Laurie A. Schreiner

The Impact of Faculty and Staff on High-Risk College Student Persistence

The purpose of this study was to identify the attitudes and behaviors of faculty and staff that impact the success and persistence of highrisk students. Using an exploratory qualitative approach, 62 successful high-risk students from nine different colleges and universities were interviewed and asked to identify and describe someone on campus who had been most influential in their ability to persist. The 54 campus personnel who were identified by these students were interviewed twice to learn what they do to help students succeed and persist. Seven themes on how college personnel positively influence high-risk student success and persistence were identified.

Thriving in the Classroom.

How do we engage our students in their own learning process? In the second of a three-part series, Laurie Schreiner shares practical, research-based suggestions for fostering the curiosity and mindfulness of all of our students.

Thriving in Community.

In the final part of this series on student thriving, Laurie Schreiner describes how students who thrive turn outward and engage with the world through healthy interpersonal relationships and service to their communities.

Outcomes of a Christian College Education: A Comparison of CCCU Students' Gains to the National Aggregate.

This study examined the patterns of college experiences and outcomes among 3,501 students attending colleges or universities that belong to the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU). As part of the CCCU-sponsored Comprehensive Assessment Project (CAP), 25 member institutions collected data from their first-year students using the Freshman Survey from UCLAs Cooperative Institutional Research Project in 2004 and assessed those same students as seniors in 2008 using the College Senior Survey. The study analyzed the data and compared the findings with a national sample of private colleges during those same years. Although the results generally reflected gains over the four years of college in terms of students’ degree aspirations and social awareness, this positive change was more pronounced among the CCCU students compared to their national aggregate counterparts. In contrast, CCCU students appeared to have relatively fewer gains in their interpersonal abilities during college than did the national aggregate. In particular, CCCU students tended to be less engaged with their peers and less involved with diversity-related activities while in college than did the national aggregate. Additionally, while CCCU students had more informal and social interactions with faculty, they reported having lower levels of course- or research-related interaction with faculty than did their peers at other private institutions. A discussion of the association between specific college experiences and three college outcomes—academic self-esteem, interpersonal ability, and social awareness—concludes the article.

The Privilege of Grit

11 ABOUT CAMPUS / NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2017 I MET JEROME WHEN HE WAS A SENIOR IN ONE of the psychology classes I taught. He stood out from the rest of the class not only in his academic performance but also in the ways he approached class—always prepared, asking good questions, going above and beyond in his assignments. He was the dream student—hard working, curious, passionate about his educational goal of earning a PhD in child psychology so he could make a difference in the lives of foster kids. A product of the foster care system himself, Jerome had been orphaned in first grade and had been shuttled in and out of foster homes yet had always worked hard in each new school, eventually earning a scholarship to college. When I met him, he talked of how he had always been fascinated by what made people tick—an excellent quality in a budding psychologist. He spent hours reading books and was an inveterate people watcher, so that by the time he entered college, he had acquired a level of emotional intelligence far beyond his years. It was crystal clear to me—Jerome had what psychologist Angela Duckworth calls grit , a passionate perseverance toward a long-term goal. Jerome was a hard worker who had overcome all the odds to succeed in college and go on to a top grad school. He had made something of himself. It’s a seductive story reflective of the American Dream: boy overcomes poverty and trauma through sheer effort to become a shining example of success for others. It reassures us that all is right in the universe. And yes, it can happen...sometimes. But there is an insidious danger in what Christine Yeh ( 2017 ), Chair of the Counseling Psychology Department at the University of San Francisco, calls our “national obsession” with these stories and with the concept of grit itself: It overlooks the role that systemic privilege plays in people’s lives.

