Concurrent Session I: 10:00 a.m. – 10:50 a.m.

Content Concept Mapping: Building Success in the Nursing ProgramMendenhall Student Center Great Room 2

Presenters: Janice A. Neil, PhD, Rn, CNELisa A. Tuck, MSN, RN, CCRN

Description: The baccalaureate nursing program at East Carolina University selects students likely to graduate, become licensed, and contribute to a diverse workforce of registered nurses. These students come in with high grade point averages (~3.6). Despite being academically qualified, some struggle, especially in the first semester. In our program, many test questions require critical thinking and analysis related to patient scenarios. Over the past two years, we have developed a method of help and remediation to assist students to answer questions based on key words- Content Concept Mapping. This method takes lecture and book material and organizes it in a simple concise way. Some of the popular topics include cardiac nursing, nursing care of patients with diabetes, and respiratory nursing. The students enjoy the interaction, speaking out and helping the “teacher” at the board. At the end, they take a picture of the map with their phone cameras. This method builds confidence and fosters student engagement. For the faculty, it shows students our commitment to help them overcome the barriers to critical thinking, nurtures their interest and increases their success.

Developing GRIT through Leadership CompetenciesMendenhall Student Center Room 221

Presenters: Brian Stutz, Assistant Director of Student Affairs Assessment

Janis Steele, Associate Director Campus Wellness and Recreation

Georgia Childs, Associate Director Campus Recreation and Wellness

Description: Students develop grit in many different ways through personal involvements, parental influence and formative college experiences. Campus Recreation and Wellness is at the forefront of

those college experiences through our Student Leadership Development Competencies. Participants will explore how supervisors are teaching student employees about adaptability, effective reasoning, conflict resolution, integrity, initiative, mentorship, self-awareness, and communication through experiential learning. Presenters will share stories from current and former students about how they are utilizing these skills after graduation.

Exploring Grit in Teaching CandidatesMendenhall Student Center Great Room 3

Presenters: Dr. Kristen Cuthrell, Associate ProfessorDr. Joy Stapleton, Associate ProfessorDepartment of Elementary and Middle Grades

Description: This session will investigate the potential for using grit as a predictor of both performance and retention for teacher candidates. Analyses will be shared determining the predictive nature of the Grit Scale on teacher performance as measured by the edTPA. Determining the degree to which grit can predict teacher candidate performance is important, especially as states move toward requiring candidates to earn passing scores on the edTPA (and other similar measures) for licensure. Understanding the contribution of grit to the success of teacher candidates and their ability to become licensed has important ramifications for teacher preparation programs. If it is a significant predictor, for example, researchers could utilize this to predict which students might need additional experiences prior to graduation in order to guarantee success. Additionally, data will be shared regarding the viability of determining change in grit over the course of a teacher education program and how that change may be related to retention.

How to Get Grit: Ways to Promote Persistence and ResilienceMendenhall Student Center Room 244

Presenters: Marion Eppler, Associate Professor, PsychologyMarsha Ironsmith, Associate Professor, Psychology - Retired

Description: Persistence and resilience are personality traits critical to students’ academic success. Students who lack these characteristics, known as GRIT, may interpret normal first year challenges (e.g., loneliness, poor test scores) as evidence that they or people like them do not belong in college or are not smart enough to succeed. But

where does GRIT come from and how do we help students acquire it? One precursor to GRIT is a growth mindset in which students believe that intelligence can be expanded, rather than believing it is a fixed capacity. Carol Dweck and her colleagues have demonstrated that a growth mindset encourages students to invest more time and effort into challenging tasks, leading to higher achievement. In contrast, students with a fixed mindset feel that having to put in more work means they lack intelligence, so they often give up, preferring to look “lazy” rather than “stupid.” Empirically-supported interventions have used attitude-change methods to encourage both a growth mindset (Paunesku, Walton, Romero, Smith, Yeager & Dweck, 2015) and a sense of belonging (Walton & Cohen, 2011) in college students, and we will be discussing these methods using hands-on exercises. This discussion will: (1) introduce new ways to conceptualize students’ struggles, and (2) offer strategies for enhancing success.

Social-Emotional Learning Tactics to Use in Every ClassMendenhall Student Center Great Room 1

Presenters: Todd Finley, PhDEnglish Education Program, College of Education

Description: The idealized notion of a high functioning, stoic, student scholar is not realistic nor useful. Given the importance of the amygdala (the emotional center of the brain) for academic engagement, focus, and creativity (Zadina, 2014), contemporary coursework should socialize students into practices which allow them to effectively manage their emotions to optimize their academic performances. My presentation will introduce research-based strategies for integrating short social-emotional learning (SEL) skill building into every class, and teaching students tactical “neurohacks” to enhance their performance and lower anxiety. Tactics include low-stakes quizzes, a model SEL retreat used in ENED and HIED, box breathing, and priming. Finally, the presentation will discuss SEL tactics employed by the most popular professor at Harvard.

