Published: August 02, 2021
UT’s Office of Residence Life Receives Award for Assessment and Impact
UT’s Office of Residence Life was recently celebrated for using data-driven programs to support on-campus living. Skyfactor Benchworks, a Macmillan Learning company, recognized UT among seven colleges and universities with the Assessment and Impact Award for Housing and Residence Life.
The 2021 winners reflect diversity in institution type, size, location and initiatives, including: Emory University-Oxford College, Miles Community College, Millersville University of Pennsylvania, University of Alaska Southeast, University of Central Florida, University of Northern Colorado and UT.
The University of Tampa was recognized for significant improvement in survey scores related to academic initiatives and personal interactions.
“Residence life has never been both more challenging and more important than during the past year, as programs faced profound issues due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But housing programs carried on, made changes, adjusted and continued their work to improve the student experience,” said Steven Ray, vice president of enterprise solutions for Macmillan Learning. “The seven institutions recognized this year used data-driven insights to make meaningful improvements to the residential experience, and we’re proud to recognize their work.”
The University of Tampa was recognized for significant improvement in survey scores related to academic initiatives and personal interactions. The increase followed the implementation of a new residential education model called Spartan Living that feeds into campus-wide competency development and graduation-related initiatives.
Residence life has historically played an important role in building community, ensuring students' success in college and improving graduation rates. Several studies have documented the connection, which found that the students who reported that their housing experience helped them make connections with other students in their courses were more likely to report that their housing experience contributed to their overall learning.
The Assessment and Impact Award for Housing and Residence Life was established in 2019 to recognize colleges that demonstrate intentionality in using insights from data to improve their residence life programs. The winners were selected this spring through the company’s data-driven process. Macmillan Learning’s analytics and research team analyzed multiple years of data from the ACUHO-I/Benchworks Resident Assessment to identify programs with both consistently high scores and significant improvements in survey scores.
