Vision
A student-centered, inclusive learning environment that inspires students and university community members to reach their full potential.
Mission
Build a superior student experience that motivates and empowers students to reach their full academic and personal capability.
Values
The Division and Student Affairs and Academic Support is guided by the Carolinian Creed and celebrates employees who practice:
- Courage
- Inclusion
- Innovation
- Integrity
- Service
Outcomes
Student Affairs and Academic Support services, experiences and support are intended to develop these student outcomes:
- Ability to interact with others to develop a sense of belonging and maintain a social network
- Self-confidence and competence in managing personal affairs and resolving challenges
- Ability to manage and advance physical and emotional well-being
- Career maturity and career management skills
- Willingness to seek help when needed, recognize and act on need for human interdependence
- Citizenship and leadership knowledge and skills, developed through active engagement
- Developing lifelong learning skills
- A sense of purpose and identity, including a career choice
Strategic Priorities and Related Activities
This priority and the following activities support the university's strategic priorities No. 1 and No. 6.
- Define student success and indicators (metrics) we will use to assess progress
- Increase number of programs and services catalogued in the Beyond the Classroom Matters database
- Improve use of data for identifying areas of achievement and areas for improvement
- Engage students early in academic support services and leverage student affairs engagement to advance student use of these services
- Champion utilization of Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS) standards for higher education best practices
- Increase community partnerships for service experiences and internship placement
- Develop a campus experience that positively contributes to students’ sense of belonging and campus pride
This priority and the following activities support the university's strategic priority No. 1
- Engage students early in career services and leverage student affairs engagement to advance student readiness through skill development and transferability
- Grow percentage of students participating in experiential learning
- Champion the My UofSC Experience transcript in dialogues with students engaged in our programs and services
- Identify barriers and increase access to high-impact practices that positively influence student success
- Provide regional, national, and international leadership and contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the development and delivery of high-impact student services and support
This priority and the following activities support the university's strategic priorities No. 4 and No. 8.
- Educate and inform the campus community of the tenets of the Carolinian Creed
- Review and revise policies and procedures to assure that language is inclusive
- Review participation data, practices for access and results of programs to identify participation rates by populations, conditional effects – equity of impact of programs and services (satisfaction, perceived quality/impact, direct measure of results when possible)
- Identify, incorporate, and contribute to best practices for staff training and professional development programs
- Develop programs that integrate students/staff with different identifies, perspectives and values
- Improve emergency management procedures
- Complete a comprehensive review of Title IX-related policies and procedures
- Conduct and review results of safety and accessibility audits of facilities
This priority and the following activities support the university's strategic priorities No. 1, No. 4 and No. 5.
- Expand outreach and pipeline development programs throughout the state of South Carolina
- Review and revise admissions policies and practices to attract, evaluate, admit, enroll, and retain a qualified and diverse student body
- Expand need-based financial aid programs to enhance affordability and minimize debt at graduation
- Partner with academic units to improve and expedite the transfer admissions process.
- Utilize data analytics to study student success metrics and identify opportunities for institutional improvements
- Provide advanced tools, systems, and data analytics to advise and enhance academic advising, policies, course capacity planning and offerings, and progress toward degree
- Focus on innovation, efficiency, process improvement, service to faculty and students, and thought leadership at all levels and throughout the UofSC System
This priority and the following activities support the university's strategic priorities No. 7 and No. 8.
- Reevaluate digital services for process improvement
- Develop and maintain capital improvement plans for facilities
- Engage with university partners to implement enterprise technology solutions and data governance policies and procedures
- Focus on foundational issues such as adequate space, current technology, accessibility, sustainability, maintenance, cleanliness, efficient and effective processes, and customer-focused delivery
- Identify infrastructure needs for specific populations (e.g., Title IX investigations and students with disabilities, in recovery)
This priority and the following activities support the university's strategic priority No. 1.
- Develop and implement a hiring approach that delivers diverse and highly talented candidate pools for staff positions.
- Support staff well-being initiatives
- Improve practices surrounding engaging a diverse and talented professional staff by developing multicultural and diversity-related staff competencies through training, programs, and services
- Integrate institutional effectiveness practices into management practices, employee performance review, and professional development
- Strengthen collaboration with HESA program to improve graduate assistant staff
- Revise existing awards, recognition, and compensation practices (e.g., Division Awards) to incorporate division values