstorm for their own campus contexts, build a better advocacy pitch for stakeholders, and generate more buy-in to help build an institutional culture of care.

What They Don’t Teach You in Graduate School: Supervising Professional Staff
November 19 | 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. | Missouri Room (2002), Morris University Center, 2nd Floor
November 19 | 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. | Meeting ID: 234 679 416 872 2, Passcode: kZ2up3Cm

Description: Supervision plays a critical role in addressing staff retention, burnout, and professional growth in student affairs. NASPA’s 2022 Compass Report identified developing supervisory capacity as a key area for growth, with less than half of surveyed professionals feeling adequately prepared to take on additional supervisory responsibilities.

This webinar will explore how supervision differs from mentorship and counseling, how to build effective supervisory relationships, and what staff need from their supervisors. Using a clinical supervision framework, participants will develop skills in establishing boundaries, setting goals and expectations, fostering competency development, conducting performance reviews, and navigating difficult conversations.

Social Media as a Tool for Campus Student Wellness Assessment
December 3 | 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. | Missouri Room (2002), Morris University Center, 2nd Floor
December 3 | 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. | Meeting ID: 274 016 619 045 8, Passcode: ku97Jv3a

Description: This presentation is intended to provide participants with the ability to: 1) list valid data sources to develop a comprehensive picture of the campus wellness environment; 2) describe one university’s process of conducting a qualitative campus wellness assessment using social media; and 3) identify ways data collected via social media may be used to influence campus practices. Presenters will discuss the planning, development, and steps for implementing the research project; findings from the key informant interviews, focus groups, and windshield survey; and dissemination and use of the findings. 

Meeting Their Needs: Identifying Your Role in Supporting and Supervising Your Unique Team
December 17 | 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. | Willow Room (2036), Morris University Center, 2nd Floor
December 17 | 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. | Meeting ID: 228 470 076 772 7, Passcode: w9A6Hn6S

Description: We’ve all heard the phrase “people don’t leave bad jobs…they leave bad bosses.” Being a supervisor (and a supervisee) is HARD! And supervisory dynamics can impede us from reaching our goals. By meeting our teams’ needs, providing individualized feedback through direct communication, delegating, and empowering others, supervisors can move the organization closer to its vision. This session will discuss how intentional resources (e.g., automated coaching, institute-specific programs), assessments (e.g., Gallup Q12), Cloverleaf, and honest self-reflection can enhance your supervisory skills and relationships.

Supervision Skills and Strategies: Developing Essential Skills for Successful Leaders in Student Affairs Today and in the Future
January 14 | 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. | Willow Room (2036), Morris University Center, 2nd Floor
January 14 | 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. | Meeting ID: 241 099 456 948, Passcode: f3zD3rN7

Description: Supervision is an essential skill, requiring ongoing learning and development, for all members of the student affairs (and higher education) organizations. The importance of inclusive, effective supervision can be seen in satisfaction, engagement, and retention rates of employees, who are directly impacted by the quality of supervision they receive. Supervision must be viewed as an investment in the employee experience in supporting today's workplace and sustaining the future of an organization. Student affairs practitioners typically lack academic or formal training in the competency of supervision. It is not often included in graduate preparatory programs and instead supervisory skills are learned on the job anecdotally through trial and error.

The division of University Life (student affairs) at George Mason University has a strong commitment to the staff experience.  This commitment comes from the division's strategic commitment to organizational excellence, as evidenced by its strategic outcome of Organizational Excellence and the goal of “cultivating positive staff experiences and develop professional and technological competencies to better support evolving student growth, development, and success need.” (University Life Strategic Plan, 2020-2024) The first strategic action under this goal is to increase employee supervision satisfaction.  The overall strategy goal addresses improving the staff experience of student service practitioners through strategic actions focusing on professional development, competency development, performance evaluation, awards and recognition, as well as HR processes.  With this commitment, the organization is primed to develop programs and initiatives to advance supervision competency of all staff. At a time when student affairs and higher education professionals are experiencing high levels of reported dissatisfaction, creating opportunities to improve supervision satisfaction provides a valuable return on the employee experience.

In this program, presenters will engage participants in dialogue focusing on the existing challenges of supervision in student affairs today and engage in activities to consider strategies in which to advance competency development of leaders today. Presenters will share work emerging at their home institution and share some of what was learned from a recent strategic planning exercise. With the participants, presenters will discuss the existing gaps in supervision practices including lack of assessment of supervisee developmental needs, lack of supervisor training, need for ongoing development for supervision competency development, lack of in-house professional development for both supervisor and supervisee, etc. Participants, with the presenters, will explore strategies, resources, programs, and initiatives that can be employed short- and long-term at institutions to invest in the supervisory and employee experience. 

Students are Hungry: Addressing Food Insecurity on Arkansas 2-Year College Campuses
January 28 | 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. | Location: TBD
January 28 | 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. | Meeting ID: 250 743 954 660 0, Passcode: 3eW7gq6Q

Description: Students are coming to our campuses with core issues that impact their learning including lack of basic needs. This webinar will discuss potential opportunities for meeting the basic needs of our students in a centralized system through a food pantry + model and the positive impact on student success. Four Arkansas colleges, supported by Arkansas Community Colleges and the ECMC Foundation, piloted a more comprehensive usage of the food pantry as a centralized location for accessing and learning about additional resources and services. There are several takeaways from the project that will be discussed in the webinar.