Promoting Motivationally and Educationally Productive Behaviors with Collaborative Group TestingMendenhall Student Center Room 15

Presenter: Ronald N. Cortright

Department of Kinesiology and Physiology

Description: Students must understand how to learn, unlearn and relearn. This will require that students take initiative for learning, are skilled in learning, and want to learn new things. Learning occurs when students have intrinsic motivation and personal interest in the educational material. The purpose of this presentation is to provide background and techniques on the use of collaborative testing as a tool to motivate student learning, reduce test anxiety, and increase retention of acquired knowledge obtained from face to face classroom lectures.

Concurrent Session II: 11:00 a.m. – 11:50 a.m.

Engaging Learners in Active Learning and Universal Design for Learning Utilizing Student

AutonomyMendenhall Student Center Great Room 3

Presenter: Jan Tillman, DNP, FNP-BC College of Nursing, Graduate Division Clinical Assistant Professor

Description: Teaching strategies and student engagement are keys to transforming information to knowledge and knowledge to wisdom. Using non-traditional strategies to mitigate the potential variability of learning styles among students will assist student learners in that transformation of knowledge. Coupling active learning strategies and the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) has the potential to improve translation of information into formative, significant learning for students involved in graduate and professional education. Layering student autonomy in assignment selection over the attributes of UDL and active learning can result in translatable learning and

critical thinking that is both deep and wide. This presentation will guide participants through the principles of active learning and UDL and will culminate in application of the discussion utilizing the theoretical underpinnings of student autonomy in assignment choice/selection.

Factors Affecting Graduate Student PersistenceMendenhall Student Center Room 221

Presenters: Paul Gemperline, PhD, Dean, Graduate SchoolKathleen T. Cox, PhD., Associate Dean, Graduate School

Description: Persistence in academia is a term describing the behaviors that a student performs that ultimately lead to graduation. At the graduate school level, ensuring persistence is a complex task fraught with layers of complications that oftentimes are not apparent to program directors or faculty mentors. This session will describe the complex factors that affect persistence at the graduate level and provide suggestions for best practices that programs or departments can implement to assist graduate students in reaching graduation.

Get HIP: High Impact Practices and Student SuccessMendenhall Student Center Great Room 2

Presenters: Alex Senior, Assessment Associate, Institutional Planning, Assessment, Research

Marcy Regan, Assessment Associate, Institutional Planning, Assessment, Research

Kristen Dreyfus, Outcomes Assessment Coordinator, Institutional Planning,

Assessment, ResearchSusan Morrissey, Research Associate, Institutional Planning,

Assessment, Research

Description: The purpose of this conference presentation will be to explore East Carolina University’s (ECU) 2015 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) data surrounding high impact practices (HIP) in relation to educational program assessment. Quantitative data from seniors will be explored in conjunction with qualitative assessment reports to examine the use of high impact practices and the effect on student learning. The use of HIPs at ECU has continued to increase since 2009, and in 2015 results showed that of those who responded to NSSE, 51% of seniors completed a capstone or senior

project; 53% completed an internship or field experience; and 70% of seniors took a course that included a community-based project. These experiential learning opportunities could serve as data collection methods for program assessment. Therefore, it is important to analyze our assessment data to share examples of assessment practices and successful curricular improvements that demonstrate quality student learning.

Integrating Diversity Training into Experiential learningMendenhall Student Center Great Room 1

Presenters: Nancy Harris, MS, RDn, LDN, FADA, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of

Nutrition Science, College of Allied Health Sciences

Description: Undergraduate education, while often focused on discipline specific professional preparation, should also enhance overall personal growth and development. Life skills more intricately evolve from personal experiences rather than structured readings or classroom based activities. Experiential learning onsite in a global environment encourages critical thinking, holistic learning, stimulates students to continue to expand their diversity training, cultural competence and awareness of global issues. University administrators, faculty and academic advisors should encourage and support students to have the courage to expand their boundaries of discovery, strengthen their self-confidence, enhance their sense of purpose and greatly expand the outcomes of their growth as an undergraduate student.

