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Towson University

Impact Report 2021-2022

We are student affairs.

exterior of Burdick gym

Campus Recreation

Campus Recreation is more than a gym. Campus Recreation creates opportunities that foster engagement and well-being for the TU community through diverse programs, services, facilities, and employment. Connections are made in fitness classes, on outdoor trips, and during sports play. More than 300 student employees experience a home-like community and develop career skills while working at Campus Rec. There is much to explore and even more to experience at Campus Recreation because we strive to offer something for everyone. Students, faculty, staff, alumni: You belong here. 

  • Intramural Sports partnered with the Hussman Center and Special Olympics Maryland to offer Unified Sports Bocce. That event brought TU students and adults with autism together to participate in bocce ball, and its success will lead to Unified sport leagues in the coming year. 
  • Campus Recreation was awarded full funding by the TU Foundation for the Healthy Minds, Healthy Tigers grant. This 1.5 year, $25,000 grant provides mental health training and education to the TU community in an effort to broaden the safety net for all TU students experiencing mental health crises.  
  • 200 sport club athletes participated in monthly mental health huddles, while NatureRx provided outdoor mindfulness through guided meditative walks in the Glen Arboretum.
  • The Recreation Center had 270,185 visits from the TU community and welcomed 2,399 guest users.
  • Two inaugural student leader trainings were offered this year. The pre-semester leadership trainings focused on building connections amongst the 40 student leaders in the department, while encouraging teamwork and collaboration, particularly regarding emergency response. 
student and employer at a career fair

Career Center 

2021-2022 saw an exciting move to University Union. This year also marked another key milestone, the conclusion of the Career Center’s five-year strategic plan which was sparked by the Presidential Priority of a world-class, lifelong Career Center. Many key accomplishments towards the building of a campus-wide career ecosystem were realized during this time, including the impactful creation of college-based Career Communities; the launch of Tiger Mentor Network student-alumni mentoring program; the release of an abundance of accessible career resources, including Handshake; the expansion of financial literacy efforts and resources; the development of new modes of delivering experiential learning opportunities, like the Tiger L.E.A.P. job shadowing program; and the improvement of first-destination outcomes collection and communication.

The Career Center team continued to serve students, alumni, and employers in impactful ways. A few key metrics demonstrate the Center’s on-going commitment and effectiveness:

  • Over 25,000+ student touch points, serving 14,500+ unique students. Unique student users making appointments increased by 15%, and the Center continued to receive positive student feedback as exemplified by this student’s quote: “My Career Coach was amazing to work with on my mock interview. She offered good feedback and truly cares about the student’s I couldn’t ask for anyone better to help through this career process. Thank you.”
  • A record number of employers using and posting opportunities for TU students in Handshake: 22,000+ employers posting 105,000+ jobs and internships.
  • The most successful career fair in TU’s history: 220+ employers (with 40+ more on a waitlist) connecting with 1,200+ students at the Mega Job & Internship Fair.
  • Career Communities experienced significant engagement, demonstrating an ongoing student and employer responsiveness to this more targeted service delivery model.
  • More than 5,000 student-mentor messages were exchanged via the Tiger Mentor Network.
students plant flowers

Civic Engagement and Social Responsibility

The Office of Civic Engagement and Social Responsibility (CESR) continues to empower students, faculty, and staff to be socially aware and be active leaders that enhance their communities and the world whether in-person or in a virtual environment. CESR promoted political engagement, sponsored environmental initiatives, created community service and service-learning opportunities, delivered a campus newspaper program, hosted monthly Issues to Action Series, hosted debates on Freedom Square, and connected with our local neighborhoods.

  • Awarded the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge's 2021 Best Action Plan Award for the following: Campus Champion Award for Best Action Plan and Best in Class - 4-year Public Institution.
  • 438 students served 1,314 hours at The Big Event with 25 community organizations.
  • The FoodShare provided 552 food bags to students. 23.2% of those bags were distributed to first-time clients. From Fall 2021 to Spring 2022, FoodShare utilization increased by 141%.
  • Wellspring Group Partnership — CESR worked with BTU, FACET, Advancement, and Sponsored Programs and Research to build and implement a faculty development working group.
  • Collectively collaborated with approximately 40 community partners and campus departments this academic year for programming.
  • A TU recipient was selected for the inaugural class of the USM (University System of Maryland) Langenberg Legacy Fellowship Program whose project centered on promoting social justice and civic engagement within the campus community.
student in a massage chair

Counseling Center

The Counseling Center utilizes a Flexible Care Treatment Model, which is an adaptive, customizable approach to college student mental health. The Center provides same day service to meet every student’s unique needs. The Counseling Center offers many types of services including self-help programs, massage chairs, peer support, wellness workshops, meditation services, support groups, therapy groups, same-day mental health consultations, solution-focused support, and referrals services.