Re-Imagining Christian Higher Education: Hope for the Future

When the editorial board first selected the topic of this special theme issue of the journal, it was with a keen sense of the challenges facing Christian higher education, but also the many opportunities and possibilities for renewing and reimagining Christian higher education that could emerge amidst these challenges. Therefore, we approached each author with a mandate not only to highlight the challenges we are facing, but to provide specific suggestions for how to move forward. As you read the articles, you will find many creative steps that Christian postsecondary institutions can take to be better positioned for success in the future, as well as steps individuals can take in their own sphere of influence. The distinctiveness of Christian higher education is highlighted throughout the articles in this issue. In the first article, “Steering the Ship Through Uncertain Waters: Empirical Analysis and the Future of Evangelical Higher Education,” P. Jesse Rine and David S. Guthrie note distinctions of Christian higher education that both compound our challenges and provide a way forward in overcoming them. They assert that the tuition-dependent nature and small endowments of Christian colleges and universities result in a financial vulnerability that raises questions as to how many of our institutions have a sustainable future, commenting that “Christian colleges can’t save the world if they can’t pay the rent” (p. 15). Yet hope for the future is also provided in the data they present as they compare Christian colleges to other private, non-doctoral institutions: Christian colleges remain among the most affordable options in the private sector for obtaining a four-year degree, we are diversifying our student bodies at a faster rate than our peers, and we have higher yield rates than this benchmark group (that is, a higher percentage of students who inquire actually enroll), indicating that there remains a strong attraction to what Christian colleges distinctively offer. As the student body at Christian colleges and universities becomes more diverse—and even more predominantly female—the issue of women in leadership at these institutions becomes particularly salient. In Karen A. Longman and Patricia S. Anderson’s article “Women in Leadership: The Future of Christian Higher Education,” the “significant underrepresentation of women in positional leadership” is highlighted as “one of the most persistent challenges facing the movement of Christian higher education as it seeks to create a relevant and sustainable future” (p. 24). They note that although some progress has been made in the past two decades to diversify senior leadership teams, women still hold only slightly over 20% of senior leadership roles. Their article analyzes some of the potential reasons for this underrepresentation and suggests specific strategies for increasing the number of women in seniorlevel leadership within Christian colleges and universities. The increasing diversity of our student bodies presents challenges of inclusion and equity, as Allison N. Ash and I note in our article “Pathways to Success for Students of Color in Christian Colleges: The Role of Institutional Integrity and Sense of Community.” This article is based on research conducted with over 1,500 students of color on 12 Christian college campuses, in which the predictors of students’ intent to graduate from the Christian college where they initially enrolled are outlined. The challenges of delivering on the promises of a Christian college education and creating a sense of community among diverse students on predominantly White campuses are clear in the findings, but

Called to Make a Difference: The Experiences of Students Who Thrive on Faith-Based Campuses

Research on the contribution of psychosocial factors to holistic student success in the context of the distinctive mission of Christian colleges and universities remains limited despite increased attention given to such factors in broader studies of student success. In recent years, the study of thriving has added to the measurement of psychosocial factors that contribute to student success. Thriving is conceptualized as levels of intellectual, interpersonal, and psychological vitality that result in student success. This article presents the results of the qualitative phase of a longitudinal sequential explanatory mixed-methods study of changes in thriving over the course of one semester from interviews with 23 students on five faith-based campuses. The study explored the experiences, programs, and psychological processes that influenced increases and decreases in thriving. Four themes emerged from the data analysis: (a) engaged learning as an outcome of faculty and student commitment, (b) relationships as a context for support, motivation, and a sense of fit, (c) faith as a lens for reframing events, and (d) a sense among students that they are called to make a difference. Faith-based institutions can contribute to the success of their students through use of high-impact teaching and learning practices, creating a sense of community on campus, building realistic optimism through classroom approaches and advising, and promoting the exploration and clarification of purpose and calling. Suggestions for future research include study replication in non–faith-based private and public institutions and longer longitudinal studies of changes in thriving.

