Beede, Martha, & Burnett, Darlene. (Eds.). (1999). Planning for Student Services: Best Practices for the 21st Century. Ann Arbor, MI: Society for College and University Planning.
Pp. xii + 150
$40 ISBN 0-9601608-9-2
Reviewed by Gypsy M. Denzine
Northern Arizona University
March 26, 2003
Planning for Student Services: Best Practices for the 21st Century, edited by Martha Beede and Darlene Burnett, represents a significant contribution to the higher education literature and is a useful and important resource for educators involved in student services change processes. Supported by IBM, this book features work from respected leaders who have reshaped the present and future of the student services profession. It is the practical utility and rich examples of best practices that make this book so valuable to individuals responsible for process redesign.
The stated purpose of Planning for Student Services is to “help planners, administrators, and student services professionals gain a better understanding of the changes emerging in student services and demonstrate how innovative leaders are responding to these challenges successfully “ (p. v).
The book is organized into four sections. In the first section, the chapter authors focus on Creating a Student Centered Environment. Part 2 contains chapters related to Redesign as the Change Agent. Technology as the change agent is the theme for 7 chapters in Part 3. Finally, the two chapters in section 4 speak to Planning for Success: Key Considerations for successful transformation. The book begins with an introductory chapter in which the editors provide an overview of the compelling need for change in student services operations. According to Beede and Burnett, the changing demographics of students have challenged the traditional model of student services, which they refer to as “functional silos.” Functional silos have created the situation whereby students fill out forms, wait in line, and are sent from one office to another. This situation is problematic because the majority of students today want services “any time, any place” and are comfortable and want self-service options. Addressing student satisfaction with services is not the only compelling reason for change. As Anderson and Elliot point out in Chapter 6, redesigning student services can facilitate enrollment management efforts and be a part of an institutions’ student retention strategy. Ramons and Vallandingham make a case in their chapter for changing student services in support of college students’ psychosocial development. As a final rationale, Campanella and Owens explain in their chapter that the impetus for changing student services at Boston College was not driven by student complains but rather due to the extensive list of changes and goals for the campus, which required new resources. Hence, in educating the Boston College community about the need for changing student services, they communicated the goals relative to attracting the best graduate students, which requires increasing stipends.
This book is likely to be most useful to individuals who have recognized the need for change at their institution and are ready to begin the planning phase for restructuring student services. It should be noted that the examples in this book reveal that changing student services frequently involves major revisions to other divisions within the institution such as; facilities, human resources, faculty roles and functions, and athletics.
The editors explicitly state in their introduction that there is no one model for all institutions. Therefore, they collected a wide variety of prototypes of best practices. For instance, McCauley’s chapter illustrated how the Internet was used to enhance the experience of transfer students at Ball State University. The book also draws upon examples from different types of institutions including community colleges, large public universities, and small private liberal arts colleges.
One of the strengths of this book is the small text box that appears in each chapter, which provides the reader with a quick visual overview of the change process for each institution. The box lists nine major trends and a coding for the current implementation phase. Thus, a reader interested in change within a large institutional setting can see that the University of Minnesota reported they are in the planning stage of providing web-enabled career services and have completed the implementation phase for a web-driven advising system. In addition to the summary text box, chapter authors provide information on the planning process, role of campus leaders, critical factors related to their success, and in some cases examples of failures and lessons learned.
This book is not a “how to” manual. No one could read this book and then follow specific steps for success. However, it does have the potential to guide individuals who are looking for possible to consultants to hire or identify specific campuses, which might make for a productive visit. Most importantly, this book suggests what educators can expect during the change process. First, change takes time as evidenced by the University of Delaware, which began making systemic changes in 1988. Second, the need for teamwork, communication with all campus members, and the need for ongoing job training require an extensive commitment by everyone within the institution. In regards to teamwork, all institutions in this book relied heavily on multidisciplinary teams, ranging from 20-90 individuals, in order to plan and implement the change process.
While a very comprehensive example of best practices, there are a few places where more information would have strengthened this book. First, the book primarily focuses on the large student services units (i.e., admissions, registration, financial aid, billing). There is also a need to consider how other student service areas might integrate with the change model. For example, what are the implications of the change process for student activities, multicultural student centers, leadership programs, and judicial affairs? Second, more information about the estimated costs associated with the change process per institution during the planning and implementation phases would have been useful. Third, it would have been helpful for authors to discuss their plan and strategy for assessing the effectiveness of their change process. For example, do implementing a web-enabled registration and advising system increase student retention? Finally, although several chapter authors mention that faculty member’s roles and functions will change, there is a need for more information describing in what specific ways faculty members will experience change.
The authors definitely meet their goal of providing a book of innovative best practices. The importance of works such as Planning for Student Services: Best Practices for the 21st Century cannot be understated. This book is a useful and important resource for any administrator and student services professional involved in enrollment management, strategic planning, or the design of environments based on a student-centered philosophy. The reader will finish this book with a deep understanding that adapting a college or university’s environment to provide students with self-service, any time and any place, really is in the best interest of the 21st century student.
About the Reviewer
Gypsy M. Denzine, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at Northern Arizona University. She currently serves as the Interim Associate Dean in the College of Education. She has served as the Coordinator of the M.Ed. in Counseling: Student Affairs graduate program at NAU. In addition, she has served as Coordinator of the Ed.D. in Educational Psychology: Learning & Instruction doctoral program at NAU. Her research interests focus on college student development, academic self-regulation, college student achievement motivation, and teacher self-efficacy.
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