SUNY Cortland Residential Services: Disability Services
SUNY Cortland the online guide walking by residence hall
Site search
Skip the Navigation Bar
Academic Programs
Undergraduate Programs
Graduate Programs
Admissions
Undergraduate Admissions
Graduate Admissions
Administrative Offices
Alumni, Parents and Friends
Athletics
Campus News
Community and Visitors
Directories
Faculty/Staff Resources
Library
Student Life
Make a Gift to SUNY Cortland

Programming

Message Programming and Connections Model

The "Message Delivery" Programming model is based on defined categories and outcomes that the Department of Residential Services has determined to be valuable to all students in the residential community.  The initial goal for each residence hall is to analyze significan population variables within each unit as well as to conduct a needs assessment based on your particular student population.  The long-term goal is to provide students with information that will benefit them in a variety of areas of development through a variet of methods of deliver (i.e. formal programs, bulleine boards, speakers, etc.)

The "Connections Model" of community development focuses on the fact that the RA's primary role is to facilitate the development of a  community of learners with studens on an assigned floor.  In order to do this, the RA needs to:

  • Make significant connections with residents
  • Help residents connect with one another
  • Connect residents to resources  and opportunities in the larger university
  • Insure that residents have access to important educational messages
  • Insure that barriers to sucess are minimized by holding students accountable for community standars

Additionally, each hall/area will be responsible for providing one large scale community service project each semester.  This can and should be an ongoing effort that involves student-staff, hall government, and residents.

[top]

Categories

  1. Health and Safety
  2. Diversity
  3. Community
  4. Academics

Connections

Messages

Position Responsibilites in Support of Connections

Tools for Making Connections

Forms for Download

 

[top]

Health and Safety

  • Alcohol Awareness/Alcohol Abuse
  • Other Drug Use
  • Tobacco Use
  • Heathly Relationships
  • Nutrition
  • Hygiene
  • Exercise
  • Stress Management
  • Personal Safety/Sexual Safety

Diversity

  • Cultural Awareness
  • Knowledge of Laws
  • History of Discrimination
  • Diversity and Careers

Community

  • Rights and Responsibilities
  • Multiple Community Memberships
  • Opportunity for Involvement
  • Conflict Resolution/Resources and Strategies
  • Consequences for Violating Rules and Regulations
  • Adjustment Issues
  • Tripling
  • Sexual Assault
  • Fire Safety
  • Self Esteem
  • Assertiveness

Academics

  • Skills
  • Resources
  • Career Exploration
  • Career Resources
  • Other Academic
  • Other Career

[top]

Departmental Expectations for RAs

Connect with Individual Residents

Each RA will conduct a Resident Interview for the purpose of learning about each member of the floor.  The format for this interview is included in this packet.  All interviews must be completed by Sept. 17.

Each RA will make a minimum of five (5) individual connects with residents each week throughout the fall and spring semester.  Connections serve the purpose of encouraging affiliation with the floor and the university, instilling feelings of belonging, and connecting students to university resources and to other students.  Connections will be recorded and monitored by the supervisor on a floor mapping form; it is important that the RA has regular and frequent contact with ALL floor members through these connections.  

[top]

Connect with Groups of Residents

It is important that students connect with each other in social, recreational, or intellectual ways.  To insure that this happens among floor residents, RAs are expected to provide a minimum of one group activity per week during the fall semester, and one group activity every other week during spring semester.  A group will consist of five or more residents.  One half of these activities will occur on a Friday or Saturday night.  The activity can occur on or off campus, in or out of the building and will conform to university policies and department expectations.  The RA should seek to include different residents each week.

Activities are intended to be informal and some can be done while on duty.  They can include such things as engaging in a rap session on the floor, watching a great video, going to a coffee shop, playing board games, ice skating, or doing a community service project.  Occasionally, they can include a floor dinner in the cafeteria, but this should be recorded no more than five (5) times per semester.  

