Piazza Center November/December Newsletter

Together Forward

Our mission is to share emerging data with campus, headquarters and foundation professionals so you can use it in your work. The center's research agenda is based on a change model focused on a two-pronged approach to stronger and safer organizations. Stronger is about enhancing student learning, and safer encompasses a campus prevention and intervention agenda. Our studies are focused in four key areas: leadership, community engagement and learning; hazing and hazardous drinking prevention; mental and physical health; and diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.

We are an old soul and a new research center with a mission for the new millennium. Founded by fraternities and campus leaders in 1976 as the Center for the Study of the College Fraternity, our name and operations have recently shifted. An initial $2M endowment and $3M match from Penn State launched the Piazza Center, a national multidisciplinary research center. Our goal is to help you better understand the complex issues facing fraternity and sorority life and empower you to help create more meaningful experiences for students.

Currently there are a number of research projects poised to produce actionable data to give practitioners the tools to enact significant change. As they mature we will be interpreting data so you can utilize it in your work. We will be sharing more details about each of them, along with ways for you to be involved. Sign up for our email newsletter to ensure you don’t miss anything.

Stronger–enhancing leadership and service

• Enhance learning that is happening in fraternities and sororities
• Enhance civility, democratic principles, and community service 

Safer–prevention of hazing, substance misuse, and dangerous drinking

• Identify early warning signs of hazing before it becomes dangerous
• What are the best intervention and prevention strategies to increase safety 
• Help students reduce stress, center themselves, make good decisions to reduce risky behaviors
• Involve parents in the conversation to prevent hazing and reduce binge drinking

Stronger–positive diversity, equity, and inclusion

• Help build chapters and communities that support diversity
• Reduce Anti-Semitism and build support for Jewish serving organizations
• How to turn racially motivated incidents into positive outcomes

Evidence of Integrative Learning: Codifying learning in fraternities and sororities 

The Piazza Center has launched a concept team to study how fraternities and sororities produce learning that hosts institutions and employers value. The project will enhance higher education, student affairs, and fraternity and sorority headquarters’ understanding of student learning outcomes associated with membership. The Piazza Center is eager to support this exploratory study that will enable future research on the effectiveness of High Impact Practices (HIPs)[1] established by the Association of American Colleges and Universities and associated with learning outside of the classroom. 

“We need a discussion about the benefits and opportunities related to fraternities and sororities’ promoting high-impact practices to enhance learning,” said Jim Barber, Senior Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Education at William & Mary.  

“I think we need to go even further than the idea of extracurricular or co-curricular and really look at integration. What we're doing in fraternity sorority is not parallel or outside of the curriculum, it is the curriculum," continued Barber, who is serving on the concept team as a research advisor to the project. "It’s a big part of what students are learning in their college experience, and I’m really eager to find ways to document and show evidence that these are learning outcomes happening within fraternity sorority life.” 

"Understanding and enhancing transformational learning will enable fraternities and sororities to partner with host institutions in exciting ways that focus on the student," said Stevan Veldkamp, Executive Director of the Piazza Center. 

The Community of Practice (CoP) and study, taking place over the next two to four years, will explore fraternities and sororities as catalysts for student learning that provide evidence of learning and methods to enhance learning as well as group outcomes. 

Through a CoP, select fraternities and sororities will map integrative learning outcomes, assess student learning because of membership, incorporate practices that enhance undergraduate learning, and develop meaningful internal and external reporting systems or Comprehensive Learner Records (CLRs). Finally, the aggregate data will provide evidence of co-curricular learning to inform contemporary literature on fraternities and sororities in higher education.  

Amber Garrison Duncan, executive vice president, Competency-Based Education Network said, “This study is really anchored in understanding the learning outcomes and competencies that can be facilitated through a fraternity or sorority, where that development and growth happens, and how we can validate and document the competencies gained. The Comprehensive Learner Record is a broader movement to document learning that occurs outside of the classroom. This opens the door for fraternities and sororities to step up to the table and say here are the skills that we are contributing, and we want to make sure our students have them documented.” 

The project, organized by the Piazza Center, will enable the participating groups to enhance student learning, retention, employability, and impact on life-long learning as well as provide a tangible demonstration of the knowledge and skills gained from that experience. This project may enable fraternities and sororities to engage as trusted co-curricular partners with host institutions. The concept team includes representatives of nine higher education leaders.

• Gianina Baker, Acting Director, National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• James Barber, Associate Professor and Senior Associate Dean for Academic Programs, William & Mary
• Amber Garrison Duncan, Executive Vice President, Competency-Based Education Network
• Tom Green, Associate Executive Director, Consulting and Strategic Enrollment Management, American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers
• Bob Orndorff, Senior Director of Career Services and Affiliate Associate Professor, Counselor Education, Penn State University
• Judith Ouimet, Senior Assistant Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, Indiana University
• Amelia Parnell, Vice President for Research and Policy, National Association of Student Personnel Administrators
• Rodney L. Parks, University Registrar and Assistant Vice President, Elon University
• Matthew Pittinsky, CEO Parchment

Because they see the value of this and other projects and want to take advantage of the opportunity to double their impact through a matching grant from Penn State, organizations are supporting the mission with generous gifts to help reach the targeted $8 million dollar endowment, up to $3 million of which will be matched through June of 2022.

Leading the way with a $100,000 gift is Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity. Their leadership was particularly inspired by this project to give.

Their Office of Administration said, “The mission of Lambda Chi Alpha is to inspire and equip men to lead an ethical life of growth, service, and leadership. This gift acts as an exemplification of our legacy of combating hazing in the fraternity experience and commitment to enhancing the co-curricular experience fraternities provide.”

The Timothy J. Piazza Center for Fraternity and Sorority Research is a multidisciplinary research center dedicated to uplifting fraternity and sorority life. The center establishes new insights into understanding the complex issues facing fraternity and sorority life and empowers higher education to help create more meaningful experiences for fraternity and sorority members. 

The center's research agenda is based on a change model with a two-pronged approach of strong and safe fraternities and sororities. Strong equates to enhancing student learning, and safe is a prevention and intervention agenda. Our studies are focused in four key areas: hazing and hazardous drinking prevention; leadership, community engagement and learning; mental and physical health; and diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Currently, there are 14 different research projects in progress producing actionable data to give practitioners, campuses, and headquarters the evidence needed to enact significant change on their campuses for the over 750,000 members across more than 770 campuses with fraternity and sorority life.

For questions about the study, contact Stevan Veldkamp, executive director, Piazza Center at sjv54@psu.edu.

[1]High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter, by George D. Kuh (AAC&U, 2008).  https://www.aacu.org/node/4084