Skip to main content

AACU Official to Lecture, Hold Discussion on Student Wellness, Achievement

03/29/2019

The University’s CORE Committee and Faculty and Mentoring and Advising Committee of the College of Arts and Sciences will host Ashley Finley, Ph.D., of the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AACU) for a lecture and discussion on Friday, April 5. 

Ashley Finley, Ph.D.

Finley’s talk, “Invisible Learning: The Shared Imperative of Student Wellness for College Success,” will take place at 2 p.m. in Room 0600, Morrissey Hall.

The lecture and discussion are open to all members of the SLU community.

Finley, the AACU’s vice president for civic engagement and community, researches and provides campus consultations focused on connecting best practices for program implementation, assessment design, and equity with institutional outcomes for student success. A significant component of her work is focused on connecting students’ personal development, such as resilience, belonging, identity, and sense of purpose, with their learning and civic engagement. Her publications include Assessing Underserved Students’ Engagement in High-impact Practices, with co-author Tia McNair; Civic Learning and Teaching; Assessing Underserved Students’ Engagement in High-Impact Practices; and “Well-Being: An Essential Outcome for Higher Education.”

Her April 5 lecture will situate student wellness initiatives within a broad framework that includes both curricular and co-curricular learning experiences.

Lecture Abstract

“As campus leaders focus on innovative ways to improve students’ cognitive development, we often overlook the ways in which learning experiences contribute to students’ well-being and sense of personal and social development. In connecting learning and well-being, campus conversations about “whole student development” can explore the innovative territory between the curriculum and co-curriculum – where perseverance, self-confidence, and resilience in the face of failure are seen as valued parts of the learning process, not just (invisible) fringe benefits.”