[top]

Participate in the Unit Plan for the Delivery of Messages

The Department of Residential Services has an obligation to insure that residents have access to messages that will assist them in removing barriers to academic success and enhancing their learning.  Unit directors will develop a plan to insure the delivery of important messages; RAs will work with their supervisors to help assess needs, encourage resident participation in events, and assist in the delivery of messages.  

[top]

Messages

Residential Services staff also connect with students through the delivery of important educational messages.  Four general categories of messages have been identified that we believe students need to receive.

Messages About Academics and Career Development

We want students to have:

  • Well-developed academic skills

  • Knowledge of the academic and career resources available on campus

  • Knowledge of the variety of academic activities, study abroad opportunities, and career options available

  • Skills in knowing how to value and seek support from other students  

[top]

Messages About Healthy and Safety

We want students to have:

  • Knowledge about healthy alcohol use, about the risks associated with unhealthy alcohol use, tobacco use, and other drug use

  • Knowledge of factors involved in healthy relationships including intimate/sexual relationships

  • Awareness of factors contributing to goo nutrition, hygiene, exercise, and stress management

  • Knowledge about factors that contribute to personal safety  

[top]

Messages About Diversity

We want students to have:

  • Awareness and appreciation of other cultures, lifestyles, and backgrounds

  • Knowledge of the laws, ordinances, and policies prohibiting harassment and intimidation based on a characteristic, an awareness of the histories of discriminatory behaviors and practices as a basis for such laws

  • Awareness of the relationship between an appreciation of diversity and future career success

  • Appreciation for the value of inclusiveness in their association with individuals and with formal and informal groups  

[top]

Messages About Community

We want students to have:

  • Recognition that all community members have rights and responsibilities

  • An understanding that we all belong to many different communities

  • Knowledge about the multitude of opportunities to be involved in communities

  • Knowledge of strategies and resources available to resolve differences within communities

  • Awareness of consequences for violating community standards

  • A recognition of the value of being connected to other student and to something bigger than themselves

  • Awareness that community living generates opportunities for learning  

[top]

Part of the message delivery process involves informal channels through RA connections to residents, discipline meetings with residents, and other vehicles.  Messages are also delivered to students in a community through a more structured process, often in partnership with other units on or off the campus.  

In the past, this structure took the form of educational programs involving a presenter and an audience.  This format is still viable.  Technology has also made it possible to utilize a variety of other formats for message delivery.  Henceforth, the manner in which messages get to students may be traditional or innovative/technological, depending on the population served and the creative skills of the staff doing the delivery.  

A variety of formats and strategies can be used in the delivery of messages.  These include traditional speaker/audience programs, bulletin boards, we pages, theatrical performance, banners, flyers, films, newsletters, e-mail lists, etc.  A resource list of university units available to assist with the delivery of messages will be provided early in the semester.

Hall directors will develop a semester plan for insuring that messages within each message category are delivered in their unit.  The plan will be based on an assessment of their hall information from the previous year, along with demographic information from the current year.  The plan will also identify the role of staff in the delivery of messages; all staff will have a role to play including resident assistants, hall directors, administrative assistants, and academic peer mentors.  The Director should also consult the Planning Calendar and note theme weeks and special holidays to insure that messages on those topics are delivered at that time.  The Unit Plan will be reviewed monthly during 1:1 sessions with the assistant director.

The Department expects that each of the message categories will be addressed and the outcomes achieved based on the Director’s assessment and plan.  Once a message strategy has been implemented it will be recorded in the Database.  