Making Meaning as a Way of Staying at the Table

Meaning making is at the heart of all learning; it is through our attempts to make sense of the world around us that we are able to navigate the challenges of life. Meaning making is also, I believe, the secret to being able to “stay at the table” in Christian higher education as we encounter other followers of Christ whose views fundamentally differ from our own. In a time when it is far too easy to walk away from commitments and when the political and media spotlights of the world magnify every difference of opinion, one hallmark of Christian higher education will be whether we truly are distinct from the rest of the world in how we respond to one another when we disagree. As institutions of higher education, our priority is student learning, which fundamentally is about making meaning. As Christian institutions, this meaning making occurs within a context and community of faith. A number of years ago, Parker Palmer (n.d.) wrote an article entitled, “On Staying at the Table: A Spirituality of Community.” He likened Christian community to the difficult reality Christ experienced with his disciples at the Last Supper. Surrounded by friends who would later betray him, deny him, hide during his crucifixion, and doubt his resurrection, how did Jesus not only stay at the table with them, but serve them by washing their feet? Palmer suggested that it was because of his higher commitment to God, as well as a dependence and trust that God is sovereign. This ability to see the bigger picture, this unwavering commitment to the important goal of following Christ together, is what enables us to listen to one another without fear that our differences will destroy us—and this is why Christian higher education is “the hope of the world,” to quote Josephus Hopwood, the founder of my alma mater, Milligan College. Christian higher education offers something different—not simply the tolerance or relativism offered by the world, but a genuine search for meaning, for wholeness, for the way of Christ in our work together. As we strive to make meaning in our dialogues with one another, we may become disillusioned along the way, feeling that community is impossible when the differences are so salient and valueladen. But as Palmer noted, when that happens:

What Good Is Christian Higher Education

ABSTRACT This article presents the results of an analysis of recent survey data collected from CCCU students and alumni to address the research question, “To what extent are CCCU students and alumni significantly different from their counterparts in other types of universities, based on data collected through national surveys?” Survey data from 33,128 CCCU students and alumni were analyzed from the 2016 National Survey of Student Engagement, the 2015 Student Satisfaction Inventory, and the CARDUS Education Survey in 2011 and 2014. Comparisons to benchmark private institutions and to alumni from nonreligious private colleges, Catholic colleges, public universities, and non-CCCU religious colleges were made via independent sample t-tests and regression analyses. The findings were analyzed in light of the individual good, the common good, and the Kingdom good of Christian higher education, concluding that there may be a misalignment between the stated mission of Christian higher education and some of the outcomes observed in students and alumni. The implications of these findings are presented, along with recommendations for leaders and educators within Christian colleges and universities.

Rising Above Our Reputation: Responding to the Challenges of Christian Higher Education

As Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Christian Higher Education, it is sometimes hard to separate my identity as a Christ follower who is a faculty member at a Christian university from my identity as a researcher and journal editor. As I read the collection of articles that were slated to comprise this issue of the journal, what struck me was how many of the findings contradicted the stereotypical view of Christian colleges and universities—some in positive ways and others less so. I found myself at times discouraged and at other times hopeful. It was within this emotional context that I decided on the editorial title “Rising Above Our Reputation.” Reputation is subjective; it is comprised of others’ perceptions—which may or may not be accurate. The first article in this issue, “‘Jagged Edges’: Victim Blaming, Student Care, And Legally Defensible Sexual Assault Investigations,” by Neil A. Best and Alexander Jun, investigates the negative reputation of conservative evangelical Christian colleges as blaming the victims of sexual assault—a reputation that is supported by prior research evidence, but which the Christian college in their study “rises above” and refutes with a compassionate response from their trained sexual assault investigators. Reading this qualitative study can provide Christian college educators not only with hope, but with practical suggestions for how to implement an effective and compassionate response to the tragic incidents of sexual violence that too often occur, many of which go unreported by students out of fear of being blamed. The second article in this issue is by Steven M. Conn, who examines Christian college students’ perceptions of the value of their tuition. Often the reputation of a Christian college is that it is a more expensive option that may not be “worth it” in the long run. Rising above this reputation, Conn highlights the importance of students’ perceptions of institutional integrity and their experience of a sense of community on campus as contributing most to their feeling that their tuition dollars are a worthwhile investment. When Christian colleges deliver on their implicit promises made during the admissions process, when faculty and staff “walk the talk” and embody the institutional mission, and when students’ expectations are met by their actual experiences on campus, students report feeling a sense of community and that their tuition dollars were well spent. When they are academically engaged in meaningful learning, the perceived value increases even more. That finding gives me hope when I think about the future of Christian higher education. Particularly given Conn’s assertion that mission congruence is vital to institutional integrity and students’ perceptions of tuition worth at Christian colleges, the article that follows his is one that reminds us that we may be missing that mark. Matthew Weeks, Katie James Winningham, and Brandon Winningham examined the mission