The SMART Program (http://www.bgsu.edu/offices/sa/reslife/page15506.html)
Contacts:
| Tiffany J. Davis, SMART Program Coordinator |
419-372-2495 |
tjdavis@bgsu.edu |
| Michelle L. Buggs, Graduate SMART Coordinator |
419-372-4647 |
mbuggs@bgsu.edu |
You Can Do It. S.M.A.R.T. Can Help!
Building Relationships.
Building Academic Success.
Building Cultural Identity.
SMART Program Overview
The Office of Residence Life’s SMART Program (Students of Color Mentoring, Aiding, Retaining, and Teaching) is a peer mentoring
program designed to offer support to first year students of color living in the residence halls at Bowling Green State University.
SMART’s ultimate goals are to assist first year students of color with their transition to BGSU, to increase the number of
students who return to the University for their second year, and to provide a forum for discussion of the residential experience
in order to make it as positive and rewarding as possible.
To achieve these goals, SMART consists of four core components:
- Social Engagement
- Cultural Exploration
- Academic Support and Encouragement
- Leadership Enhancement
Who are the SMART Mentors?
The SMART Mentors are upper classmen student leaders who live in the residence halls. Each mentor is assigned a group of first-year
students. The mentors help their mentees make the transition from high school to college by offering resources and guidance
to their mentees, as well as motivating them to feel comfortable navigating BGSU’s campus. The mentors go through on-going
training to equip them with the knowledge and skills to give their mentees appropriate resources.
Mentors provide:
- Information on getting involved in student organization
- Help with typical first-year student concerns
- Networking opportunities with the BGSU Community
- Social, Cultural, and Academic programs and events for a successful transition
The SMART Experience
Below are some of the activities and programs that the SMART Program has coordinated or attended during the 2006-2007 academic
year:
- The Big Bang Lock-In
- The Amazing Race: BG Campus Resources
- Stereotypes 101 Forum
- Cleveland Cavaliers Game in Cleveland Ohio
- SMART Pool Party
- Dip it Low Salsa Dancing
- FAFSA How-To
- Academic Study Tables
- 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament
- Fall Trip to Pittsburgh
- Black Comedy Night
- Latinopalooza
- Kwanzaa Dinner
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:
| Nick Hennessy, Advisor |
419-372-9949 |
nickjh@bgsu.edu |
| Committee Chair (unknown at this time) |
|
|
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.
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