Panel Discussion on Agents of Change: Strategies for Developing Students into Active CitizensMendenhall Student Center Hendrix Theatre

Presenters: Rebecca Dumlao, Professor, School of CommunicationsJohn Howard, Professor, School of Communication

Dennis McCunney, PhD, Director Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement

Lauren Howard, Assistant Director, Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement Tara Kermiet, Associate Director, Center for

Leadership and Civic Engagement Nichelle Shuck, Associate Director, Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement

Description: Today’s rapidly changing world requires students to be leaders that help bring about positive change and solutions to complex community problems or persistent issues. How might we address the leadership competencies that develop students as organizers of civic action? This panel will present strategies for collaborative communication, sharing and receiving empathy through compassionate communication, followship as leadership, student leadership competencies, student leaders as facilitators of critical reflection, and partnership-based leadership education linking co-curricular leadership learning, academic coursework, and civic engagement.

Striving to Maintain Tenacity: An Ode to Self-Care and ResiliencyMendenhall Student Center Room 15Presenters: Janelle Keller, Coordinator Campus Living

Amanda Wright, Coordinator Campus Living

Description: For this presentation the presenters will discuss promotion of self-care and resiliency for professional staff members and how these affect our work with students. As professionals, we face certain “crises” presented in our personal lives that we could potentially carry to work with us, whether intentionally or inadvertently. This poses the question: How can we as professionals encourage our students to be resilient, have balance, and harmony in their lives if we are not implementing the same in our lives? This session will interactively encourage student affairs professionals to take care of their physical, mental, and spiritual health. In turn, we can become more intentional in our interactions with students, particularly when they are experiencing a personal or academic crisis.

REBOUND: Another Word for GRIT!Mendenhall Student Center Room 244

Presenters: Kelly Reddick, Academic Advisor, College of Fine Arts & Communications

Elizabeth Coghill, Director, Pirate Academic Success Center Joann Ericson, Academic Advisor, College of Health and Human

Performance

Description: The transition to college is often difficult, with many students experiencing a rocky first year. Initiated in August 2016, the REBOUND program was designed for students who finished their first year at ECU with <2.0 cumulative GPA. Students enrolled in REBOUND participated in a two-day workshop offered prior to the start of 2017 fall semester. The workshop was designed to strengthen academic skills, discuss past challenges, and strategies for future success. Presenters will share a summary of students’ pre-conference self-assessment which underscores the academic, personal, and family struggles they experienced during their first year at ECU; the program format and activities; students’ post-conference assessment; and lessons learned during the inaugural year of the program for future improvements.

Concurrent Session III 1:00 p.m. – 1:50 p.m.

Building Student Success through Mindfulness and Resiliency-focused ProgrammingMendenhall Student Center Great Room 2

Presenters: Leslie Veach, Staff Counselor/Group Coordinator, Center for Counseling and

Student DevelopmentLauren Thorn, Interim Associate Dean, Dean of StudentsZachary Evans, Student Support Specialist, Dean of Students

Description: With “resiliency” creating a buzz on campuses over the past few years, many departments and offices have created programming to help students build skills and utilize methods incorporating meditation, mindfulness and other therapeutic techniques. This presentation will introduce the models of Acceptance

and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and other mindfulness-based approaches that can be utilized to build resiliency in students and ourselves as educators.   A review of the history and development of resiliency-focused programming at ECU, along with an overview of current offerings on campus will be provided. Presenters will also give examples of how these practices can be applied to our work with students, as well as personal opportunities to model key concepts through our own actions and thinking.

Exploring and Building Resiliency in UndergraduatesMendenhall Student Center Room 244

Presenters: Kathy Hill, Director Student Affairs Assessment, Research & Retention

Dr. Lynn Roeder, Associate Vice Chancellor and Dean of Students, with members from

the Student Resilience Working Group

Description: Increasing numbers of students experience difficulties leading to disciplinary action as well as need for psychosocial interventions from campus support systems. These students are at-risk for departure from college as well as being challenged by stressors that can have long term mental and personal impact. During spring 2015, the Student Resilience Project was launched to understand the characteristics and outcomes associated with students seeking and/or needing specialized support. In particular, the intent is to use institutional data about ECU students to inform interventions and educational experiences that increase student resilience when facing adversity and stress. The purpose of this presentation is to provide an overview of the project and the importance of student resilience, share results from the current data analysis, and highlight educational interventions that have been implemented. Discussion will focus on future steps as well as implications for practice in the campus community.

