Promoting Wolverines at work

UM-Dearborn’s student workers make up 35% of the campus’ workforce. Many of these student workers are Pell-eligible and the first in their families to attend college. Among the Dearborn Wolverines working on campus, nearly all have a 2.5 GPA or higher. But students often find it hard to communicate how their campus work is connected to their career and professional goals.

So what does this data — gathered through a Wolverines@Work pilot program launched by UM-Dearborn’s EXP+ — tell us?

“We need to embark on a major redesign of our campus student employment so students can make these connections to skills they are learning and their future careers,” says Maureen Linker, Associate Provost for undergraduate and experiential learning.

She notes the Wolverines@Work initiative — led by Kelsey Parker, Project Manager for Experiential Learning and Laurel Draudt, Director of Career Services —  has the goal of assessing and enhancing the current state of UM-Dearborn student employment from both the student employee and student employee supervisor perspectives. Ultimately, says Linker, campus student employment should be another high impact learning practice like internships, study abroad and capstones.

And EXP+ isn't doing this work alone, Linker says. Since 2022, EXP+  has collaborated with the Arizona State University-led Work+Collective in designing a new model for on-campus employment. Through the collective, UM-Dearborn partners with nearly 20 universities around the nation, including the University of Connecticut and Virginia Commonwealth University, who are all evaluating their student employment practices and processes.

“UM-Dearborn stepped forward and became a regional and statewide leader in this national-reaching Work+Collective. Now that the first phase of the work is complete, we are sharing what we’ve learned so far in the hopes that other Michigan universities will join us,” Linker says. She says the ASU team wanted to work with UM-Dearborn because of the university’s Experience+ structure — which helps connect students’ educational experiences to career goals — along with campus’ project-based learning course focus, the SURE program and the digital storytelling initiative UM-Dearborn Speaks.

Linker says survey data and focus group feedback, which was gathered over the 2023-2024 academic year, showed that campus employment connects students to the university in a way that may help them stay in school and get to graduation. And with more than one-third of the campus workforce likely being new to the work world, university leaders needed to provide more support to student employee’s supervisors. Linker says the feedback also highlighted the importance of helping working Dearborn Wolverines find deeper meaning in these campus roles so they can see how the skills they are learning through university employment directly transfers to post-graduation careers. 

To support this work, UM-Dearborn’s pilot program included supervisor and student employee surveys, professional development sessions, regularly scheduled employer-employee check-ins, and the opportunity for students to share their employment stories through photojournalism projects and digital storytelling efforts. The pilot program concluded in June 2024. Now the next phase is underway and these efforts are becoming more visible across the university.

Outcomes from the pilot include:

• A better understanding of UM-Dearborn’s student employee landscape and impact through survey data. For example, 660 student workers were employed during the 2023-24 academic year; student respondents shared that if they had a good relationship with their supervisor, they felt more connected to campus
• Development of a new student employment handbook
• Tips and templates for creating student-employee job descriptions that attract the best candidates by showcasing how a position can tie into future career goals
• Creation of supervisor training programs like the upcoming Federal Work Study Virtual Panel from 10-11:30 a.m. Aug. 8 and the Supervisor Spa from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Aug. 14. Questions about these events? Reach out to [email protected].

To share these and redesign-process lessons learned, UM-Dearborn recently hosted a "Redesigning Campus Student Employment for Student Success and Retention" conference.

Attended by representatives from universities across the state — including several community colleges and more than half of Michigan’s 15 public universities, the day-long event showcased UM-Dearborn's role in an ASU partnership project, which is funded by a $1.5 million grant from the Strada Education Network. Linker also encouraged institutions to join the Work+Collective effort at the conference. After the conference, Eastern Michigan University joined the collective and Western Michigan University offered to host an additional conference around the subject.

“The turnout for the conference was incredible. This tells me that we aren’t the only ones who feel student employment needs more attention,” Linker says. “As universities, we are focused on academic success and working hard to get our students to graduation. That’s crucial, but data also shows us that the student employment experience plays a major role in student success. Historically, universities haven’t invested in making the student employment experience a coordinated process that emphasizes support and learning outcomes. The current student employment experience often depends on their relationship with a supervisor, who may not have had the training or resources to mentor a student employee. We want that to change.”

UM-Dearborn Office of TRIO Programs Assistant Director Latresa Rice attended the conference and shared her office’s experiences with the Wolverines@Work pilot program study, The office staff in TRIO Programs — a series of federally-funded and state-funded programs that help students from disadvantaged backgrounds overcome barriers to higher education — supervises 19 student employees.  

Rice, a UM-Dearborn alum, says some campus employers, like TRIO, are already observing best practices, like regular check-ins when mentoring student employees. But she looks forward to having a centralized place for student employees to connect and for supervisors to explore training opportunities. She says university support is key and it will benefit everyone.

“As employers, many of us see ourselves in our students and we want to do the best for them. I remember what it felt like being first-gen and coming from a low-income background. It’s not an issue of dedication to our students — that’s always there. But resources for supervisors haven’t always been available in an easy-to-find way. It’s important to remember that these students are learning from us as leaders,” says Rice, who graduated from UM-Dearborn in 2004 and went on to earn graduate degrees in social work and business administration.

“As a UM-Dearborn student, I worked in TRIO,” Rice continues.” My supervisors — William Keener and Perry Boyd II — shaped me. They gave me confidence to try new things. They cleared red tape. They motivated me by showing me what career and education paths were available and modeled what good leadership looks like.”

At the conference, Rice encouraged one of her student employees — Kalaia Jackson, a UM-Dearborn junior —to present their table’s breakout discussion summary. Jackson, who’s majoring in biological sciences, stood confidently in front of the crowd and clearly shared the highlights. Jackson credits that confidence to experiences gained through the support of Rice, who encourages Jackson to publicly speak to groups on behalf of the TRIO programs. Jackson, who plans to attend medical school, sees how this skill can help her in the future when it comes to presenting research. See a video Jackson made about her student employment experience — it’s fourth in the list. 

Rice says she regularly finds ways to nudge her student employees out of their comfort zones. “Our UM-Dearborn students are talented. We need to challenge them because if we don’t give them a chance to do it, they won’t know that they can,” she says. “It’s all about learning about their goals and then connecting them with experiences where they can step out and boldly shine.”

UM-Dearborn's Student Employment Advisory Council, which assisted in the Wolverines@Work initiative has representation from across campus, including: Career Services, Athletics, University Union and Events, Office of Academic Success, One-Stop, Financial Aid, Human Resources, EXP+ and the Provost Office.

Story by Sarah Tuxbury.