[top]

Position Responsibilities in Support of Connectcions

Resident Assistants

  • One floor activity each day during Fall Welcome Days (may include taking new students to an event)

  • Resident Interviews completed by Sept. 17, 2000

  • Conduct First Floor Meetings

  • Five (5) significant 1:1 connections with floor residents weekly

  • One (1) informal weekly activity with at least five (5) residents (½ on Friday or Saturday night)

  • Complete floor logs

  • Participate in delivery of messages based on Unit Plan

Academic Peer Mentors

  • Assist AHD/Director in implementing Fall Welcome events

  • Primary responsibility for coordinating academic message delivery

  • Assist AHD/Director in implementing social events for students

  • Complete weekly logs

  • Connections with individual residents related to academic and career topics

Unit Directors

  • Develop the Unit Plan for message delivery

  • Insure that RAs, APMs, AHDs, and AAs are performing connections tasks

  • Record relevant information in the data base in a timely fashion  

[top]

Tools for Making Connections

  • RA Connections Log: This is to be completed weekly.  It provides a written record of community issues on the floor, a goal setting process, a record of connection activities, and a method for monitoring community and resident contacts.  Ras and supervisors will use this tool weekly in their meetings and to provide information to unit and area directors.

  • Floor Mapping Roster: This will be maintained by the RA supervisor and records the extent to which an RA is engaging in connections effort which includes all floor/house residents.

  • First Floor Meeting Agenda

  • Resident Interview Agenda

  • Unit Message Plan Format

  • "How to Talk to Students About Academics": A guide to assist Residence Life staff in engaging students in conversations about their academic life.

Other tools include:

Department Database, a centrally accessible database in which the Unit Director records connections activities, as well as other unit activities and events.  Unit Directors need to record data in this file regularly and timely.  

[top]

The Resident Interview

In undergraduate halls, each resident assistant will conduct a resident interview with floor members.  This process is a good step in establishing rapport, learning about the individuals who make up the community, and beginning the assessment and planning process for future activities.  These interviews must be completed by Sept. 17.  Each RA will be required to submit a summary report of the interviews to his or her supervisor by Oct. 1.

New Students

If they are first year college students or transfer students, they probably have different information needs and academic and personal adjustment needs that you can assist with.  If you learn they are first generation college students in their family, they may have other basic needs for information and reassurance.

Returners

Even if they lived in halls or on this floor last year, this will be a new community for them.  If there are new students on the floor, returners can be role models for them.  Let them know you can use their help and support, and you recognize and appreciate their experience and maturity.

Interviews Should Be Completed By September 17.

[top]

Sample Interview Format

Questions for New Students

  • How is it going?

  • Where are you from?

  • What high school did you attend?

  • Why did you choose SUNY-Cortland?

  • What is your class standing?

  • What classes do you have?  How are they going?

  • Have you selected a major?  What is it?  How did you choose it?

  • Do you expect to be around on weekends or will you g home a lot?

  • Do you have brothers or sisters in college?  Are you the first in your family to go to college?

  • Did you request your roommate or were you assigned together?  How is it going?

  • What do you think of the floor so far?

  • Have you met people on the floor yet?  Who?  Who haven’t you met yet?

  • What are you interested in (sports, clubs, student leadership, hobbies)?

  • Would you be interested in getting involved on the floor in government, programming, sports, community service projects, etc.?

  • How can I (as the RA) be helpful?  Do you have any questions for me?  Are there any activities you would like to see our floor get involved with?

  • What kind of community do you want to live in here on the floor?

Questions for Returning Students

  • How is it going?

  • Where did you live last year?

  • What is your class standing?

  • Why did you choose SUNY-Cortland?

  • What classes do you have?  How are they going?

  • What did you like about your floor/living environment last year?  What didn’t you like?

  • What is your academic program?  How do you like it?  Have you been admitted into a college year?  What do you expect to do after graduation?

  • Where are you from?

  • Are you getting to know other floor members?  Are there people you have not met yet?

  • What are you interested in (sports, clubs, leadership positions, hobbies, etc.)?

  • Would you be interested in getting involved on the floor or in the hall in government, or in programming, sports, or community service projects?

  • How can I (as the RA) be helpful to you?  Do you have any questions for me?

  • Are there any activities you would like to see our floor get involved in?

  • What kind of a community do you want to live in here on the floor?

Forms for Download

All forms are in PDF format.  If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader, is is available for free from Adobe.