Loss of Passion in Teaching has Negative Impact on Students’ Academic Success

Mendenhall Student Center Great Room 3

Presenter: Michael Daniels, College of Health and Human Performance/School of Social Work

Description: College faculty face many new challenges to ensure that students who are accepted and enrolled into collegiate programs become successful in the classroom despite their lack of preparedness for college level work. As a result, many new instructors who start out highly motivated and long term-experienced instructors are quickly becoming frustrated and are losing their passion for teaching. This presentation attempts to highlight the correlation between instructor’s passion for teaching and students’ success in the classroom. Based on over 20 years of teaching experience it is hypothesized that, the higher the level of passion faculty have for teaching, grades of students’ increase correspondingly and faculty who have lower levels of passion, the grades of students decrease. This presentation will assist in helping faculty to regain and enhance their passion for teaching, provide practical useful techniques to impact the mindset of the new emerging student population and solicit a recommit to having fun in one’s teaching environment.

Meet the (Dishonest, disgusting, lying) PressMendenhall Student Center Great Room 1

Presenters: John Harvey, Director Student MediaCherie Speller, Administrative Support Specialist, Student

Media

Description: Everyone hates the press, right? But what happens when the press is made up of students tasked with covering their own university? This presentation will bring together student journalists from The East Carolinian to explore how they persist in the face of sometimes hateful, sometimes unreasonable, often hurtful criticism of their work. We will explore what journalistic integrity means to them, how it relates to their commitment to supplying the ECU community with news and how the negative feedback impacts them as members of the Pirate Nation themselves.

Microaggression: Mitigating their Impact on Underrepresented Student SuccessMendenhall Student Center Room 15

Presenter: Wanda D. Tyler, MA, NCC, Director of Intercultural Affairs

Description: Being a college student has the potential to be stressful for everyone: you’re spending time thinking about your childhood as you’re navigating the early years of adulthood; seeking connection with peers and the community through participation in organizations and service opportunities; and making decisions about your future personal and professional goals. For students who have at least one underrepresented identity, the stress is often exacerbated by incidents of discrimination—both subtle and blatant—which can negatively impact student success. This presentation explores the topic of microaggressions—the everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults…which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership (Sue, D. W. et. al. 2010)—and how underrepresented students and their allies can work towards mitigating their negative impact.

Focus and Targets of Intervention to Enhance Psychological Well-being and Academic Outcomes of First-Year Students Mendenhall Student Center Room 221

Christyn Dolbier, Department of PsychologyJeremy Tuchmayer, Student Affairs Assessment, Research, and RetentionBeverly King, Institutional Planning, Assessment, and ResearchEast Carolina University

Introduction: The transition to college can be a stressful time for students as they adjust to new living, social, and academic environments, and work toward autonomy and identity development. Exposure to these stressors, coupled with students’ developmental gaps in coping ability make this population particularly vulnerable to resultant psychological and academic difficulties. College student stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms are increasing steadily as are the demands on student counseling centers. While it is not always possible to eliminate sources of stress, it is possible (and some argue

more practical and effective) to enhance dispositional factors that can help students adapt and succeed. Research supports the benefits and modifiability of the dispositional factors of resilience (Shatkin, Diamond, Zhao, DiMeglio, Chodaczek, & Bruzzese, 2016) and growth mindset ((Paunesku, Walton, Romero, Smith, Yeager, & Dweck, 2015). Optimism and grit have also been researched in this context, with more mixed results. These dispositional factors have not all been examined together, in relation to both psychological and academic outcomes, or in relation to demographic variables. Doing so will aid identifying which factors may be the most beneficial to focus interventions on, and who may be most in need of those interventions.

Concurrent Session IV 2:00 p.m. – 2:50 p.m.

Be Active to Get “GRIT-ty”Mendenhall Student Center Great Room 221

Presenters: Katrina d. DuBose, PhD, Associate Professor, KinesiologyBhibha M. Das, PhD, MPH, Associate Professor, Kinesiology

Description: Few college students (~40%) engage in physical activity on a regular basis. Physical activity reduces anxiety and depression while improving mood. Moreover, physical activity is positively related with academic success. An emerging area of research is the role physical activity has in the development of grit and resiliency, which are predictors of long-term success. The purpose of this presentation is to examine the role physical activity may have in the development of grit in college students. The goals of this presentation will be to: 1) summarize the research examining the relationship between physical activity, grit, and resiliency, 2) discuss global and ECU-specific strategies using physical activity as a method to enhance grit and resiliency, and 3) identify techniques that can be implemented in the future at ECU to enhance student success both at ECU and post-ECU.

