Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Project

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Committee Chair

Jeffrey Hamilton

Abstract

A successful housing and residence education program is a vital component of a university’s traditional undergraduate program. Such programs assist in the recruitment and retention of students as well as a serve as a significant source of revenue. Furthermore, such programs are conducive to the ongoing spiritual, academic, and social development of the students who reside in residential communities; however, for such programs to effectively accomplish their respective missions, they must focus on their core mission and goals, effectively manage their occupancy, effectively train their staff, effectively maintain their facilities, effectively market the experiences they offer, and effectively assess their students’ level of satisfaction with what is offered.

The Housing and Residence Education Program of Gardner-Webb University is a housing program with a capacity of approximately 1,368 bed spaces, offering traditional residence hall, suite style, and apartment housing accommodations. From August 2013 through June 2017, the Gardner-Webb University Housing and Residence Education Program underwent significant changes in an effort to reinvent itself so it could better serve its students. Changes to the program during the referenced timeframe included but are not limited to the following: a better focus on mission, the implementation of a housing management software solution, more than $1,000,000.00 in facility updates, the implementation of a new student staff training curriculum, more comprehensive assessment efforts, and the creation and use of new marketing/promotional materials. The purpose of these changes was to assist the program in becoming a more effective program to better assist in the recruitment and retention of students.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Included in

Education Commons

Share

COinS