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Academic Work-Out: Bridging Silos in Student Success Work

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Written by
Dan Cavanagh, Professor of Music, Chair of the Department of Music at UT Arlington, and Chair of the Faculty Advisory Council at The University of Texas System

In today's higher education environment, we are rightfully concerned with the success of our students. Not only do we wish to ensure that the delivery of our education contributes to high graduation rates but also that the value of an education means more than incurring debt to get a better job later in life. The longstanding principles of higher education, which are enshrined in most university mission statements, involve preparing students to contribute to society in myriad ways that involve not only civic participation but also intellectual contribution; not only service to fellow humans, but, yes, better prospects for social mobility through increased employment opportunities and potential for growth throughout one's life.

However, gone are the days of relying solely on students to ensure their own success. As a faculty member, I still feel strongly that students bear a great deal of responsibility for their own achievements. However, our American system of education doesn't always do a great job of giving students the tools to be successful across all parts of college life. Many of the common stressors students face—financial, family obligations, health conditions both physical and mental, conformational pressures to study in a certain field driven by workforce needs—are not easily overcome by even those students who come exceptionally prepared to succeed academically in college.

Our modern institutions can no longer embrace the sole paradigm of faculty delivering knowledge to students, who then take that knowledge and apply it to their career and lives. To that end, institutions of higher education have entire teams of staff members dedicated to helping students achieve their goals. Many of the things students need to learn about leading a full life and being a successful college student involve those parts of life that exist outside of the fifteen hours a week a full-time student is in class. However, how many faculty have the opportunity or experience of working with these teams? We are familiar with siloing within the teaching and research contexts: interdisciplinary research is still the exception rather than the norm, we organize ourselves into departments, and unless we are in a leadership position of some sort, it's rare to see colleagues outside our own department or building in a given week.

While researching the origins of the silo effect, I learned from Ron Ashkenas' 2015 article in Harvard Business Review1 that Jack Welch (former CEO of General Electric) is widely regarded as the one who first recognized and then tackled this problem so effectively through what he called the GE "Work Out" process. In this process, people from many different levels, areas, and groups come together with a senior leader to work out issues and make decisions on the spot. This is parallel to our concept of task forces in higher education. Bringing together folks from various levels, offices, and functions within a university is often an academic "Work Out."

As faculty who care about student success, we should pursue deliberate approaches to this problem of artificial barriers by employing the "Work Out" process to break down the thick silos constructed around academics, student affairs, admissions, advising, financial aid, development, and other central functions of a university. For a good example of our higher education colleagues tackling this very issue, I suggest you read Adrianna Kezar's and Elisabeth Holcombe's article in Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning about a collaborative project at California State University2. Note also their counter to silos—the concept of bridging. There are a number of ways to punch through these walls—inclusive committees or task forces representing each of these areas (and don't forget about the student perspective itself!), holding learning sessions, creating documents that telegraph each other's responsibilities, or rethinking how we do core onboarding and off-boarding functions for students (think orientation, registration, and graduation) are just a few ideas that can move the needle. At UT Arlington, I serve on a task force with a number of people from across our university who are dedicated to student success—folks from academic leadership, faculty, executive leadership, student affairs, enrollment management, and academic advising. What we have come to realize by working together regularly is that regardless of each of our daily responsibilities, we each share a passion for helping student achieve their goals. The modern academic enterprise relies on people working in each of these areas to grease the wheels for student success.

As our world becomes even more interconnected, and our students face a different world than the one we encountered when many of us attended college, it is important to adapt to the way we think about student success. Active classroom teaching methods, online or expanded access to critical university functions, or open educational resources for students have now become nearly routine ways to encourage student success. But rethinking administrative or leadership structures to focus them around the critical aspects of student success still remains a rarity. At your own institution, push for these types of structural changes in your student success conversations—our students, and society, will ultimately benefit.

Guest writer Dan Cavanagh is a composer and pianist who has garnered numerous awards in both areas. He received a 2009 gold medal prize from the National Academy of Music's International Music Prize for Excellence in Composition, and his jazz piano trio was a finalist in the 2013 Bucharest International Jazz Competition. Cavanagh is the founding Artistic Director and pianist of the American Jazz Compsers Orchestra, a big band dedicated to performing music written by living American composers. He has performed with Grammy winners Joe McCarthy and Irma Thomas, and many leading jazz musicians. Cavanagh serves as Professor of Music, Chair of the Department of Music at The University of Texas at Arlington, and Chair of The University of Texas System's Faculty Advisory Council.

 

1 https://hbr.org/2015/09/jack-welchs-approach-to-breaking-down-silos-still-works, accessed Feb. 15, 2019

2 Kezar, A., & Holcombe, E. (2018). How organizational silos and bridges shape success: The CSU STEM collaboratives project. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 50(2), 48-56. doi: 10.1080/00091383.2018.1483180.