Equity and Excellence: A Panel Discussion on the Retention of African American Students at

ECU and Implementations for the Honors CollegeMendenhall Student Center Hendrix Theatre

Presenters: Keith Keene, Department of BiologyShawn Moore, Center for STEM EducationJames Coker, Department of Undergraduate AdmissionsGlensesha Berryman, Honors College Crystal R. Chambers, Department of Educational Leadership

Description: This September, ECU News Services reported that retention rates at the university have continued in an upward direction with over 80% of first year students in 2015 returning to ECU. Retention rates among African American students at the university have been even higher, which may speak to the value of the ECU community as a supportive environment for students of color. Higher retention rates notwithstanding, enrollments of African American students in the Honors College are low. As part of its founding principles, a primary goal of the Honors College is to attract and retain students of excellence at the university. Most recently, the Honors College announced a target to double the number of students enrolled; however there is no current strategy to recruit a group of students, who within the general population, the institution is most likely to retain. Panelists bring a wide range of perspectives including that of students, faculty, and professional staff, welcoming session participants to join in a dialogue towards the development of strategies to increase the representation of African American students in the Honors College.

Fostering Resilience and Development in Undergraduate Nursing Students: NURS 3005Mendenhall Student Center Great Room 3

Presenters: William Hitt, MS, LPC, NCC, DCC, Academic Counselor, College of Nursing

Lou Everett, EdD, RN, LMFT, Assistant to the Dean, College of Nursing

Description: The College of Nursing’s progression policy states that if a student fails two courses they are removed from the program, barring extenuating circumstances. Therefore, the failure of a single course is often cause for alarm. When a student fails a course in the College of

Nursing, they are typically only allowed to re-take the core course in question the following semester, and may not continue with progression. When this occurs, our Academic Advisors suggest that the student also register for NURS 3005: Academic Development in Nursing Education. In this course, students learn more about themselves and about the ways in which they will need to study, take tests, think, and manage time and stress levels to be successful in nursing school. In addition, we address the emotional wound of failing a course, as it is extremely rare that our competitive nursing students have ever failed a course prior. We empower the students through a support group style, and encourage them to be both proactive and assertive in receiving the knowledge and training they are here for. In short, we help our students develop GRIT. In the Spring 2016 semester, 95% of students that completed NURS 3005 passed their previously-failed course. In Fall 2015, that number was 100%. The presenters feel that the structure and content of the course might be beneficial to share with other academic campus departments, especially those with high-achieving students.

How to Achieve Excellence while Balancing Academic and Personal RequirementsMendenhall Student Center Great Room 2

Presenter: Carol Ann King, PhD, DNP, MSN, FNP-BC, CPT USARClinical Associate Professor, College of Nursing DNP/Nursing

Practitioner Program

Description: Developing resiliency takes mindful attention to competing obligations and responsibilities. Many students have never faced the magnitude of demands they will experience in their academic career. Fostering resiliency is a learned skill of which faculty and staff can integrate into the classroom, distance learning environment, and student life. This presentation will present specific resiliency techniques and resources to promote student resiliency and academic success. Based on the resilience training offered through my armed forces experience, evidence-based interventions will be presented in an interactive format with practical participant exercises to raise awareness of personal and student resilience potential. One special focus of discussion will include working with students with past or current military experience.

Supporting Mixed Race Students at ECUMendenhall Student Center Room 244

Presenters: Aracelis Figueroa, Coordinator, Campus Living Nicole Acker, Coordinator, Campus Living

Description: Beginning in 2000, the United States Census allowed individuals to select more than one category in regards to race. Of the 6.8 million people who indicated more than one race on this census, 40% were under the age of eighteen, predicting an increase in the number of multiracial students on college campus (Jaschik, 2006 as cited in Shang, 2008). However despite this increase, often times, the Mixed Race College Student Population is forgotten about and roped into different racial categories. Looking at the percentage of mixed race students on ECU’s campus, the presenters will educate the participants on the mixed race population at ECU through statistics and student stories and share recommendations for further support.

Teaching with True “Grit”Mendenhall Student Center Great Room 1

Presenter: Cynthia Deale, PhDProfessor School of Hospitality leadership, College of Business

Description: “Grit” (growth, resiliency, integrity, and tenacity) is a means toward success, and as author Tahari Jones says, “If there was ever a time to boil up some grits it is now.” Moreover, instructors can play a major role in helping students develop “grit” in positive ways. A major component of “grit” is sustained attention toward long-term goals and students may lack this capacity; however, instructors may help nurture their students’ passion, persistence, and perseverance for learning and for life. For that reason, this presentation focuses on strategies that instructors can use to help students develop their own “grit.” Topics discussed in this session include making learning relevant and meaningful, helping students rise to the challenge of tackling difficult topics, helping students to develop persistence, engaging students in active learning with high expectations, respecting diverse ways of learning, demonstrating to students that you care about them, and building a community of learners. This presentation session will involve the participants actively throughout the session.