Co-Curricular Assessment
KIPCOR – Conflict Resolution Certificate Program
The Conflict Resolution Certificate has historically served and been completed by a wide range of students: Bethel College undergraduate students who complete this as part of their undergraduate degree, “special” Bethel College students who are taking certificate classes for graduate credit to obtain professional development units or to supplement degrees from other institutions; and students completing the certificate for professional training and who are not enrolled at Bethel College. In addition, while this program is not a sanctioned certification for professional practice, SSC 460 and SSC 464 have been approved by the Kansas Supreme Court as required primary training under Supreme Court Rule 914 for individuals desiring to become approved Core or Domestic mediators in Kansas. Finally, it should be noted that two of the certificate courses, SSC 460 and SSC 464, are now taught via Zoom to make them more accessible to people across Kansas. Both courses were the first virtual mediation courses offered in Kansas (and the first approved by the Kansas Supreme Court’s Office of Judicial Administration). All courses are provided to improve students’ skills in handling conflict in diverse settings, including the workplace. The overall structure and schedule of the program is likely to change in the near future to respond to student needs and interest (both undergraduate and special/graduate credit or working professional students)
Athletics
The data gathered and assessed as part of this year’s co-curricular report indicates continued growth within the athletic department. Our goal to be more than just a department that wins on the athletic surface, but rather wins within all elements of a student-athletes’s college experience is displayed by evaluating the data collected in this report.
Areas of sustained growth this year can be seen within the Champions of Character scorecard. This NAIA national program, which measures all parts of each program in the country, continues to indicate that Bethel is enhancing the lives of our athletes. For the 5th consecutive year, Bethel was named an NAIA Champions of Character gold standard school. We were one of only 60 schools in the country to achieve this, but one of only 2 in Kansas to achieve this for five consecutive years. This is a significant accomplishment for the institution because the scorecard measures service, GPA, conduct in competition, and how athletes invest back into the local community through speaking opportunities to youth on Champions of Character topics.
Growth in retention was also seen this past year. Bethel retained 92.7% of its athletes this past year. This is significant considering the loss of a football coaching staff and two head soccer coaches. Bethel’s institutional focus on retention is seen across all campus entities.
An area of significant growth was the overall GPA this past year. Our last assessment report revealed this as an area of weakness. It is exciting to report that athletics had a cumulative GPA of 3.07 this past year, 0.14 higher than the previous year. This growth was an intentional focus within our athletic department.
Areas of growth within athletics are still needed within 4-year retention. We have more accurate data; tracking our athletic 4-year retention averages is vital. This number has improved significantly over the past three years but is not at the level we want to see. Improving this area will be an area of focus for athletics this coming year. Also, we must help our students who are underperforming academically to reduce the number of student-athletes on academic probation and suspension. While the overall GPA of the athletic department has increased, we must not lose sight of those under-performing students. We must identify these struggling students early and provide resourceful help to guide them toward graduation. Continuing to track this data will allow our athletic department to be intentional about serving our student-athletes, guiding them toward overall success in life beyond Bethel.
Career Services
Career and Leadership Development met one of the five goals. The department has seen a 66.5% increase in student engagement/appointments from 2020-2021 data. Objectives and goals must be re-evaluated to align with the overarching programming of The Thresher Way. It is important to continue examining the department’s advertising strategies to see how and which methods result in more student interaction.
Campus Ministries
Several in-person events returned to Campus Ministries in the 2021-22 school year, including Lighting of the Green and Fall Festival worship, though their formats still required distancing measures. These were welcome, traditional events for the Bethel community. Faith formation survey data analysis will affect how faith formation opportunities happen at Bethel College, at least in terms of Chapel planning & structure, which will involve more diverse voices and worship styles, to meet more student needs for faith and value formation. A summary goal of Campus Ministries might be to energize students about their faith journey while continuing to present Anabaptist-Mennonite values in stretching and compelling ways.
Residence Life
Student Programming continues to be a challenge in finding times when many students can attend and participate. With a limited budget, options are also quite limited, which was part of the purpose of collaborating. That part did work well, particularly with the end-of-year inflatable games, where expenses were shared across different budgets. This year, the goal is to focus on the smaller programs the community assistants organize and resource them to involve faculty/staff and other organizations to forge relationships across campus, share budgets, and provide opportunities for students to interact with faculty/staff outside the classroom setting.
In addition, the focus on maintaining clean and sanitary rooms using weekly health and safety checks is an effort to reduce damage and damage billing in the residence halls as well as building in residents a habit of cleaning every week that will continue with them when they graduate and move into their own living spaces. The college will provide vacuums, mops, and other cleaning supplies that can be checked out from a CA.
Student Activities and Engagement
While no goals were met for the 2021-2022 academic year, progress towards them is still clearly shown. For Goal #2, student leaders were nearly 100% for executing planned events. Due to communication issues (overlaps in schedules), this goal fell 5% short. For the 2022-2023 academic year, the Student Activities Council will have a better system of proposing events a semester ahead of time to keep them on track and accountable for their programs. A new goal for the 2022-2023 school year will focus on providing more support and guidance for the smaller Registered Student Organizations (RSOs) to encourage them to be more active on campus.
Student Life Operations
Conducting an audit of the Host family program will allow opportunities for stakeholders to help identify opportunities to improve the overall participation of students and families. The host family program is a very positive community connection impacted over the past few years due to the pandemic. Strategic planning and focus on processes will help steer it in the right direction and allow it to continue to thrive and meet the needs of our diverse population of students. It can impact retention, especially concerning our BIPOC student population.