Student Development Professionals Gather at Knox College January 25

GALESBURG,IL: Student development professionals from across the Midwest gathered at Knox College on January 25 as the college hosted the Student Development at the Small College conference. The aim of the conference was to provide a venue for student development professionals from small colleges to discuss student issues in the small college environment,  including emerging technologies, the role of student development in the small college, demographic shifts, and mental health concerns at liberal arts colleges post Virginia Tech.

Gwen Dungy, Executive Director of the National Association of Student Personnel Administration was the keynote speaker for the event. Dungy, made the visit to Knox College to speak about social networking, communications with parents, and the important role that student development professionals share with faculty. ?Learning academically in the classroom is just one side of the coin. Creative learning and developing innovation is the other. You can?t separate the two. This is the advantage in a small liberal arts college.?

With more than 30 years of experience in higher education, Dungy is an accomplished speaker, leader, and educator. She has been executive director of NASPA since 1995, an advocate for students, and the national spokesperson for student affairs administrators and practitioners.

While at NASPA, she has pursued a number of initiatives designed to enhance the association's role in public policy, research, and professional development. Dungy is a licensed psychologist and a nationally certified professional counselor and career counselor.

Born between 1977 and 1996, they are known as the digital net generation. They scrutinize and are more skeptical of authority as they sift through information at the speed of light by themselves or with a group of their peers. This is a challenge for educators and was among the topics discussed at the conference.

Described as the next workforce, both Generation X and the digital net generation say, ?I am not going to devote my life to my job.? ?They are looking at balance. Their role models are the high tech people who dropped out of college and made a fortune,? Dungy says. ?We have to have a lot to offer them. I think this is the path for the liberal arts college. Preparing students for the 21st century examines the creative and innovative as well as the analytical.?

The conference was organized by Knox College?s Office of Student Development. Xavier Romano, Vice President of Student Development and Dean of Students at Knox College who identifies a shift in populations at small liberal arts colleges and says, ?If we want to attract a diverse student body, we want to look at how we are seen by them. We don?t want to be seen as exclusive and out of reach.?

Dungy emphasized this by adding, ?We need to let parents understand what college students are like today. They may have that one child coming but don?t understand what college students are like as a whole. That front line person who interacts with parents is a critical position.?

Dungy also touched on the newest communities: social networks. ?Social networks are a tool students use to form opinions before they set foot on campus. Parents are also forming opinions of colleges and roommates by looking at the social networks like Facebook.?

Most attendees agreed that the number one priority everywhere is safety and security. Where once students resisted locked dormitories, they now welcome the idea. ?Liberal arts colleges post Virginia Tech are reinforcing this security with key card entries. They are redesigning door handles and furnishing doors to lock from inside a room. There are all kinds of changes as a result of this tragedy.?

The conference was a first for Knox?s student development staff, but not its last. ?We?re already working on what we?ll do next year,? Romano adds.

Founded in 1837, Knox is a national liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, with students from 45 states and 44 nations. Knox?s ?Old Main? is a National Historic Landmark and the only building remaining from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.

Gwen Dungy, executive director of NASPA, gives the keynote talk in Seymour Library.

Above, a round table discussion on mental health concerns at liberal arts colleges; below, a session for senior student affairs officers with, from left, Jackie Condon of Monmouth College, Mike Edmonds of Colorado College, Xavier Romano of Knox College, and Kenneth Baxter of Eureka College.