  • In FY 22, the Center offered the new Flexible Care Model in person for the first time. The Center managed to sustain same-day access and ongoing care even as the demand returned and eventually exceeded pre-pandemic levels in the spring semester.
  • The Center provided 24 hour / 7 day a week access to both phone crisis services and peer support.
  • The Center completed its second year of having a Student Advisory Board to elevate the voices of students regarding campus mental health needs.
  • The Out of the Darkness Walk is an annual event hosted by the Counseling Center in conjunction with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). This year was the first walk hosted in-person since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. A record $12,000 was raised for suicide prevention.
  • Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs (ATOD) was awarded five grants totaling more than $200,000 to be used for prevention, outreach, and educational initiatives aimed to reduce risks related to substance misuse and problem gambling.
armory opening

Event and Conference Services

Event and Conference Services helps students to identify and develop their unique identities, so they better understand what they are capable of achieving outside the classroom. The interaction that students at Towson University have with the Event and Conference Services department during their time here helps these future leaders to develop their educational, cultural, social, and emotional framework.  

  • All student workers gain transformational learning experiences that provide them opportunities to develop and enhance skills, behaviors, and values that prepare them for life after they have graduated from Towson University.
  • Event and Conference Services took on a leading role in helping to deliver a more inclusive set of Outdoor Event Guidelines during FY22 that eliminated adverse impact on any groups within the University. The result of this culminated in the creation of procedures that support a safe, equitable, and inclusive environment that will better serve our desire for a more vibrant campus culture.
  • Event and Conference Services hosted the second set of outdoor commencement ceremonies. Students from the class of 2022 were finally able to celebrate this incredible milestone in their lives on our campus.
  • Event & Conference Services hosted over 5,200 student events on campus during the academic year.
Fraternity Brothers

Fraternity and Sorority Life

Supported by the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, 41 fraternity and sorority chapters were excited and re-invigorated to be back on campus full-time. Chapters attended and hosted programs about risk management, health and wellness, diversity and inclusion, and professional development. They got back into the community and fulfilled community service projects and hosted large scale philanthropy events. Academically, the all-fraternity and sorority GPA was once again higher than the all-undergraduate GPA in Fall 2021 and Spring 2022.

  • Chapters held 465 educational programs.
  • 3 awards won for Departmental Leadership Programs and Diversity and Inclusion Programs.
  • Members completed 11,848 community service hours.
  • $163,191.20 dollars raised for charitable organizations.
  • Leadership Programs received national recognition:
    • Emerging Greek Leaders
    • Executive Leadership Series
    • Social Justice Workshop Series
    • Greek Ambassadors
  • Diversity and Inclusion programs received national and University recognition:
    • Social Justice Workshop Series
    • Panhellenic Association Diversity Taskforce
  • Groundbreaking for the National Pan Hellenic Council (NPHC) Tribute in the Chapman Quad occurred in June 2022.
student in a residence hall

Housing & Residence Life 

Housing & Residence Life (HRL) welcomed a full return to campus living in the fall of 2021. With 4800 students in residence, students were able to engage and connect with each other and get involved in campus life. Over 85% of residents report that their on-campus experience enhanced their ability to engage in opportunities that promote positive interpersonal interactions.

  • Developed partnerships to launch two new learning communities in Fall 2022:
    • Speak Up, Speak Out (Department of Communication Studies)
    • College of Business & Economics
  • Awarded $25,000 TU Foundation Grant to increase student exposure to faculty and academic peers through the development of learning communities and residential curriculum.
  • Resident Assistants (RA) facilitated quarterly conversations to build connections with resident students. An average of 78% of resident students participated in each of the four 1:1 conversations with their RA during the fall and spring semesters.
  • 98% of residents reported a positive feeling of safety within their residence hall.
  • 97% of residents reported that their RA treats community members fairly and promotes tolerance of others.
  • HRL launched several Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives to provide space for support, processing, and education of staff and student leaders.
veterans around a table

Military and Veterans Center

Community, Growth, Support. The Towson University Military & Veterans Center (MVC) believes that all student-veterans and their family members should receive outstanding support and services at TU. Our office was the first-of-its-kind in the State of Maryland, and it remains at the forefront of the next generation of military and veteran programs in higher education.

