Below are some of the activities and programs that the SMART Program has coordinated or attended during the 2006-2007 academic year:

SMART Creed

As a SMART Mentee, I will strive to achieve academic excellence, participate in SMART sponsored events, and make an earnest effort to get to know other students in my residence hall community.

CAACURH (http://www.bgsu.edu/caacurh)

Contacts:

Overview

CAACURH, which stands for the Central Atlantic Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls, is a regional organization that strives to improve residence hall communities and build leadership on the student level.  Each year, multiple conferences are held on the regional level, including our regional conference and No Frills Conference.  The No Frills Conference helps student leaders in the region effectively prepare for the upcoming regional conference as well as the NACURH Conference, which is held on the national level. 

This year, the CAACURH Conference will be held at Bowling Green State University from November 9-11, 2007!   Conference Student Chair, Katrina Barton, will lead a group of talented, motivated student leaders and their advisors to ensure a successful student leadership conference experience.  The theme of 2007 Conference is “Leadership Shaken Not Stirred” and will continue to prove that leadership is really the ultimate high of a college student for this alcohol and drug free conference.  The conference philanthropy is The Ronald McDonald House, where the different schools will be collecting pop tabs to donate. 

More about CAACURH

According to their web site, “CAACURH is comprised of members from Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia

CAACURH is one of 8 regions that make up NACURH, which is the National Association of College and University Residence Halls. The regions are: GLACURH (Great Lakes), MACURH (Midwest Atlantic), NEACURH (Northeast), IACURH (Intermountain), SAACURH (South Atlantic), SWACURH (Southwest), and PACURH (Pacific).

NACURH is the largest student-run, non-profit organization in the Unites States and claimed worldwide. The purpose of the organization is to "design and facilitate programs and informational services to promote the educational goals of residence hall students through discussion groups, seminars, and speakers at the annual conferences and other means of information exchange through the year."

There are two major ways in which NACURH attempts to fulfill its goals. First is the generation of new and fresh ideas for all college and university campuses by providing an "environment" for those ideas to grow. This "environment" takes the form of conferences, both national and regional, that are attended by member schools delegations every year. These conferences provide an opportunity for enhancing leadership skills, developing new program ideas, and revitalizing motivation among delegates.

Second, is the maintenance of a viable communication network between all colleges and universities. This is best accomplished through the effective use of the National Information Center and the services it offers, in connection with the National Communications Coordinator from each school.

By taking an active role in NACURH and the services it has to offer, each resident hall student can help this organization accomplish its basic goal of improving residence halls nationwide.”

A-PLUS Committee (http://restech.bgsu.edu/aplus)

Contacts:      

 Mission and Overview

A-PLUS stands for Actively Promoting Learning and Undergraduate Success. Our committee serves the Resident Advisors and SMART Mentors in their efforts to promote, recognize and foster academic success in our B!G community!  We accomplish such efforts through the following ways:

• Encouraging, recognizing, and publicizing creative and unique academic programming happening in Residence Education
• Providing support to our peers with our committee’s own academic resources and programming efforts
• Supporting campus-wide initiatives
• Assessing the environment of our communities
• Recognizing academic excellence of students and staff and targeting ways to help residents who are struggling academically

This year, the A+ committee members act as a liaison to their individual staffs for disseminating information and gathering insight and feedback for the committee to consider.  Each member has a specific role within the team to provide synergy and progress towards our goals and outcomes.  At the same time, we, as leaders of this committee, should strive to be Academic role models ourselves and share our Intellectual and Spiritual Growth by contributing to make this a Falcon A+wesome year for everyone!

A-PLUS Committee Leadership Positions

A+ Chair/Secretary (2): These two leaders will determine the direction of the committee throughout the year.  They will be responsible for planning meetings with collaboration from Mike, Matt, and Dr. H.  For each meeting, minutes should be taken by these members and emailed to the committee for disseminate reports to their respective staffs/group.

Program Coordinator (2): These leaders will be responsible for heading up program discussions with the other committee representatives that A+ will implement or co-sponsor this year.  These coordinators will also plan out a timeline and logistics to successfully help the group implement the events.

 Recognition Specialist (2): These leaders will lead recognition efforts to serve both positive and restorative needs within our student groups.  This responsibility will cover looking for appropriate times and ways to recognize outstanding academic achievement/efforts made by faculty, SMART Leaders, Resident Advisors, and student populations.  In the past this has been done through small trinkets, BG News advertising, certificates, and OTMs.  The specialists will also devise ways for our staffs to address poor academic performance and assist students who are struggling with classes.

