Communities of Practice

The SSTAR Lab team seeks to engage the broader campus community in regular dialogue on important topics in higher education. In the lab's early stages, we hosted topic-based conversations on the "First Friday" of select months, using current literature, research, or online discourse to guide the discussion. The latest iteration of this work transforms these efforts to elevate professional development and ongoing learning among colleagues through communities of practice. 

What is a Community of Practice?

Communities of practice (CoP) bring colleagues together around common interests to work toward a shared goal of learning. A CoP is not a committee, working group, or task force! Rather, a CoP includes educators and practitioners in higher education who come together to leverage each other's expertise, exchange knowledge and ideas, and serve as interdependent resources to strengthen their professional practice. 

Interested in learning more about CoPs?

• Wenger, E. (2000). Communities of practice and social learning systems.Organization, 7(2), 225-246.
• Wenger-Trayner, E., & Wenger-Trayner, B. (2015). An introduction to communities of practice: A brief overview of the concept and its uses.https://www.wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/

 

Fall 2025 Community of Practice

Fostering Safe, Trusting, and Empowering Spaces in Higher Ed

This CoP explores how to incorporate trauma-informed principles in a way that is practical and actionable for higher education professionals. We will use this knowledge to identify strategies to make small, intentional shifts in communication, policies, and daily practices that can create a more equitable and supportive college experience for all students.

 

Past Communities of Practice/"First Friday" Topics

Spring 2025 Communities of Practice

• Reimagining High Impact Practices
• Building a Community of Seawolves
• Celebrating and Promoting Care Focused Services
• Think FAST: Flipping the Advising Script Together (Supporting Gen Z Students)

Fall 2024 Communities of Practice

• Engaging Education with AI
• Crafting Your Personal Narrative
• The SSTAR Lab Experience: Research in Higher Education

Spring 2024 Communities of Practice

• Supervision for Student Success
• Leading Change
• Cohort Advising as a Practice

Fall 2023 "First Fridays"

Asset-Based Advising & Messaging Workshop

• Patton Davis, L. & Museus, S. (2019). What is deficit thinking? An analysis of conceptualizations of deficit thinking and implications for scholarly research. Currents, 1(1), 117-130. http://dx.doi.org/10.3998/currents.17387731.0001.110  
• Buchanan, T. M., Brown, A., Chirco, P., Klein, D., Purgason, A. M. (2022). Messaging matters: The impact of advising micromessages on student affect and behavior across diverse university campuses. NACADA Journal, 42(2), 45–61. https://doi.org/10.12930/NACADA-22-04

Spring 2023 "First Fridays"

Understanding Gen Z

• Johnson, D. B., & Sveen, L. W. (2020). Three key values of Generation Z: Equitably serving the next generation of students. College & University, 95(1), 37–40.
• Blog Post: Generation Z college students have arrived. Here’s how colleges can adapt 

Building Equity

• The Boyer 2030 Commission Report: The Equity/Excellence Imperative
• The Student Experience Project: Conveying effective social belonging messages