  • For the first time in its history, the MVC earned "silver status" among the benchmarked and vaunted "Military Friendly Colleges" rankings, putting us within the top 20% of all such centers.
  • The MVC continued to help grow its direct partnership with the Department of Veteran Affairs’ VITAL program. This program provides, among many other offerings, mental health counseling, support for life transition challenges, and patient advocacy with the VA bureaucracy.
  • At the request of students and community members, MVC staff were booked for in-person, virtual, or phone appointments related to benefits questions or general support at TU nearly 200 times in FY 2022.  
  • 100% fulfillment of VA benefits claims.
  • Highlights of programs offered include a book discussion and talk by Kate Germano and Kelly Kennedy, authors of Fight Like a Girl: The Truth About How Female Marines are Trained and a 90’s themed reunion for current students and alumni.
students at a football game

New Student and Family Programs 

New Student and Family Programs offered a comprehensive orientation program for first-year and transfer students as well as their families. In addition to supporting the academic and social transition for all incoming students and their families, NSFP offers student employment and leadership opportunities through our Orientation and First-Year Experience (FYE) Leader positions.

New Student Orientation continues to evolve based on the feedback from our incoming students and their families. In 2021, orientation was offered both virtually and in-person to accommodate the needs of all incoming students.

  • Over 20,000 family members utilized the TU for Families portal and e-newsletter.
  • 4,291 students participated in orientation in 2021.
  • 157 students participated in the Transfer Mentor Program.
sga students

Student Activities

The Office of Student Activities has had a year that can be captured into four overarching themes: Collaboration, Curiosity, Change, and Culture. With shifts in staff support, new programs and initiatives, a return to on-campus programming, and the reality of Covid-19 reshaping the way students engage, the office found a way to impact students like never before.  We continue to uphold our mission of cultivating student development by providing opportunities to define their TU experience through exploration, involvement, and intentional programming.  

  • Hosted and sponsored over 140 events throughout the year
  • An average of 45 unique student organizations and over 75 students were represented in Tigers Lead, Tier 1 workshops each month.
  • Re-registered 208 student organizations and registered 34 new student organizations.
  • Campus Activities Board Received the Student Organization of the Year Award and Best Program of the Year Award for their first annual Beach Day event to kick off Labor Stay.
student holds a sign that reads #not at TU

Student Conduct and Civility Education

The Office of Student Conduct & Civility Education (OSCCE) serves the campus community by facilitating education through accountability processes. Our team seeks to provide fair and equitable processes that effectively meet the needs of all students as well as respond to student behavior that impacts the community. OSCCE’s work is grounded in a restorative approach which aims to increase students’ sense of belonging and agency in their own community membership and challenges them to productively build their conflict resolution skills. OSCCE facilitates both a traditional disciplinary process as well as an alternative resolution process. Together these processes offer students and community members multiple pathways for resolving conflict and holding students accountable to community expectations.

  • Students returning from suspension reported finding value in having to step away from the University, such as time to refocus their goals and ground themselves in their education and career aspirations.
  • OSCCE’s marked investment in equitable accountability practices is evident through both the restorative approach to discipline as well as the continued effort to respond to a seemingly disparate impact that COVID-19 related policies had on students of color during FY’22. OSCCE advocated to expunge over 1400 low level disciplinary records related to COVID policy violations.
students see a therapy dog

Student Outreach and Support

During the 2021-2022 school year, the Office of Student Outreach and Support laid the groundwork for many exciting changes. We helped students transition back to an in person learning environment and established a new brand with a greater focus on staff/faculty coaching and student inclusion.

  • 105% increase of cases since 2017.
  • 80% of students referred to our office had a GPA of 2.0 or higher.
  • 80% of students who were referred to SOS successfully continued or completed their education at TU.
1st Generation College Students

Student Success Programs

Student Success Programs (SSP) continues to be successful in reengaging students’ in-person college experience. SSP shifted primarily to in-person events and programming while maintaining some aspects of virtual offerings to maximize student access to services. The goal is to continue to enhance student awareness and involvement, while creating new and innovative programming.

