Breaking Down the Silos: Maximizing collaboration to enhance the faculty experience in faculty in residence programs

One of the biggest concerns of higher education today is how to effectively increase student success, retention, and persistence. Student development theorists advocate that residential living and increase faculty-student engagement outside of the classroom play a role in increasing these statistics. Faculty in residence programs (FIRs) have been proven as an effective method of bringing together these two concepts in creating a unique experience and opportunities for faculty , staff, and students alike. Another concern of higher education institutions is the tendency to operate in silos, which can be detrimental to the effectiveness of FIRs. The problem this research examines is how student affairs professionals can best collaborate with faculty involved in FIRs to develop and sustain faculty engagement in these programs while equipping faculty with the skills to establish faculty-student relationships. With the goal of ultimately enabling and empowering faculty to apply these skills after their FIR experience to better promote student success, retention, and persistence. Solutions to this problem are examined through reviewing the literature and recorded experiences of participants in FIRs