By Mary Callender 

NIRSA members have known for quite some time that participation in recreational sports programs correlates with increased overall college satisfaction and that retention and completion rates are essential benchmarks in determining student success in a higher education setting. With this is mind, NIRSA is excited to partner with the ACPA to present the webinar “How Campus Intramural Programs Contribute to Student Retention.”

This free webinar will take place on Thursday, August 20 from 1:00pm–2:00pm EST and feature Dr. James Archibald, an Assistant Professor of higher education leadership at Valdosta State University, and Dylan Volpintesta, a Graduate Assistant for Intramural and Club Sports and a second-year student in higher education leadership at Valdosta State University.

“While campus recreation does a great job contributing to student success, that story is not being told to the level it should be,” explains Dr. Archibald.  “It was important to me to push this conversation to the front of the line in student affairs trends and demonstrate why campus recreation is important.” The webinar is designed to discuss the correlation between campus intramural programs and student retention rates as well as how to utilize institutional data to provide more evidence.

When asked how this research project came to be, Dylan says, “Seeing students excited to participate in intramurals is great, but there seemed to be something more than just student involvement there. I wanted to know exactly what that something more was. This led to the exploration of retention rates and student success as they relate to participation in intramural sports.”

NIRSA members interested in attending this free webinar co-presented by ACPA and NIRSA should register by August 19.

Presenters

James Archibald

James Archibald

James G. Archibald, Ph.D., LPC is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education Leadership at Valdosta State University. Dr. Archibald is also Research Associate with the Center for Higher Education at Ohio University. His research interests include improving professional standards in student affairs practice, campus recreation programming, and mental health issues in collegiate settings.

Dylan Volpintesta

Dylan Volpintesta

Dylan Volpintesta, Valdosta State University, Graduate Assistant for Intramural and Club Sports and 2nd year student in the Higher Education Leadership at Valdosta State University. Dylan also serves as Club Soccer Coordinator for Region II of National Intramural Recreations Sports Association. His research interests include campus recreation programming and retention, LGBT inclusion in campus recreation, as well as other topics in the field of campus recreation.

 

For more information about “How Campus Intramural Programs Contribute to Student Retention,” please contact NIRSA Senior Director of Professional Development Mary Callender.