  • Man2Man provided consistent meetings for over 80 students who identify as males of color to interact with and hear messaging from men in various industries.
  • The National Generation One day was attended by over 100 students, faculty, staff, and alumni who are also first generation; this created mentorship opportunities for some current students.
  • SSP was able to grant $2,500.00 awards to 127 students with the Community Enrichment and Enhancement Partnership scholarship, eight France Merrick student awards, and one Barnes Harris award in the amount of $4,100.00.
  • SSP was honored with the Higher Education Equity and Diversity award for the second year in row, featured in the Insight Magazine Spring publication, and won the Man2Man Game Changer award.
  • The College Readiness Outreach Program (CROP) connects ninth graders from Baltimore City High Schools with TU student mentors and provides a series of college readiness workshops.
Towson University in Northeastern Maryland

Towson University in Northeastern Maryland (TUNE)

TUNE is a self-contained, multi-purpose facility that includes an auditorium, classrooms, science, computer and convertible labs, breakout rooms, informal study and gathering areas, bookstore, library, and café. By having articulation agreements between community colleges and TUNE, the transfer process is simplified and guaranteed within a designated time. TUNE provides workshops for academic achievement, library services, and writing support. TUNE offers civic engagement and leadership, accessibility and disability support services, virtual appointments with counseling, health fairs, recruitment to clubs, career readiness, and so much more. TUNE is an inclusive community that thrives on the diversity and diligent work ethics of its students.

  • The TUNE AmeriCorps Vista secured a donation that helped start a TUNE Garden, which supplemented the brand-new food pantry.
  • TUNE not only offered stress reduction activities like massage, yoga, and DIY face masks but got students moving with corn hole, volleyball, badminton, obstacle course, blow up twister, and a workout from Planet Fitness.
  • TUNE’s Student Advisory Board members are diverse and highlighted DEI initiatives through environmental workshops and clean ups; offered small student businesses advertising and selling time at our first annual TUNE Mart; supplied students with training, testing, masks and kits for COVID prevention; offered free NARCAN, Hep C, and HIV testing; shared Safe Zone training, substance misuse education and resources, suicide awareness, and access to basic needs through the pantry and garden.
  • TUNE students are academically talented and arrive ready to complete their graduation requirements in a timely manner. In spring 2022, 47% of eligible TUNE students made the Dean’s List, by earning a GPA of 3.50 or higher. TUNE has maintained a 90% retention rate since opening in 2014 and 89% of students complete their degree at TUNE within 3 years.
health center

University Health Center

The University Health Center (TUHC) has continued to provide high quality medical care to the students of TU. Our clinical team provides comprehensive health services including chronic disease management, wellness visits, acute/urgent care visits, STI screening, PrEP services, emergency contraception, birth control management, office gynecology, evaluation of sexual assault, allergy injections, tobacco cessation, mental health services in coordination with the Counseling Center, personalized health counseling, tuberculosis screening, a multitude of point of care testing, immunization administration, and referrals to subspecialists when appropriate. We ensure access to care through offering sliding scale payment options and convenient web-booking of appointments.

Our Compliance Team verifies student immunization and tuberculosis screening, improving the safety of our campus community. The Outbreak Response Team (ORT) oversaw the COVID-19 quarantine and isolation recommendations for students, faculty, and staff and provided guidance to our affected community members. The ORT is also available to provide clinical guidance through other potential campus outbreaks (i.e., monkeypox, measles, meningitis, etc.). Our Health Education Team continues to provide a diverse array of outstanding programming to the TU students. The UHC continues to provide quality student learning opportunities to those pursuing careers in health-related fields, including Physician Assistant students, Athletic Training Students, and Health education students.

  • TUHC provides peer educators with weekly training and education, as well as 20 hours per semester of opportunities for skill and knowledge building through the facilitation of workshops and events.
  • The TU Health Center provides semester-long internship opportunities to TU students majoring in Health Education and Promotion, Family Studies, and Healthcare management. The TUHC hosted 6 Health Education and Promotion Interns in 2021-2022.
  • Developed a partnership with Safeway to offer COVID-19 vaccination clinics to students/faculty/staff at convenient on-campus locations. This helped to increase booster compliance for students, staff and faculty, reaching over 3,000 members of the TU community.

 

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