• Students accessing the new food pantry model are 6 to 8 percentage points more likely than students not accessing the pantry to be enrolled one semester and one year later, and to earn a credential.
• Low-income students, adult students, and students of color are more likely to access campus food pantries, driven by colleges’ targeted outreach efforts to key student groups.
• The notable academic benefits of the new food pantry model are present for Pell recipients, for adults, and for students of color – with especially high proportional increases in credential attainment for students of color who access campus pantries.

Cultures of Integration and Balance: The Role of Supervisors in Creating Sustainable Work-life Environments
February 11 | 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. | Location: TBD
February 11 | 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. | Meeting ID: 210 629 091 169 0, Passcode: nC9AA9D6

Description: Supervisors play a critical role in shaping workplace culture, ensuring that employees can thrive professionally while maintaining a healthy work-life balance. As higher education environments become increasingly demanding and interconnected, supervisors must move beyond outdated expectations of overwork and instead develop intentional strategies that prioritize employee well-being, productivity, and retention. This session explores the key principles of work-life integration, emphasizing the importance of individual supervision, team support, and institutional advocacy in creating a sustainable, inclusive, and high-performing workplace.

Participants will gain insights into the evolving needs of today’s workforce, including the impact of health concerns, family obligations, restorative time, generational expectations, and role modeling by senior leaders. Through a combination of research-based strategies and interactive discussion, attendees will leave with a set of guiding principles to implement within their departments, ensuring that work-life integration is embedded in their supervisory practices, team management, and institutional culture.

Using Artificial Intelligence to Address the College Mental Health Crisis
February 25 | 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. | Location: TBD
February 25 | 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. | Meeting ID: 297 722 722 929 6, Passcode: qs2D3kV3

Description: Artificial intelligence is quickly being adopted by many industries to address long-standing problems, and the field of mental health is no exception. In this session, the presenter will discuss the ways in which AI is already being used in mental health settings and the potential benefits and risks. Data from recent pilots of an AI mental health chatbot will be shared.

Leading Well: The Importance of Supervisor Training and Preparation
March 4 | 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. | Location: TBD
March 4 | 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. | Meeting ID: 266 378 928 754 1, Passcode: VC9iS3VN

Description: Student affairs professionals are critical to the overall success of institutions of higher learning. Currently, the profession is at a turning point in navigating many complex issues. One of these issues is ensuring adequate levels of job satisfaction and employee morale. Units who employ supervisors who are competent leaders can see increased employee satisfaction and morale when training appropriately to handle the complexities of supervising others. When supervisors are ill-equipped to manage, employees report increased issues in the workplace.

This session will highlight findings from a recent doctoral study surrounding supervisor training and preparation and its impact on job performance and satisfaction. Attendees will have the opportunity to reflect on their training and preparation and think practically on ways they can enhance their supervisor skill set and emphasize its relevance in their work on a regular basis.

Proactively Supporting First-gen Mental Health: CSUDH Case Study
March 18 | 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. | Location: TBD
March 18 | 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. | Meeting ID: 297 538 868 226 5, Passcode: wM9KK7iy

Description: One in three first-year students experience mental health challenges; those that do are twice as likely not to graduate. Furthermore, students from underrepresented ethnic and racial groups, many of whom are first-generation college students, are less likely to seek support. Presenters will review research on college students’ mental health and its implications for student success. They will then explore the distinctive college adjustment challenges experienced by first-generation students as well as systemic barriers to effectively supporting first-generation students’ mental health. Presenters will make a case for delivering a proactive mental and emotional wellness curriculum rooted in the fields of positive psychology, mindfulness, and self-compassion and how students can apply these principles during their college experience. Presenters will review a case study on how California State University, Dominguez Hills successfully implemented a proactive mental and emotional wellness curriculum to support first-generation students' mental health. The session will close with experiential exercises and a group discussion about ways in which participants may seek to support first-generation college students' mental health proactively.

Changing the Standard: Radically Supervising Student Staff at Michigan State University
April 1 | 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. | Location: TBD
April 1 | 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. | Meeting ID: 242 128 961 520 1, Passcode: wq2an9gg

Description: Student staff members volunteer their time and energy to advance the needs of their higher education institutions. This means that in the ever evolving dynamics present on a college campus, student staff supervisors must be capable of providing authentic and emergent supervision for each unique team member. Our presentation offers a supervision model for creating a supervisory ecosystem for each staff member to thrive in that goes beyond relationship building and empowers the supervisor to address barriers to student staff success.

By utilizing frameworks such as the 4 Is of oppression (Internalized, Interpersonal, Institutional, and Ideological) and Dr. Tamura Lomax’s idea of Radical Black Love we invite participants to reflect on the innate dignity and worth of the students they have the privilege of working with. Through engaging in group conversations and polling, we hope participants challenge existing narratives they hold about what a supervisor is and is not. The goal of this webinar is to help participants begin the self-work necessary for moving supervision beyond being identity conscious and towards becoming actively engaged in dismantling oppression within supervision and work experiences for student staff.