Faculty Database Administrator (1): The faculty database administrator will be responsible for being the point person on our committee to head up questions from RAs and SMART leaders, administering a protocol for using the database, and working with the A+ committee to keep it maintained and recognize the faculty contributions.

Newsletter Editors (2):  These editors will be responsible for assigning and collecting editorials on academic success from members on our committee (including themselves) as well as leaders in our community, highlighting academic resources and events on campus, and spotlighting academic happenings within our halls and leadership initiatives.  Distribution of this newsletter will likely be electronic on both our web site and through listprocs.  

Website Administrator (1): The website administrator will be responsible for the technical side of keeping the website refreshed, up-to-date, and aligned with the vision of the website content editors and the rest of the committee.  This leader will also work with Stephen Jenkins, our Specialist for Emerging Technologies. A solid understanding of web design using Macromedia Dreamweaver is essential.

Website Content Editors (3): These three editors will be responsible throughout the year for deciding what content needs updated on the website, as well as creating what needs added on a monthly basis.  This committee will also be responsible for collecting academic bulletin boards, program overviews, and other academic material that will be helpful for RA and SMART staff to utilize for future programming and academic resource needs.  Other responsibilities may be required such as posting slides to WRSA channels.

Social Justice Task Force

 University Diversity Statement

Diversity at BGSU signifies a fully-inclusive and accessible lifelong learning community where the whole array of human differences, particularly race, culture & ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation, are well-represented and highly valued in its membership and curriculum.

What is SJTF?

The SJTF is a committee within the Office of Residence Life that provides diverse educational opportunities that promote awareness and equity of underrepresented populations for the Residence Life staff and residents through Social Justice Training programs for staff and residents, sponsoring, developing, and implementing various social justice programs, and being a resource for information regarding campus-wide events, training opportunities, and multi-cultural holidays. We also serve as a resource for diversity related programming for Resident Advisors and S.M.A.R.T. (Students of Color Mentoring, Aiding, Retaining, and Teaching Program) staff through literature, videos, and pre-developed activities and bulletin boards.

Each year, the SJTF is comprised of full time Residence Life staff, graduate assistants, Resident Advisors, and SMART staff members. This group meets weekly and is committed to providing equity based educational programs to promote and foster a positive learning community at Bowling Green State University. As social justice is included in the vision of Bowling Green State University and as ambassadors of the campus community, the Social Justice Task Force commits to striving to promote an atmosphere of such, with a commitment to the core values, thus empowering Residence Life staff and residents to be change agents in their community.

Major Annual Programs

Silent Solidarity

Silent Solidarity is a diversity program that originated in Kohl Hall in 2000 and had more than 100 participants that year.  The goal of the program is to raise awareness among participants, as well as the surrounding campus community, of the many “voices” in our society that have been silenced due to ignorance and prejudice.  Each year, students are given a name tag with a different “label” representing a group of people that have been silenced in our society. These tags include groups such as gay men, lesbian women, African Americans, Hispanics, people with disabilities, elderly people, victims of sexual violence, people with sexually transmitted diseases, religious groups, and many other silenced individuals. Participants are asked to not speak from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. For at least one day, students, faculty and staff were able to put them in the shoes of another to understand the powerlessness that these identity groups face being silenced in our society.

Taste of February

The Taste of February first started 5 years ago in the Quads residence hall as a program that celebrated African American History and Culture through dinner and performances. Today the program has grown to be open to the entire BGSU population and is co-sponsored by various offices and student organizations, including VISION, the Black Student Union, Latino Student Union, Hall Councils, SMART Program, and the Center for Multicultural and Academic Initiatives.

Our hope is that we can bring together all cultures in one event and share the love we have for each other’s differences, each other’s beliefs, and realize that we are all humans, through performances. The Fifth Annual Taste of February showcased a variety of art forms as they relate to the influence of and influence to the African/African-American culture. The performances celebrated the roles of African American people and educated as to the history of the African experience in the featured art forms. 

Social Justice Week

Each spring, the SJTF sponsors programming related to issues of diversity and social justice for the campus community. At least one program is held during each day of the week. This past year saw programs such as the Holocaust Museum, White Privilege, Diversity Awareness Scavenger Hunt, and more. Programs are typically held in collaboration with groups such as the Honors Diversity Committee, Office of Disability Services, and BGSU Faculty and Staff.