"Given faculty acknowledgement that they didn't go to "professor school," we need to provide mandatory new faculty teaching training with ongoing training throughout faculty career."
"Always helps to be reminded what many of our students are experiencing outside the classroom and that many of them are attending college in very different circumstances than I did."
This year’s Tipping Point event will be squarely focused on the critical challenge of closing equity gaps in Chico State graduation rates and the work of the campus-wide Advancing Equity Project, led by the Graduation Initiative Team.
We have streamlined the event to minimize health concerns and limit time commitments in a very busy week. The shorter day (8:30 to 1:30) has been carefully planned to highlight critical data and best practices and offer opportunities for real engagement and feedback. See the schedule below for details on all the outstanding sessions. Although the opening plenary is virtual, the concurrent sessions and closing plenary will be available both online and safely in-person.
No registration is required for the event or individual sessions, but we do need your RSVP for catering counts on the complimentary breakfast and lunch. Please let us know by responding here if you are planning to pick up a grab-n-go breakfast and/or lunch on us!
Questions? Please reach out to Tipping Point Planning Co-Chairs Mary Wallmark (mwallmark@csuchico.edu) or Paul Bailey (pbailey@csuchico.edu).
| 8:00 - 8:30 | Complimentary Breakfast | Colusa 100 A and B Pick-Up and Go |
| 8:30 - 9:20 | Opening Plenary: "Advancing Equity Together" | |
| 9:30 - 10:45 | Grades, Grading, and Equity Workshop Bring a mobile device if attending in person. | Langdon 300 and Zoom(opens in new window) Limited in-person seating available |
| Starting Strong: First Year Orientation and Advising for Long-Term Success | Langdon 302 and Zoom(opens in new window) Limited in-person seating available | |
| 11:00 -11:45 | Roundtable: Sense of Belonging in the Classroom | Langdon 300 and Zoom(opens in new window) Limited in-person seating available |
| Roundtable: The Power of Peer Support | Langdon 302 and Zoom(opens in new window) Limited in-person seating available | |
| Roundtable: Simple Steps Towards Equity | BMU 203 and Zoom(opens in new window) Limited in-person seating available | |
| 12:00 - 12:30 | ||
| 12:30 - 1:30 | Bar Graphs and Banh Mi: This is an informal opportunity to explore student success and equity dashboards on large screens with staff from Institutional Research before picking up your gourmet banh mi lunch (End of event). | Colusa 100 A and B Take-away Lunch Pick-Up |
Opening Plenary: “Advancing Equity Together”
The day will commence with opening remarks from President Hutchinson, and an overview of the Advancing Equity project. Next, a powerful presentation from Chong Yang, Director of Enrollment Management Data Analytics and Operations, on the human stories behind every campus data point, and finally, inspiring accounts of tipping point moments from faculty and staff. Grab your breakfast burrito in Colusa 100 and hop on the livestream!
Grades, Grading, and Equity Workshop
In the first part of this session, Chiara Ferrari (FDEV) and Erik Wasinger (CHEM) will facilitate an introduction to the Faculty Grades and Equity Dashboard with opportunities for faculty to log into their own dashboards and explore ways to begin to close equity gaps in their courses. In the remainder of the session, Professors Ben Seipel (EDUC), Paul Bailey (MATH), and Rachel Teasdale (GEOS) will highlight equity-minded assessment practices using the CAREFUL framework (Culturally responsive, Authentic, Reflective, Ethical, Formative, Universal, and Learner-focused).
Starting Strong: First Year Orientation and Advising for Long-Term Success
Campus data shows that first semester success is critical to timely graduation. Advancing Equity Action Teams are working to redesign onboarding and advising practices to eliminate inconsistent advice and achieve defined outcomes. This session will highlight equity-driven changes to the Orientation process and the creation and validation of new advising learning outcomes. Feedback will be solicited from the campus community for the next phase of these projects to further propel student success. The session will also showcase a program-specific onboarding initiative aimed to improve placement and performance in first-semester Math courses. Presenters: Shawn Ryan (Orientation and New Student Programs), Kylee Sharp (HFA), Pablo Soto (Academic Advising), Jennifer McKee (College of ECC).
Roundtable: Sense of Belonging in the Classroom
Research shows powerfully that sense of belonging is critical to student persistence and success, especially for students who often do not see themselves represented in university culture and personnel. How do we make the classroom a space where belonging is built and sustained? Advancing Equity Team leads molly heck (SWRK, MCGS) and William Cuthbertson (Meriam Library) share current research on belonging and facilitate breakout discussions to share best practices.
Roundtable: The Power of Peer Support
The University has many robust and varied peer mentoring programs. Learn about a current project to inventory these programs, identify gaps, and develop a peer mentoring infrastructure that can support all incoming students. Sue Peterson (FYE) Brianna Ellis (Academic Advising), and Jennifer Harris (UED) will share initial findings on the impact and trajectory of campus peer support programs. Best practices and insights will be highlighted from the longstanding REACH first-year mentoring program (Jessica Dietrich) and a new pilot mentoring program for Black students (Brianna Ellis and Darnell Lee).
Roundtable: Simple Steps Toward Equity
Removing a cost barrier, changing some syllabus language, showing up at a new event: Sometimes the biggest impact on a given student comes from a simple action taken by a staff or faculty member. Hear from Mary Wallmark (Student Life and Leadership), Rachel Teasdale (GEOS), and others about some relatively easy ways to make high-impact changes.
Closing Plenary: "Power of Ordinary, Everyday Behaviors"
Provost Debra Larson introducs Interim Vice President for Student Affairs Tom Rios for a closing reflection on the power of ordinary practices. Seemingly ordinary, day-by-day things that we do and say can have an enormous impact on others - especially students. Whether having an unhurried conversation in a hallway, going on students' turf to learn more about their lives, or having a coffee and chat, we can enhance student success through relationship. This closing will provide thoughts on everyday behaviors that ANYONE can employ to advance student success.
