INTRODUCTION

Residences and residence life programs factor significantly in many students’ decisions in selecting an institution as well as in staying at an institution. Student life administrators serve a key role in creating a student learning-centred environment that fosters a sense of community and belonging within a safe living-learning context.

This edition of the SEM Canada newsletter presents hot topics in student residences and residence life programs, including:

1. Engaging Students in Residence Life
2. Pandemic Planning
3. Creating a Safe Living-Learning Context
4. Connecting with Commuters
5. Planning a Campus Around Students
6. Professional Resources

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  1. ENGAGING STUDENTS IN RESIDENCE LIFE

• Laval University - provides free bikes for students to use - Participants have access to more than 40 bikes, and they can use them for up to six hours at a time. Read more
• Mount Royal University - offers a "5 keys" Residence Life Program Model. Read more
• University of Toronto - promotes Residence Life Staff Training workshops and a portal community designed to ensure that Dons/RAs are fully prepared for their roles: Read more
• The University of Western Ontario - fosters a Whole Person Model to assist students in finding a balance among their academics and the many other facets of their lives.: Read more

  2. PANDEMIC PLANNING

Canadian Regions

• Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety
• Toronto

Alberta

• U of A

British Columbia

• SFU
• UBC
• University of Victoria
• UNBC

Ontario

• Carleton University
• Fanshawe College
• Humber College
• McMaster University
• Ryerson University
• The University of Western Ontario
• York U

Saskatchewan

• University of Saskatchewan

Other Provinces

• U of Manitoba
• University of New Brunswick

  3. CREATING A SAFE LIVING-LEARNING CONTEXT

• Stretching the Security Blanket - In a time of shrinking budgets and tough decisions, some colleges are cutting costs by merging their campus police departments -- but experts are cautioning against trimming too far. Read more
• Someone Watching Over You - In the face of growing concern over safety on campuses, a number of colleges and universities have turned to closed circuit television monitoring systems. Here’s a look at the approach of some schools and some tips from experts on surveillance cameras. Read more

  4. CONNECTING WITH COMMUTERS

• Commuters in Residence – The University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown offers a program for commuter students. Participation in this program provides commuting students with a room on campus where they can study, store belongings, and interact with residential students. Read more
• Providing As-Needed Housing for Your Commuters - Commuter students can, by their very nature, be a bit disconnected from campus life. Residing off campus, they often come in for classes and leave before evening activities begin. Without a residence hall connection, they miss some of the important programming that the university has to offer. Read more
• Living off-campus: How to feel connected - You can still experience the social aspect of university or college, even if you don't live in residence. Here are some tips from a student who lived off-campus her first year. Read more

  5. PLANNING A CAMPUS AROUND STUDENTS

• Student Housing: Especially for four-year institutions, a major part of the learning experience for undergraduate students is wrapped up in their housing situation while matriculating. The planning, design, construction, renovation, programming for, and policies regarding student housing are areas of interest . Read more
• Student and Residence Life: Planning a Campus Around Students- This article details the challenges that UC Merced faced in building up the critical areas of student and residence life. The new institution held great promise for achieving the ideal of a student-centered university, but certain bedrock problems proved difficult to overcome. Read more
• Student Housing Design: Check out information on dormitories, residence halls, and other housing for school and university students, compiled by the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities. Read more

  6. PROFESSIONAL RESOURCES

• Best Practices for Mandated Assessment of At-Risk Students - ...One key feature of successful mandated assessment is the quality of the communication between counseling and judicial affairs/residential life. Too often this relationship is overlooked, creating a division between these areas. Read more
• Report finds inter-institutional residence in Calgary feasible: According to a new report commissioned for the University of Calgary's student union, an inter-institutional residence can be a feasible and affordable accommodation option for PSE students in the city. Read more
• Online services allow students to shop for roommates - A growing number of institutions in the US have contracted with RoommateClick, a social-network-like service that lets students take the lead in finding a compatible residence roommate. Not only does the site remove some of the burden from residence-life officials, but it also makes students less likely to blame their school for roommate friction. RoomBug, a Facebook application in which users specify lifestyle preferences to find compatible matches, plans to release a university-based product this winter. Critics of these services argue that self-selection may foster insularity by encouraging first-year students to choose roommates that are just like them. See story, Match at First Site.
  See also.
  And Also.

  UPCOMING SEM CONFERENCES

• SEMM Forums (SEM and Marketing) in Canada - Gain indispensible knowledge and learn valuable best practices while networking with some of Canada’s top experts at the Strategic Enrolment Marketing & Management Forum 2009. Featured speakers include Dr. Jim Black, President & CEO of SEM Works; Mr. Ken Steele, Senior Vice President, Education Marketing of the Academica Group Inc.; Gary Fretwell, Senior Vice President and Principal, Noel-Levitz, Inc.; and Graham Donald, President of Brainstorm Consulting. Visit the website to register at a location near you.
  
  • Halifax (Nov 19)
  • Vancouver (Nov 24)
  • Toronto (Apr 23)
  As a sponsors of the SEMM Forum program, SEM Works is pleased to offer you the opportunity to save $50 by registering with this special discount code: SMK4
• 19th AACRAO Annual Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM XIX) Conference
  November 8 – 11, 2009, Dallas, Texas http://www.aacrao.org/sem19/
• The First-Year Experience Conference
  February 12-16, 2010 Denver, Colorado http://www.sc.edu/fye/events/annual/index.html
• 2010 Naspa Annual Conference
  March 6-10, 2010 Chicago, Illinois http://www.naspa.org/conf/default.cfm
• Noel-Levitz National Conference on Student Recruitment, Marketing, and Retention
  July 21-23, 2010, Atlanta, Georgia view website