Journal of College & University Student Housing Volume 48, No. 2 - 38

Applying the Best Practices Model
Traditional models of higher education view faculty advising as
academic advising. Though this conception is accurate to some extent,
faculty advising in the context of LLCs has the potential to extend
beyond the academic realm of a student's experience.
Research suggests, however, that those programs operating on a tight, limited budget
are linked to low levels of institutional support and experience increased difficulty in
achieving programmatic goals and objectives (Inkelas et al., 2018).
At Cabrini, the LLCs are housed under the Office of the First-Year Experience and
Student Transitions, which is situated within the Center for Student Success under the
division of Academic Affairs and led by the assistant dean for retention and student
success, who oversees personnel and programmatic funds associated with each LLC.
All LLCs are staffed with two or three faculty, serving in a role as either a faculty director
or faculty fellow. Both faculty roles are provided financial stipends to compensate LLC
faculty for the development of and participation in the curriculum and the cocurriculum.
For its part, though, residence life determines which residence halls house firstyear
students. As a result, the assistant dean, though given the opportunity for input,
does not choose the residence halls in which LLCs are housed. Though LLC students
do live together in the same residence hall building and on the same floor, not all LLC
spaces are conducive to hosting LLC cocurricular programs nor to allowing faculty to
create a presence in students' residential space. There is much room for improvement
in respect to physical space, and consideration should be given to innovative ways that
LLC faculty can best utilize the limited space that does exist in the residence halls.
Although there are some limitations in the use of physical space in the residence
halls themselves, these do not seem to have been a major hindrance in the overall
successes of LLC program integration. After all, the senior administration recognizes
and supports the impact LLCs have on the first-year student population they serve.
Each LLC is provided with an annual programming budget of $4,000 to integrate
cocurricular programming into the curriculum while also building and fostering community
throughout the year. Faculty are issued stipends for their labor since much of
this work extends beyond the classroom both in the planning and delivery stages of
robust cocurricular offerings as well as the integration of the curriculum spanning two
to five courses, which then culminates in a capstone assignment. A $1,000 budget is
also provided to each LLC to hire student leaders, in the form of student fellows, who
can serve in leadership capacities both in LLC classes and in the residence hall. This
funding to support LLC personnel and programming has significantly contributed to
achieving programmatic learning outcomes.
ACADEMIC ENVIRONMENT
The next level of the LLC infrastructure is the academic environment, " or the intellectual
hub of the program " (Inkelas et al., 2018, p. 20), which includes the following
building blocks: courses for credit, faculty advising, an academically supportive climate,
and a socially supportive climate.
38 The Journal of College and University Student Housing

Journal of College & University Student Housing Volume 48, No. 2

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Journal of College & University Student Housing Volume 48, No. 2